My oldest son has dysgraphia along w/ dylexic leanings. He was tested at 7 but wasn’t diagnised until almost 13. (long story) Materials designed for dyslexics (like O-G appraoch) have worked best for him. It’s taken a lot of time, but now that he’s older, I can see the improvements. It’s made it all worthwhile. (Wish I had found things and pushed them more while trusting myself as well.)
I would *highly* recommend teaching him cursive. That’s the one blessing my ds had. He started at a private school and they taught them cursive from the beginning (ABeka). I regret not doing this w/ my youngest 2, paticularly my youngest, but that’s an aside. Cursive was a huge help in limiting if not eliminating reversals. (How can you reverse something if it flows w/ the other letters and there are less similar formations.) It is also a help for the dysgraphic on the point that you’re not picking up the pencil and starting over again. It’s a continual motion and not broken up.
The other suggestion is to type. Learn how and let him use that. For some reason, it limits that “block” in the brain that having-utensil-in-hand-w/-paper-in-front-of-you seems to bring on. It’s always been a big help especially when ds had a paper to write. I would wait a spell before doing that, but it depends on your ds’s needs. (My son’s isn’t severe so I had a little more flexibility.) Also, there are computer programs out there that let you speak and it will type what you say, but from what I’ve heard, there are issues w/ all of them. So, we never went there. Again, your mileage may vary based on your ds’s needs.
I’m also going to gently encourage you to look at the method and style that will best help your ds. What is most important is being able to DO it, and have it be legible to others. Also, realize that his handwriting may not be “pretty.” Yes, there are times you can and should expect more, but on a daily basis or when he’s needing to get it out/onto the paper, you might want to be a bit more flexible.
Chalkboards and a whiteboard w/ dry erase markers are wonderful for them, particularly the markers. You can get small boards that are about the size of a sheet of paper. I’ve had him do his dictation on those and then copied the board for a few records for our files. Depending on your ds, you can also use a magnetic board w/ the letter tiles, at least at first. You could make your own that would correlate to the writing syle you end up using.
Something that helped me better “see” what he’s facing was a description that his evaluator gave me. She said that you should write a paragraph, BUT . . . alternate each word between cursive/print, every 3rd word write backwards, every 7th letter write upside-down, every sentence switch hands, etc. This is not verbatim, but you get the idea. So, when asking them to do those written things, particularly written narrations, it’s going to be a challenge and feel very overwhelming.
Also, my son needed to have a specific topic to write on, those open-ended options were too broad for him. He just had SOOOO much in his head along w/ the struggle to get it out, that he just couldn’t do it. Now, verbally, he could tell you a thousand page story w/ tons of details and bunny-trails, so it’s not for lack of information. This is where I think learning about CM and her methods might have been a huge help for him. If we could go back and start over w/ what I know now . . .
The biggest thing, be patient w/ him, and keep plugging away. It’s one-step at a time, sometimes w/ lots of steps back. It DOES “get there,” though. {hugs}
K
ps – try using a pen vs a pencil. The feeling on how it writes on the paper may make a difference for him.
pps – try different line-spacings for the paper, too. I’ve personally found that the smaller spacings produced nicer letters, particularly for my son, and seemed easier to use. (Goodness, I’ve even struggled w/ using the larger spacing as have my dc w/out struggles – they did better w/ smaller.)
