Does anyone else get annoyed with their writing?

Post Reply New Topic

With the completely disfunctional state of my handwriting I get close to having meltdowns in class when I cant seem to get a diagram right or I make mistakes

I think its gotten worse recently, I never really understood why my notes weren't as good/neat/attractive as everyone elses' until I learnt about my Aspergers at 13, and it just annoyed me. But now it bothers me to an extent where I throw my pen at the wall in disgust and get a funny look from my teacher and classmates as they tell me to pick it up, and I refuse to write notes for the rest of the lesson, before attempting a fresh start next lesson, which of course never works.

Its lucky I work from memory, because if I relied on my notes for study I would truly be doomed...

Does anyone out there have any tips to "simplify" my work so it merely serves as an annoyance rather than something that consumes me with hatred for my writing hand? Like the good old days again?

I have terrible print and can barely write in script! Forget script I can hardly even read script!

For some reason my printing is usually really neat, but I have problems writing in that my hand often freezes up and I can't write anything neatly for a while. Also I can't form the letter S properly, so it ends up looking like a J unless I draw an extra bit on afterwards. How about asking your teacher if you could use a little tape recorder or something in class? That way you'd have notes that you could listen to later. I'm sure they'd let you if you explained, and if they know about your AS.

My dad's a doctor, so I should have had bad handwriting....however, I wanted good handwriting when I was young....so in 8th grade I copied all the "preppy girls" handwriting, and now I get compliments on my handwriting from teachers. Also helped that I am an artist.

If you don't mind me making a schism.....does anyone hate their writing as in works of english?
I don't mind the content most of the time, but I abhor my grammar, especially punctuation.
It may just be my worst enemy.

I have dysgraphia too and I feel your pain, for sure.

The writing will never be beautiful but just do your best to get it to where you can somewhat read it. I wasn't able to read my own notes at all for YEARS. I've learned to put extra effort into making the beginning and end of important or unfamiliar words legible - the rest is usually just a squiggle that my brain can fill in later when I'm rewriting them. When I try to read them later, it's mostly a memory excersize to remember what I had been attempting to write at the time. But since there's no time pressure whne I'm studying on my own, outside of class, the primary way I learn the material is by recopying off of my chicken scratch notes over and over and over again. They usually end up progressively more legible and compact so, when I'm done studying, I usually end up with a marginally legible set of notes that I can read from/review off of.

If you get stumped on certain parts of your notes, ask someone else in your class what they wrote at that point or, if it is available to you, listen to a recording of the lecture those notes were from.
If lecture recordings are not available to you, I think it would definately be worth while to ask your professor if you could record his/her lecture to listen to later/help with your notes.

I sometimes write words in all caps if I really know I'll want to read it later - takes longer but it can be worth it if I have time during lecture. Also, don't be afraid to write BIG - even off of the lines - I actually take notes on printer paper since the lines just get in my way/cramp the space.

My writing is pretty much another language that I've learned to interpret. I can't even imagine how much easier studying would be if I could read my notes easily - I usually end up recopying them a million times, painstakingly, in order to study from them.

Thanks guys but its not quite what I'm asking (don't hurt me *cowers*)

my problem isn't really that I cant read it, (though sometimes individual words don't make sense) but more that the writing gets so messy and disorganised that I feel its beyond fixing, have a meltdown and refuse to copy any more.

How do I erm... spread things out/ layer them so that it doesn't incense me that much, because I've heard it from someone today that it's scaring them when I suddenly burst out

My advice is to not force yourself to cram lots of words on a single page. Use up as many sheets of paper as it takes for your writing to not collide with itself.


I use 2 (sometimes 3) 5-subject notebooks per subject each semester - I just rip out the little dividers and use all 500 or so pages for a single subject. That way all my notes stay in one notebook but I have plenty of paper/space.

I really hope this helps. I know how frustrating it can be. :\

I wasted a LOT of time in Uni re-copying my notes because I was obsessed with this. I would also do math homework several times until it looked completely neat and organized on the paper. I'm very obsessed with this. I would have meltdowns and become so physically ill with stress. I'm glad those days are behind me.