Question about handwriting

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Questions about dysgraphia: How does a school test for it, and what is the treatment for it? DS has bad handwriting, poor spelling, some missed words and backwards letters. He also holds his wrist sometimes when he writes. His school's OT tested his fine motor skills and said there are no problems. I don't whether they are unaware of dysgraphia or just not prepared to consider it.

I would tell you if I knew. They do not divulge any information if they can avoid it, do they? I should have been more direct in asking them.

We had a battery of OT related tests b/c we had more than one issue. I think the handwriting test was just giving my son a passage to copy in a separate room, where they observed his handwriting, rated it according to some rubric, and noted his grip. I do not think it was timed, either. I could be wrong about that. I do not think I am, as they glossed over any comments I made about writing speed without directly refuting that he was slow.

They never gave me any objective rating for his handwriting. They only told me that they have kids with worse handwriting who do not get any OT. I responded in my usual, too direct way that my job was to advocate for my son and noted that I had no control over those other children who did not get OT but that they should get it if they need it.

Do you know what tests they used when they tested his fine motor skills? Did they even look at handwriting? Your description sounds like your child may have dysgraphia. Does he use a standard writing grip?

I don't know how they test precisely, but I do know that when we met with the private psychologist to get my son's evaluations to submit for SATs, she saw right away that his hands were typical for disgraphics; the easiest way to summarize it is to say it looks like he has severe arthritis. If you look up the concept, you will find that it actually covers a variety of disabilities, so there is not one single source for the problem. Sometimes it is brain processing, sometimes it is hypotonia, sometimes it is hypermobility; there may be more, but those are the ones I am most familiar with; most often it is some combination (I believe my son is hindered by all three).

The most obvious sign, when there is a physical component, that will catch a teacher or OT's eye is the need to hold the pencil differently, and an actual inability to hold it correctly. My son literally cannot hold a pencil correctly; it hurts. After working with him to correct the grip and improve ergonomics, they realized it was definitely more complicated and, thus, started to accommodate him.

It was obvious to me that something was truly wrong because my son had been eager to learn to write, entering into the scribble-fake-writing stage early, and at 3 writing not only his name but those of favorite preschool teachers. But when he actually HAD to learn to write, spend time at it, create sentences and do it properly, he started refusing and rebelling. Kindergarten was like a war between him and his teacher, and it was a huge relief when the first grade teacher immediately said, "something has to be wrong: it looks like it hurts him when he writes." To force him to write properly was to risk having him shut down and mentally withdrawn from education completely, the battleground was that intense.

If your son is willing to practice when given proper incentives, then go that route. Give him a reason to care about his writing. Long run, he will be much better off if he can write comfortably and legibly. Even in the age of computers, sometimes one has no choice but to handwrite. There are several programs out there that you will find in our dysgraphia threads (see sticky for parenting index) that some parents have had a lot of success with. See what happens when you try those: can he do it, or does the extra time make everything worse?

DS's first grade teacher gave him a gripper for his pencil, as his handwriting was very faint (in addition to looking sloppy, etc). In second grade he didn't use it anymore. Then in third grade I found out he had traded with another kid in his class to get a gripper, so I bought him a pack of them. Then he said they irritated his fingers and didn't use them.
When he holds his pencil, he uses his thumb and first two fingers to grip it, and lets it rest on his ring finger. I think it should be resting on the middle finger, but I'm not sure if that's a big deal or not.

I have an awful time of visualizing things but according to this site, if I am understanding it, it sounds like an acceptable but not optimal variation of a normal grip.
http://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.c ... grasp.html

We went through I don't even know how many type of grippers with none of them really working. The muscles are supposed to be a certain strength to make the grip comfortable. If you have weak muscles it is hard to maintain grip and write. My son finally has a variation of a mature grip, but he still has to switch sometimes.

The main exercises they sent home for us have been finger exercises, like beading and pinching clothes pins type games, I think it was more than just pinch grip muscles. My son has a weak core, and his arm/shoulder muscles are not very strong, either.

I also still think there are other more complicated factors like spatial sense and visual issues like I think Zette mentioned. It just depends on the kid.

Yes. Writing involves the language centers of the brain, while drawing involves more visuospatial areas. So if the problem was with the ability for the language centers to interface with the hand motor control area, you'd get a specific problem with writing & not drawing.