The principal and two of the
teachers at the public school my son went to for kindergarten recommended
homeschooling when my son had trouble coloring in the lines and doing other
fine motor tasks but was reading at a 5th grade level and doing mental math
above grade level. He was not eligible for OT in school because he was not
failing. The kindergarten teacher thought he should be held back until he could
color in the lines better.
When my son was born he had hypotonia. At 12 months he had a 50% delay in motor
skills but was 50% ahead in receptive/expressive language skills. The doctor at
the military base would not recommend therapy so my son didn't receive therapy.
At seven we finally got a referral to see a developmental pediatrician and an
educational psychologist. We were told that his intelligence was more than two
standard deviations above the mean but he also had developmental coordination
disorder or motor dyspraxia. An OT told us he had sensory integration disorder.
Our insurance would not pay for therapy for this. So again he didn't get
therapy. We were told to read The Out of Sync Child Has Fun.
At 11 he developed scoliosis and he now has to sleep in a very uncomfortable
brace every night for 10 hours so he is often tired now while still dealing
with fine motor issues like his hands cramping after about 15 minutes of
handwriting. He thinks part of his problem is the fact that the joints in the
top part of his fingers are very loose and bend way back and it takes more
effort for him to control the pencil. It is the same thing with a knife. We
asked his physical therapist recently if there was something he could do about
this problem and he just said to try to avoid bending his fingers back so far
and exercise using a squeeze ball, but that doesn't fix the finger problem so
we are still looking for answers.
My son does type 50 wpm both on a computer keyboard and on his iPhone and this
allows him to take notes and keep up with his writing assignments, but little
things like using a knife to cut steak are still a problem. I wish I knew what
to do to help him.
Hi
there,
I am so sorry that your son has had such a frustrating time not having his
difficulties addressed properly. It sounds as though he has a real blessing of
a mother, though!
I was wondering, has your son tried to hold the pencil slightly differently, in
what is called the Adaptive Tripod or D'Nealian Pencil Grasp - it is often
recommended for people with poor joint stability, whether caused by hypotonia
or something else:
Instead of the pencil coming out of the hand in the space between the thumb and
index finger, it comes out between the index and middle fingers.
The tips of the thumb and index finger should still control the pencil, and the
pencil should rest against the middle finger. Ask your son to try it? It may
work well with other implements too?
You can view it on this page of my site.
Hi
there, my son was awarded star pupil of the week trophy awarded by the
headmistress because of his maths and all rounded academic work in primary
school.
My child, I was informed earlier on, had development problems, so after my
input teaching him to walk, talk and now school tutoring, I have pulled him on
to trophy level and I would like to share this wonderful touching story with
you and indeed some of my best kept secrets to my son's success.
I quickly learned early on that my son's pencil holding was causing me and
teachers concern. My son had a poor grip of the pencil and his writing at first
was very poor indeed, but I just rise to the occasion and when the going gets
tough, the tough gets going.
First of all to succeed in good pencil ability I went out and bought alphabet
stencils. The stencils force the hand to a rigid path and gradually the mind is
programmed subconsciously to follow a certain route to achieve the letter,
accompanied to this the child also suddenly loves writing due to this perfect
masterpiece, albeit with the help of the stencils.
Accompanied to this I bought my son a stress-ball and he would sit and squeeze
this to gain strength in his hands. I would deny any treats till after pencil
lessons therefore dangling a carrot to offer incentive to do this; result was a
lovely trophy last year and he is gaining knowledge and confidence.
Everything is possible if you focus on succeeding. Hope this helps all parents
whose little ones have problems writing.
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