Dysgraphia?

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My son (15) can't write. He is profoundly autistic so he doesn't speak or type words either, however he does know the order of alphabet. It wasn't until grade 3 that they ever managed to even do hand-over-hand writing with him because he hates being touched so it's very hard to do. But in grade 3, the teacher noticed that he has a strange grip on the pencil, he doesn't push down hard enough, and he has difficulty staying in the lines. He gets so upset when he's doing it and the current teacher will claim he's being "non-compliant" but I don't get that impression when I watch him do it. He seems to really struggle to know how to move his pencil to form letters, even though he can form letters using this toy http://c.shld.net/rpx/i/s/i/spin/image/spin_prod_949773212?hei=333&wid=333&op_sharpen=1 so he does know how they look, but he can't write them for some reason. The first time I ever heard about dysgraphia was on WP…

Writing by hand is not a big issue for me because I figure that's what keyboards are for, and he's severely delayed in so many areas this is not my main priority. Unfortunately this year his teacher is obsessed with this and it's a major issue. I was thinking if he could get a diagnosis, he could get an accommodation to not have to write by hand, and that would really help at school.

Obviously you can't diagnose him, but I'm wondering if based on the description (first para) you think it sounds possible. Also, what is the process for getting him diagnosed? Someone was telling me you need the teacher's referral but that's not going to happen.

I think (from what I gathered from your previous posts) that you are not in the US, is this correct? So, I don't know what the school process for getting accommodations where you live- but here, you can have your child assessed for assistive technology without actually getting a formal diagnosis. The Committee for Special Ed will just run some of their own tests to see if your child qualifies. Both my kids have assistive technology (even though it's kind of hard to get).

I just looked at the definition of Dysgraphia, and not only does it sound like your son could have it- but the description of your son's writing is VERY similar to my 7 year old's. He has all of those difficulties. He can write somewhat, but no one can read it because the letters are too faint, the letters are not in the lines and there are hardly any spaces between the letters. So, he mostly uses a word processor at school. The teachers did not want his written expression to be held back by his handwriting issues. The teacher claiming that he's non compliant sucks. See if you can get him assessed somehow.

One thing that helps (only with the not pushing down hard enough) is a small weight that attaches to the end of the pencil. That, and writing with small pencils.

Since he's severely autistic, have any speech therapists tried to introduce any of the iPad apps for communication, such as Proloquo?

I agree that learning to write by hand (rather than keyboard) seems a strange place for the therapist to be putting her emphasis on.

We're in Canada.

Yes we have an iPad with proloquo2go on it. Communication is a whole other problem but no he doesn't really use it. In speech they can get him to select a few things on request but not many and he certainly doesn't use it spontaneously... He hasn't really gravitated to PECS (my other kid did).

I can't believe this woman passed teachers college. She starts every day with this and she forcefully does hand-over-hand while leaning on him to keep him still (which he hates already), she ignores him getting increasingly upset. Eventually, he pushes her off. He's 6'5" so he's certainly capable of sending her flying...but he doesn't... He just pushes enough to get her off (I asked her to film it for me so I can see why he gets so upset). The way she touches him, obviously is really uncomfortable to him because afterwards he is scratching his skin off, pulling his hair out, biting his hands, etc.. Then she sends him home for "attacking people". In the past 8 days, he has been in school all day for 2 of them. The other 6, he went home in the first 2-3 hours- EVERY TIME related to this writing stuff. Astonishing what. The main reason I want the diagnosis is to make this stop. I've tried being nice, being angry, etc. but she doesn't care what I think. I'm planning to pull him out of public school next year (he would have the same teacher if he stayed!! ! To which I say: nooooooooo thank you!! !! !! !! !!) but we need to get through this year.

I am not familiar with how things work in Canada, so forgive me for any dumb statements or questions:

Do you not have an equivalent to an IEP where they draft a document you have input on, and meet to decide on what goes in it? i would call a meeting pronto, with whoever oversees this idiot, to let them know that her touching him is setting him off and needs to stop, as well as different priorities chosen.

If not, i don't what to say other than if the school districts do not do diagnosis type things, to go thru the Canada health system for the dysgraphia part. I do think (Captain Obvious here) that the teacher is the issue, and I don't know how else to address that rigidity other than going over her head.

We had a speech teacher our last year of PS that made things worse. I had had never had an ST like that before where her rigidity and practices set him off and made him worse like that. It was awful, so I know how horrible this must be to be his actual all-day teacher setting him off. That ST was bad enough once a week.

I agree that dysgraphia is likely to be the right label. It covers a wide range of disorders (hypermobility, hypotonia, coordination and/or processing issues, etc) that all result in the same thing: being unable to write by hand.

We weren't originally given that label for my son, but he was given OT services and accommodations early on in school using his ASD label as a qualifier, and then figuring out what his unique issues were. All that testing was done through the school.

For the SATs, we needed a more recent evaluation, and due to timing issues hired someone independently to do the evaluation and issue a report. We were originally referred to education specialists, but when they were all either booked full or unwilling to do it (specializing in other learning disabilities), we found a psychologist who advertised experience with ASD and learning disabilities. It turned out that she had a lot of experience with dysgraphia and was able to generate the evaluation and report we needed. She actually knew the moment she saw our son's hands that he was most likely disgraphic, although she still did all the testing trying to stay unbiased. Her report got us everything we wanted with the College Board, and I really enjoyed working with her.

This was an expensive process, so be forewarned.

The other interesting thing she told us was that she felt the school district had dropped the ball stopping OT services as soon as my son could type. To us, it had made sense: once he could type, he could produce the work product needed in school. But she feels he could have learned to handwrite much better than he does, and it is true that not being able to do so is limiting for him; she strongly encouraged him to choose private OT in the future.

What your son needs is expert OT, NOT a persistent teacher. She may win a battle but she will lose the war, and the war is about having a child willing and able to write when necessary. I realize dysgraphia is not that well known, but writing IS literally painful for many disgraphic kids, and most certainly is for my son. I would search for learning disability specialists and psychologists in your area to get the private evaluation you are considering.

Thanks everyone.

He has an IEP. I have a say, but they have the final say. If the school ultimately decides something that I disagree with, there's a formal appeal process, which is very time-consuming. I don't have time- I'd have to be a stay-at-home mother and I'm not. We have discussed it a lot though. The thing is, because my son is so delayed with everything, there's a tendency for people to say "well that's just how he is" (how he is being, unintelligent, incapable, etc.).

He actually has a great OT though. It's private, I pay for it, and I love her because she's really good with him. She doesn't do writing with him though, so she wouldn't have caught this. I'm going to bring it up, see what she says.

I agree with the other posters that it sounds like dysgraphia. My daughter (now 13) had it and hated to do anything small motor. Many of her "issues" in preschool revolved around things like lacing cards, cutting with scissors and any kind of drawing/coloring. She held her crayon or pencil in her fist, did not press hard enough, would make her circles backwards and stroke down up and not up down. She could also "not cross the midline" meaning if you asked her to draw a plus sign she would make the stroke to just shy of the middle line then lift her crayon/pencil and start drawing on the other side of the line.

All of this was addressed by a wonderful OT (who we had to pay for ourselves), but it involved a lot of blood, sweat and tears on all our parts. I still don't think I've fully recovered from teaching her to tie her shoes. In my humble opinion you need weigh the cost versus benefit, which it sounds like you are doing. My daughter still has small motor issues, but they don't really effect her in a negative way.

Just as an aside, I found the whole OT thing so interesting. Our OT would do and try so many different things, not only for small motor, but for sensory issues too. Many times you could see the benefits very quickly.

Also, the writing program we used was called "Handwriting Without Tears", although I'm here to tell you, there were MANY tears!

All the best to you and your son!