1st grader doesn't want to write

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My 6 y/o has started refusing to write in class and at home when we work on projects. He has trigger thumbs and has a lot of the typical fine motor issues that come with it but he has been seeing an OT and I thought we were working through it. His teacher told me he has been refusing to color as well. He said it's not interesting to him. He has always had difficulty with writing, mainly because of the grip but he can't just not learn anymore! The school doesn't start using computers for more things until middle school. Any suggestions on how to motivate or get over this hurdle for him?

I'd agree that you can't just stop learning.

1. If he's interested in the computer, get him to write things there. Even just typing in MS Word would be good - eg: Ask him to spell/type "bus" etc... whatever his sightwords are.

2. Your school should have some OT or other special ed teachers helping your son to hold the pencil. They need to know about his "special interests". For example, if he likes transformers, he should try to draw them... drawing or writing is the same - it's about getting the pencil grip right....

You need to try to find ways of making things interesting to him. Also, experiment with different types of pencils and textas (even highlighters) at home - you can't do that at school. Perhaps something differently shaped will help his grip.

Don't give up.

Today I was one on one with an autistic child who didn't want to do his work, I had him do one problem, then take a break for one minute, next problem then take a break. I would also have him choose, do you want to write this first, or this? Or do you want this pencil or that pencil? Little choices like that really helped. The schools behavioral specialist can show you and the teacher how to work with him. Also no whatever it is he wants untill he does the work, but as he does one thing let him have short breaks here and there.Do not argue with him.......worse thing. "Do your work then break/play/draw/ext"....what he wants.

Disliking to write for a variety of reasons is a very common trait among autistic kids. It can be pain, esteem because of poor penmanship, just awkwardness. When I was a kid, refusing wasn't an option so I wrote and my hands hurt and my writing never improved. People say I have doctor's penmanship.
With my son, we use mechanical pencils and we have used pens. the wooden pencils are just to hard and big for his hands because he grips so hard. Computer or keyboards can be written into an IEP if your son needs it. It's adaptive equipment or assistive technology.

I know exactly what your going thru and for me it's getting worse. It was my birthday yesterday and J was very happy to go with my older son to pick out a card, but when my older son asked him to write in it we had big issues. I had to intervene and tell him it was ok not to write in it, he could draw if he wanted or use stamps etc, I also told him that he didnt have to put anything in the card if he didnt want to. Alas no birthday card for me not even the blank card. Ah well, maybe eventually in a few years perhaps I will get that card.
We are in Australia and have been trying for 2 years to get an OT.
Good luck.

I practiced constantly for 4 years on my handwriting before I realized that it would never get better. I finally changed my grip, now in my first year of grad school, and my handwriting is nearly legible now.

I definitely agree that you should try to incorporate the special interest in there somewhere. At one point as a child, I would play pickup sticks against myself, for about 6 hours at a time. And I would write all the scores down (me and my teddy bears). So I got practice that way.

Man, but I barely passed first grade. I just didn't understand the concept of it all. Your kid might not yet comprehend that they're going to have to do this for the next . . . rest of their life. You know?

School sucks.

Well, we tried the mechanical pencils that have a foam grip and those seem to be more comfortable for him. Went out and bought several kinds of grippers and will try those over the next week. He sat and wrote his name for awhile, which may not seem like much but with his recent refusal to write I took as a big leap ahead for him! Thanks for all the feedback.

There's a FREE "national first" font that allows you to type words and print them out dotted for tracing.

It might help since you can make the words part of the school's sight-word lists or your child's name.

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/f ... ption.html

(It's a Windows TrueType font).

I'm in high school right now and I can say that my experience back in 1st and 2nd grade was very similar to what your son's going through. The problem with me is that I just gripped (and still do) the pencil much harder than anyone else in the class.

What I found helped me a lot was just practicing writing with Crayola markers. Since their tip isn't hard and finite like a pencil's, but a much softer material, it's easier to press harder on the paper without creating as much resistance. Also, with markers it's much easier to get something that you can read on a piece of paper (well, unless you use bright yellow or green) since the ink comes out easily.

Also, I have never used (and cannot use) wooden pencils. The texture and lack of smooth glide in the pencils (as opposed to mechanical ones) is just way too uncomfortable for me. And plus, even though I'm not ambidextrous (spelling?), I have what's called "evening out", a common symptom of Tourette's but I have it with AS. It's basically where if I experience pain on, say, my left hand, I feel really weird unless the exact same amount of pain is applied to my right hand. This always happened to me when a pencil or other writing utensil was especially uncomfortable, and it still happens today (I have to squeeze the first 3 fingers of my left hand onto the table or desk where I'm writing or else my hand feels weird).

Hope that helps.

Seems like part of the problem is that some people grip the pencil harder than necessary in order to make a nice, dark and easy-to-read line. The graphite come in various "grades"; hard and soft ones: The soft ones draws a nice, clear and dark line without much pressure, so in the hunt for little things that may help, try out pencils with soft graphite.

The hard ones are only useful for drawing artists, who use it to make very light shades of gray; exactly the opposite of what you need for writing...!

Thanks, guys for all the feedback and support. We have had a lot of success with the big foam gripper and have started using a y-pen, which puts less stress on his hand. We also have put a line in his IEP that modifies the amt of writing; once he demonstates a skill to his teacher's satisfaction they move on. We also have an appt with an orthopedic surgeon to fix his trigger thumbs, which the dr thinks will help with the fatigue. We had his thumbs evaluated when he was smaller and they hoped he would grow out of it, but since that hasn't happened he will need to have them fixed surgically. Things are looking up on the writing front.

Paula this is refreshing, someone in Special Ed who understands. This is similar to the tact we take with our son. I love the system of positive rewards for accomplishing tasks. Thank you.

This is good advice. Sounds like you are getting things under control though so I'll shut up.

We had the same problem with our now 7 year old son.

His teacher was great - she told me not to worry because most people use computers anyway.

For about 6 months the following adaptations were made for him:

- When the kids were doing handwriting practice, he was given play-doh to form the letters with.
- He did his spelling homework on the computer at home
- Dinosaurs and dragons were incorporated into the curriculum for him - he was happy to practice writing about them.
- We bought different pencil-grippers for him to trial

Now, our son happily writes. His handwriting is still messy, but it doesn't matter.

Helen

I have dysgraphia, which is a fancy term for handwriting disablity. So I know how your son feels. I remember in 1st grade I could only write big letters in block letters. So the teacher kept insisting I write in small letters, so I just wrote the big letters smaller, lol. I think OT and learning to use the computer for typing can help. However the most trouble I encountered was the sheer ignorance from the other teachers about the subject.

Like, I was singled out in class where the teacher said I didn't have to write in cursive. Nobody in the class liked writing in cursive, only a moron would put a target on someone's back for bullying like that. Also teachers like to have students read what they wrote in front of the class, time and time again I explained this was a major issue of anxiety for me, could I just hand the paper in. They didn't understand. I did everything to avoid the class days when I had to make a presentation. The idiot teachers act as if someone isn't supposed to be aware of when the teachers' favorite bullies laughed during your presentation.

This is worse of a problem when you might not be able to read your own handwriting. Humilating a child for a problem they cannot have control over, what does that prove? I'd really like to know, why schools insist on this archaic form of learning through humilation and self-hatred. You should tell the school he's currently in, that this is 2007. They SHOULD have computers in their school.

This is common among aspies.

Toss Script out the window.

Teach him to print his letters instead.

The mental effort needed to run the hand through the cursive procedure can be so large
that the content that is being written is simply lost.

Teach him to print instead.
Hold him to a high standard on legability.

Teach him to type at first opportunity.


My son and I wrote a program to aid him in his quest to learn to type.

it does random letters in an order that trains the fingers to reach more as time goes on.

fjfjfjfjfj....
a;a;a;a

ghghghgh

that type of thing.

the pattern is printed, and he has to type it correctly, and press enter.
It is not timed
It is ok to use the backspace key

when you type it correctly, you score points.

you then get a choice to move on to the next problem or not.

every so many number of points, you level, and pick up a new letter to type.

no stress self teaching.

I simply set a goal to raise his score so many points in a day,
and he can achieve that by typing a few sentences.