Handwriting.

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I have suspected dyspraxia and I find handwriting challenging.

I cannot type notes in lectures because I have various visual / sensory problems, which means that I get extreme double vision from a convergent squint, and I cannot type unless I have my full concentration (lecturers are a distraction!).

Even now I am seeing 1.5-2 screens and have accessibility features switched on (like bigger and bolder text) on my computer. I also have a spell checker; my spelling is excellent but I make a lot of typos because of the double vision / sensory issues.

I have had a note-taker before at uni but it took the disability services a whole term to organise it! I am starting uni in less than two weeks' time, and despite my support worker and I bringing "note taker please" up several times, they still haven't organised one.

So I'm left with two options: ask my support worker to make notes for me, or handwrite notes myself (and type them up neatly when I get home).

My support worker doesn't know much, if anything about biochemistry. So I don't know if she will be best equipped to make notes for me.

I would like to know any tips anyone has in improving coordination skills, mostly centred around handwriting. I cannot really tie shoelaces but that's not important as I have elasticated shoelaces.

I am willing to put in practise.

I have to stop typing now as my vision is failing.

I see your challenges, Steel Maiden. I know it's difficult for you. I hope you are able to get somebody to take notes for you.

I don't take notes unless absolutely necessary because my handwriting is shocking unless I write slowly and I can't focus on two things at once and I tend to just listen and take it all in anyway, but I(everyone one my course) get the power points printed off or on the online thing so it's fine for me.

I have no advice on improving handwriting.

Hopefully your uni will sort a note taker out quickly for you. Is it not possible for them to organise a note taker for the whole year or your for the whole of your course then it wouldn't be such a faff having to keep sorting it out, I'm sure that can be sorted out on one of the dsa forms, I was told if I needed one it could be sorted out for the whole course as a default definitely need option sort of thing, like extra time in exams sort of thing.

I don't have any tips for improving handwriting but would it help to tape-record your lectures and then type your notes later?

My handwriting used to be really bad, especially for a girl. Then I tried studying calligraphy. Now everyone says I have pretty handwriting, and I often end up writing messages in cards and such for people. My quick handwriting also improved, though I had moments back in college, when even I couldn't read my notes. I think, given the demands of the class, calligraphy would be a bit much for you right now.

If you don't feel comfortable asking your classmates for copies of their notes, ask your aid if they could ask your classmates for you. Just pick someone whose pen is always moving during class and who seems to be paying full attention. Failing that, or along with that, I'd ask or ask your aid to ask the professor for a copy of their lecture notes.

If your professor puts something complex on the board, snap a picture.

If a tape recorder or video recorder would help, do it.

You're paying money to obtain information. Make sure you get your money's worth.

Aha. When I was a student in college there was a student who had some difficulty and could not take notes. In each class the student was in the professor would 1) supply any power point slides used and 2) ask for volunteers to share their notes with the person. Then that person could look over the notes of those volunteers and pick the person who took the notes they liked the best. Then right after every class the persons support person would photo copy the notes. It wasnt' a big deal and usually if they had their note taker for one class also in another class, they would just use the same one again. Using a student is good because chances are they have a grasp on the information that an aide would not.

Whats the big deal?

When I was on university half of the students were NEVER taking notes and before exams they were just using a copier machine to get notes from people who did. And I - as primary note taker in my group (I am a very fast writer, during lecture I can write everything teacher says, word by word) - was going even further. Because my fast handwrite style is not good and my word by word notes are too long I was always copying my notes to computer and making slides of the most important info because it was easier to learn this way(I guess it is how my actual notes should look - you are not supposed to write everything word by word, you should write down only what's most important - but I can't do it because I ca listen and write but I can't listen,summarize and write at the same time ). And then, since I already had the notes on computer I was sending the slides to my group mail so everyone could use them too.

Just sit next to someone who takes notes and xero it or at least take a photo using your mobile phone. Its more manageable then bothering your university for a designed note taker.

Taking photos, recording audio, getting slides are all good ideas to avoid taking notes.
I don't think I ever took notes in any biology class, only in math, physics, and chemistry classes involving lots of equations or structures on the board.

My handwriting is so bad that my teachers got together in grade 10 and made me print everything, instead of write things, going forward. That was decades ago - fortunately today you have so many options like typing, videoing, internet searches and so forth...

I am so sorry. I think recording audio files of the lectures would be your best best. One more thing, wall recitation is one of the best way to learn in college or schooling. Basically learn what you need to learn, and then speak what you have learned (with a teaching context) to a wall. I think you'll find this to be very helpful.

I have struggled with writing as a child. Typing is much worse for me (with a non-electric typewriter, I would probably be making errors everywhere!)

I'm better at writing, but it's still no better.

I have a digital dictaphone for recording lectures but it takes me on average 4 hours to transcribe a 45-50 minute lecture due to my visual processing disorders and coordination issues. Even now I am seeing two screens overlapping each other (I have one screen but it is widescreen and large) with occasional breaks of normality, which is going to cause me to give up on typing sometime soon. I get extra time and rest breaks in exams (I use a computer in exams) due to this visual processing problem.

I need to have notes or textbooks for studying, my auditory memory is awful. I can't even remember directions to a building a person gives me, let alone a whole lecture. The slides are mostly rubbish from my lectures.

I am going to email the disability team at my uni and ask them what is going on. They are the most disorganised disability team I have ever heard of.

I am going to experiment writing notes during my first lecture next term. I will also ask my support worker if she will write notes for me as her handwriting is really good.

I have tried calligraphy before but I couldn't do it.

The good thing is that next term's lecture material is well based on textbooks (as opposed to this last term) and I have a really good visual memory (yes I do have a good visual memory; I have had visual disorders ever since I started wearing glasses at three years old but for some reason I have a really good visual memory, I know that sounds contradictory).

I will ask my support worker about asking students for notes, or going through disability services for that.

It's definitely worth pursuing the option of photocopying someone else's notes. Some people seem blessed with the ability to write very fast, very neatly. If you can find someone like that, it will allow you to take in the lectures without having to write and then review/annotate the copied notes in a more leisurely way outside the lecture environment.

My Teachers say my handwriting is a disaster, i try to explain to them i have asberges and find it hard but they don't really care

Maybe your better then me at remembering and have a better time organizing free time however I wouldn't try to scribble notes down and fix them up later. Sounds like a good way to forget or lose details and personally while I would have the best of intentions I know would in the end fall behind and neglect to do it. The only thing that worked for me in high school was photocopying the teachers notes.

Ok I will email the disability adviser about getting a copy of a student's notes, a student that writes well. I have selective mutism at university so I cannot talk to the other students.