Problems with prolonged periods of writing.

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Hi everyone. I have never been a part of anything like this but I am at a loss. My 6th grade son is experiencing alot of frustration with some of his classes and the amount of writing required. He says his fingers and wrist start to hurt after a while. I did read a small blurb in Tony Atwoods book but I would like to know if anyone else out there has experienced this problem with their AS child.

my son would complain about it, but we always thought he was just trying to get out of doing homework ( this was pre-dx)

I've experienced this problem with myself

I've always had this yet never really expressed it till lately. Even typing starts to hurt now, but I can type longer than I can write. I think it is some sort of arthritis in my case(maybe everyone elses as well but I dont know) because I also have spinal inflamation and all my other joints hurt like hell most of the time. There are some days when I dont hurt as bad but most its difficult. Im working with the VA(im a veteran of the USAF) to figure out what it is if possible. They dont know my suspicions of asperger's syndrome yet but IM fairly sure I am an aspie as well as my mother. We show more than enough of the diagnostic criteria to be diagnosed.

When my son was first diagnosed the OT testing him said he may have that problem. She noticed this from his discomfort when taking the origional test. His discomfort seems to get worse every year. Before his dx I too thought he just wanted to get out of doing work. I felt realy bad once he was diagnosed. My husband and I would get so frustrated with him. We would yell and take away the tv becuase of his difficulty doing his homework. God gave us patience we just need to learn how to use it.

My fingers and wrists ache really badly if i write with a pen for more than a paragraph or two. I always assumed that this was because I was fussy about my writing but my hands are naturally shaky (diabetes + too much alcohol and coffee over the years), so I have to force my handwriting to be neat. The only thing which helps is using a really smooth-flowing fountain pen. I didn't know there was an AS link, can someone tell me more?

Typing is ok but using a mouse for prolonged periods can hurt (though not as much as writing). I've swapped my mouse to the left hand to share out the strain - most of my typing is done with my right hand, so having the mouse on the left makes sense. It also means I can work a bit faster!

I get writer's cramp very easily. It is extreemly painful and makes writing something I want to avoid. IT is also compounded by anxiety when I had to write fast such as taking notes in class or trying to remember something that has to be written down word for word, such as a sentence on a spelling test.

That happens to my son as well. He has weak muscles in his hands so it's physically exhausting for him trying to use paper/pen so he types his notes and does all classwork on a laptop instead. It's great because he's still doing the work he's required to do but without the pain/exhuastion of pencil/paper.

same with my son, his hands are weak. He is younger than yours though, in Kindergarten, but they do a lot of coloring and handwriting practice and he does okay when he first starts out but toward the end it gets worse and worse. But his hands are so weak normally he cannot even snap most snaps.

I would always have a hard time with fine motor control and homework - I couldnt keep myself from bearing down on the pencil. (Im in college now, and still cant)

Then I got a computer and a printer, and started to type out all of my assignments (except math). Perhaps try teaching him the Dvorak keyboard configuration, it is the most ergonomical / least stressful. (and a seriously geeky thing, so that might help you sell it, if need be )

see about getting him a laptop or alphasmart as i say his handwriting isn't that good either right?

Many with ASD's have small motor control issues to begin with, making writing difficult (although DS handles the video games with aplomb!).

Does the handwriting start pretty nice and then become nearly illegible? This is typically dysgraphia - and it can cause pain as the writer tries hard to make the writing clear. Many aspies have dysgraphia - it was actually the first thing my son was dx'd with on the route to his AS dx.

In school, alpha smarts and computer access are usually implemented to help students keep up.

The bit that confuses me is that my hands and arms aren't weak. I fire steam locomotives, operate canal locks, and can open jars and bottles which the womenfolk say are far too tight.

It's just writing (and to a lesser extent, typing) which hurts. I think that's because it's the only activity which requires repetitive movements of the hands without changes in shape (the 'posture' of the hands, so to speak). That's my best explanation so far, anyway.

Both of my sons have writing issues. My oldest is ADHD with poor visual-motor integration, which affects how his brain tells his hands what to write. My younger son hasn't been seen by the OT yet, but he starts out semi-neat, then gradually gets messier until it's illegible. He is being evaluated for ASD's.

I'm new to WP but I felt I needed to pipe in here. My DS has a disorder called dysgraphia. It's the inability to write or in therapeutic terms, Disorder of Written Expression. If given hours, he can write where you can read it, but lets face it, that sentence on the board won't be there all day long. When he has attempted to keep up writing, he would get one word as opposed to the rest of the class doing a paragraph. This ended in frustration and failure. Don't wait. Do as others have posted here, either have the school accomodate with an Alphasmart or a laptop. My son also has teachers supply copies of notes. It's in his IEP.

However, stay on top of your school. I found out recently that the high school hadn't been accomodating my son (he didn't tell me, couldn't tell me, wouldn't tell me, don't know which) only by accident when his folder dropped and I noted that they gave him the State Test in Writing. DUH! Hopefully, none of you will be faced with a deceptive district. Talk about political red tape!

My son's psych states that this disorder is common in Apsie's.

dyspraxia is common in aspies not dysgraphia, dyspraxia really explains the problems related to dysgraphia as dyspraxics have all the symptoms of it