Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
My son hates to write--need advice.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 212831" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>MWM, I think you're thinking what I'm thinking. Kathrine, my three younger kids all have problems with hypermobile joints - this has meant that, among other things, handwriting hurts. But when it has always hurt, when to his mind it's normal for it to hurt and surely it's like this for everybody? Something I've discovered with my kids (and myself, in some areas) - when it's always been a certain way for you, you tend to believe it's like that for everyone and as a result you don't comment about it, you just accept it as normal and try to make the best of it. Kids get irritable at the end of the day because they're tired, but they never tell us that's why they're irritable; they would really have to self-analyse and my not realise the cause and effect. For example - my two younger kids have partial face blindness but never commented about it because they didn't realise they were different. They just thought other people were more discerning, or somehow cleverer at recognising people. You know how some people say, "I'm no good with names," when in fact it may not be that at all. And you notice - it's rarely little children who say, "I'm not good with names," because you need to be more elf-aware that you are different to other people in this. And younger children just don't see other people as different in such things, not until they're a lot older and have been looking around more at other people to compare notes.</p><p></p><p>So I would suggest an Occupational Therapist (OT) assessment to determine how he grips a pencil, if it hurts and if so where, and how soon. Far more than just sore hands when writing, hangs on this - hypermobile joints unrecognised can and do lead to early osteoarthritis, often before the child is out of their teens.</p><p></p><p>I also am seeing hypermobility in a number of kids we know who are also on the autism spectrum. I wouldn't say there is a 100&#37; correlation on this - from what I've seen, some kids on the spectrum do not have hypermobile joints and some people not on the spectrum do. However, it is worth considering.</p><p></p><p>What do you do? I think you do what you have been doing. On several levels - you need to encourage increasing skill in use of computer. In our case, difficult child 3 CAN handwrite (of course) but chooses not to unless he has no choice. When he uses a keyboard he composes more text. When he has to handwrite, he chooses his text as economically as possible, to keep to as few letters as possible. He never told us it hurts, we could see how his fingertips bent backwards when he wrote (or played piano) and we did our best to help him improve his skills.</p><p></p><p>Computer skills can be improved by practice and by allowing him to play computer games on the computer (using the keyboard). A lot of computer tutor games are fun and worth the effort. difficult child 3 is a fast typist but there are times when I give way and allow him to dictate text - nothing wrong with that now and again.</p><p></p><p>Think about the world in which we live - increasingly, we use electronic communication almost exclusively. It's not a problem to let him use a keyboard. Copperplate handwriting is a delightful skill but far less necessary than 50 years ago.</p><p></p><p>Practice makes perfect. Support improves the quality of the practice. We're having difficulty with some aspects of this now (in terms of difficult child 3 knowing how to complete certain writing tasks, due to his language issues plus the more subtle "reading between the lines" aspects to the curriculum material. </p><p></p><p>If an Occupational Therapist (OT) determines that yes, your son has hypermobile joints, then maybe ask for information about ring splints. we haven't got these but for us it's a bit late. But for you it could be worth checking out. They would stop the fingers from bending back and being 'floppy', and so reduce the pain.</p><p></p><p>About the loose joints - you aren't always aware of it yourself. If your finger joints tend to bend backwards, even a little, you try to overcome this by tensing your muscles. This increases your accuracy and control but comes at a price - the muscles tire, fatigue and begin to cramp. The degree depends on how bad the problem is.</p><p></p><p>Good luck with this one.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 212831, member: 1991"] MWM, I think you're thinking what I'm thinking. Kathrine, my three younger kids all have problems with hypermobile joints - this has meant that, among other things, handwriting hurts. But when it has always hurt, when to his mind it's normal for it to hurt and surely it's like this for everybody? Something I've discovered with my kids (and myself, in some areas) - when it's always been a certain way for you, you tend to believe it's like that for everyone and as a result you don't comment about it, you just accept it as normal and try to make the best of it. Kids get irritable at the end of the day because they're tired, but they never tell us that's why they're irritable; they would really have to self-analyse and my not realise the cause and effect. For example - my two younger kids have partial face blindness but never commented about it because they didn't realise they were different. They just thought other people were more discerning, or somehow cleverer at recognising people. You know how some people say, "I'm no good with names," when in fact it may not be that at all. And you notice - it's rarely little children who say, "I'm not good with names," because you need to be more elf-aware that you are different to other people in this. And younger children just don't see other people as different in such things, not until they're a lot older and have been looking around more at other people to compare notes. So I would suggest an Occupational Therapist (OT) assessment to determine how he grips a pencil, if it hurts and if so where, and how soon. Far more than just sore hands when writing, hangs on this - hypermobile joints unrecognised can and do lead to early osteoarthritis, often before the child is out of their teens. I also am seeing hypermobility in a number of kids we know who are also on the autism spectrum. I wouldn't say there is a 100% correlation on this - from what I've seen, some kids on the spectrum do not have hypermobile joints and some people not on the spectrum do. However, it is worth considering. What do you do? I think you do what you have been doing. On several levels - you need to encourage increasing skill in use of computer. In our case, difficult child 3 CAN handwrite (of course) but chooses not to unless he has no choice. When he uses a keyboard he composes more text. When he has to handwrite, he chooses his text as economically as possible, to keep to as few letters as possible. He never told us it hurts, we could see how his fingertips bent backwards when he wrote (or played piano) and we did our best to help him improve his skills. Computer skills can be improved by practice and by allowing him to play computer games on the computer (using the keyboard). A lot of computer tutor games are fun and worth the effort. difficult child 3 is a fast typist but there are times when I give way and allow him to dictate text - nothing wrong with that now and again. Think about the world in which we live - increasingly, we use electronic communication almost exclusively. It's not a problem to let him use a keyboard. Copperplate handwriting is a delightful skill but far less necessary than 50 years ago. Practice makes perfect. Support improves the quality of the practice. We're having difficulty with some aspects of this now (in terms of difficult child 3 knowing how to complete certain writing tasks, due to his language issues plus the more subtle "reading between the lines" aspects to the curriculum material. If an Occupational Therapist (OT) determines that yes, your son has hypermobile joints, then maybe ask for information about ring splints. we haven't got these but for us it's a bit late. But for you it could be worth checking out. They would stop the fingers from bending back and being 'floppy', and so reduce the pain. About the loose joints - you aren't always aware of it yourself. If your finger joints tend to bend backwards, even a little, you try to overcome this by tensing your muscles. This increases your accuracy and control but comes at a price - the muscles tire, fatigue and begin to cramp. The degree depends on how bad the problem is. Good luck with this one. Marg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Parent Support Forums
General Parenting
My son hates to write--need advice.
Top