dysgraphia/problems with handwriting

My son has a profound unilateral loss as well as dysgraphia. I'm interested in reading the research you've found. I'm happy to answer any questions about our experiences so far, but so far we haven't found much success overcoming it.
 
ReednOwensmommy said:
My son has a profound unilateral loss as well as dysgraphia. I'm interested in reading the research you've found. I'm happy to answer any questions about our experiences so far, but so far we haven't found much success overcoming it.
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ReedsandOwensmommy, does Reed have hypotonia and poor fine motor ? i know that's very common with Asperger's. The key with that is developing keyboarding skills. MUCH MUCH easier!
 
Warning super-long post ahead!

WillKnit said:
As for not using ASL with you, I think that's pretty standard for kids whose parents don't speak a language as well as they do. I grew up moving around a lot and heard the same thing about kids who learned other languages and then refused to speak them with their parents after they left that country. Apparently, I spoke French once upon a time and would just laugh at my parents when they tried to speak French with me. Maybe see if there are some fluent signers who would be willing to act as mentors to him. Or maybe there are other D/deaf/hoh kids in your area and you could form a play group.
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Right now he is in a morning class with 4 other hh kids, and they use ASL in class (his teacher is hearing, but did her masters at Gallaudet). He doesn't sign there either! Just about the only signs he will use are "please" and "sorry." But I am constantly amazed at his receptive ASL vocabulary.

I'm taking another ASL course at the end of July. I sign with him in the morning before he puts his aids in, I'm hoping when I know more sign he'll be more into that.

CSign said:
After looking again at your signature, I realized you were in Canada. I think the process is a bit different there. I would pursue having him assessed (by someone who is qualified to assess), and see what they recommend. I did some more reading, and it seems that people who have dysgraphia can have other challenges like ADHD and Dyslexia. I think it would be helpful for you and your son to get him thoroughly assessed.
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Yep, different system... the school has not assessed anything, his hearing was identified when he was a newborn (well before school started!!) I have a recommendation for an OT that I was thinking about consulting about some sensory issues, going to try to get an assessment this summer. Also there is a school here that helps with various neuro issues (including a Saturday morning course for dysgraphia), I'm going to attend their info session next week to see whether or not that would be appropriate/helpful.

ReednOwensmommy said:
My son has a profound unilateral loss as well as dysgraphia. I'm interested in reading the research you've found. I'm happy to answer any questions about our experiences so far, but so far we haven't found much success overcoming it.
Click to expand...

This is the first paper I found that mentioned it: http://www.visualspatial.org/files/poorhand.pdf I'm not entirely convinced that they know what they are talking about, but considering my son gets no high-frequency input it really jumped out at me. There's also a book called "Disconnected Kids" that I'm waiting to get from the library.

Everything is changing so quickly, I sometimes wonder if we know what we're doing with our kids... in the "old days" hh people didn't really get hearing technology until school age for the most part I think, now they get aided at 4 months and everyone says "Great!" but I wonder if because he expends so much mental energy on oral/aural expression of language - and has done since infancy - if that's taken energy away from developing his manual expression of language (both written and sign).
 
deafdyke said:
ReedsandOwensmommy, does Reed have hypotonia and poor fine motor ? i know that's very common with Asperger's. The key with that is developing keyboarding skills. MUCH MUCH easier!
Click to expand...

Reed keyboards great, and seems to do fine with other fine motor (buttons, Legos, etc), but handwriting continues to be a challenge. He's uncoordinated in general, but getting better as he gets older. His handwriting still resembles an average kindergartener, though, and he'll be in 7th grade in the fall.
 
jbeer said:
Everything is changing so quickly, I sometimes wonder if we know what we're doing with our kids... in the "old days" hh people didn't really get hearing technology until school age for the most part I think, now they get aided at 4 months and everyone says "Great!" but I wonder if because he expends so much mental energy on oral/aural expression of language - and has done since infancy - if that's taken energy away from developing his manual expression of language (both written and sign).
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Thanks for the link, I'll definitely look into that. I completely agree with your other points. It's so hard having HoH kids sometimes. They don't fit into the "boxes" everyone wants to put them in. ;)
 
jbeer said:
Warning super-long post ahead!



Right now he is in a morning class with 4 other hh kids, and they use ASL in class (his teacher is hearing, but did her masters at Gallaudet). He doesn't sign there either! Just about the only signs he will use are "please" and "sorry." But I am constantly amazed at his receptive ASL vocabulary.

I'm taking another ASL course at the end of July. I sign with him in the morning before he puts his aids in, I'm hoping when I know more sign he'll be more into that.



Yep, different system... the school has not assessed anything, his hearing was identified when he was a newborn (well before school started!!) I have a recommendation for an OT that I was thinking about consulting about some sensory issues, going to try to get an assessment this summer. Also there is a school here that helps with various neuro issues (including a Saturday morning course for dysgraphia), I'm going to attend their info session next week to see whether or not that would be appropriate/helpful.



This is the first paper I found that mentioned it: http://www.visualspatial.org/files/poorhand.pdf I'm not entirely convinced that they know what they are talking about, but considering my son gets no high-frequency input it really jumped out at me. There's also a book called "Disconnected Kids" that I'm waiting to get from the library.

Everything is changing so quickly, I sometimes wonder if we know what we're doing with our kids... in the "old days" hh people didn't really get hearing technology until school age for the most part I think, now they get aided at 4 months and everyone says "Great!" but I wonder if because he expends so much mental energy on oral/aural expression of language - and has done since infancy - if that's taken energy away from developing his manual expression of language (both written and sign).
Click to expand...

excellent....I am very impressed. And i do think as things get harder, he'll sign more......and I think actually you're dead on with your observation that he's expanding a lot of energy on oral/aural bit of language......you could make it a game. I clearly remember being that age and thinking " Oh i don't "need' ASL b/c i can talk.
I didn't understand that ASL could be used when my hearing aid was broken or in difficult listening situtions.
Maybe go the superhero route.....say "hey you have a superpower...you can turn off your hearing and we have this very cool secret language we can usetogehter!"
 
ReednOwensmommy said:
Reed keyboards great, and seems to do fine with other fine motor (buttons, Legos, etc), but handwriting continues to be a challenge. He's uncoordinated in general, but getting better as he gets older. His handwriting still resembles an average kindergartener, though, and he'll be in 7th grade in the fall.
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That's my kid to a tee... he can eat sushi with chopsticks and do grownup jigsaw puzzles and pick up a bug with tweezers, but his handwriting is off the charts. I think i would be less worried if his other fine motor was poor!!

deafdyke said:
excellent....I am very impressed. And i do think as things get harder, he'll sign more......and I think actually you're dead on with your observation that he's expanding a lot of energy on oral/aural bit of language......you could make it a game. I clearly remember being that age and thinking " Oh i don't "need' ASL b/c i can talk.
I didn't understand that ASL could be used when my hearing aid was broken or in difficult listening situtions.
Maybe go the superhero route.....say "hey you have a superpower...you can turn off your hearing and we have this very cool secret language we can usetogehter!"
Click to expand...

We watched "Spy Kids 4" a while ago, which I wouldn't exactly call an accurate portrayal of anything, but I liked that they didn't harp on about the kid's deafness, but that both the hearing aids and ASL were part of his special spy skills.

He's going to spend the summer at his old preschool, where all the teachers use ASL, 1 is Deaf, 2 are hard of hearing, and 1 is hearing, and the kids are a mix of hearing, hard of hearing, CODA, and Deaf. He was there from age 2 to 4 1/2, went back for March break, and is super-excited about going back for the summer. I was thinking about it last night, and wondering if maybe we should skip school next year and keep him in the preschool an extra year. Maybe he'd have a better time working on his handwriting if he wasn't tired from listening all day.
 
jbeer said:
We watched "Spy Kids 4" a while ago, which I wouldn't exactly call an accurate portrayal of anything, but I liked that they didn't harp on about the kid's deafness, but that both the hearing aids and ASL were part of his special spy skills.

He's going to spend the summer at his old preschool, where all the teachers use ASL, 1 is Deaf, 2 are hard of hearing, and 1 is hearing, and the kids are a mix of hearing, hard of hearing, CODA, and Deaf. He was there from age 2 to 4 1/2, went back for March break, and is super-excited about going back for the summer. I was thinking about it last night, and wondering if maybe we should skip school next year and keep him in the preschool an extra year. Maybe he'd have a better time working on his handwriting if he wasn't tired from listening all day.
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that sounds like an awesome idea!!! one of the upsides about having an audilogically Hoh kid, is that you don't need to worry all that much about spoken language development or exposure to the hearing world. (and before I get attacked, spoken language issues and exposure to the hearing world is something that parents of deaf kids often worry about) But, at the same time, it's very important for hoh kids to have exposure to ASL and Deaf culture, and see being hoh as just something they are/ something positive.
 
jbeer said:
My son is hh, moderately-severe to profound, sloping (we figure he has a cochlear deazone around 3000-4000hz), and so far he's doing really great in school, great with reading and language and motor skills etc. etc., but his handwriting is atrocious and illegible and he gets upset if you even ask him to write something.

Anyway, we think he might have dysgraphia (which basically means a handwriting disorder not caused by other cognitive or motor problems) and I was looking into this and I found an article saying it often occurs in children who've had recurrent ear infections, because ear infections can cause temporary high-frequency loss, and "higher frequencies appear to organize speech and the fine motor sequences of handwriting."

Has anyone heard of this connection before?

If anyone here has dysgraphia/handwriting/spelling issues, what are your thresholds like in the higher frequencies?
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Lost my hearing due to Rubella; I've struggled with dyscalculia (math learning disability). Like many people with learning disabilities, it touches on other areas: reading music, spelling, learning foreign languages, science, and handwriting - although folks usually have one major disorder - for me math. I hit all the marks with the above and I too can't hand write - or I can if you have an hour to wait. He'll be fine using the keyboard on the computer. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Lau2046 said:
Lost my hearing due to Rubella; I've struggled with dyscalculia (math learning disability). Like many people with learning disabilities, it touches on other areas: reading music, spelling, learning foreign languages, science, and handwriting - although folks usually have one major disorder - for me math. I hit all the marks with the above and I too can't hand write - or I can if you have an hour to wait. He'll be fine using the keyboard on the computer. I wouldn't worry about it.
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I guess these days people almost don't need to write by hand ever anymore... everyone has email and texting and iThings and stuff. I hope he will be fine keyboarding! I'm a born worrier...
 
jbeer said:
I guess these days people almost don't need to write by hand ever anymore... everyone has email and texting and iThings and stuff. I hope he will be fine keyboarding! I'm a born worrier...
Click to expand...

Don't worry - it's wasted energy. These days, students with special needs are far better off than when I was in school. If the worst he can say he can't hand write, he's better off than most. I'm in federal service and I really can't remember the last time anyone used anything other than a keyboard....

Laura
 
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I have very atrocious handwriting especially cursive handwriting. I can barely do cursive. I write in print for everything. I refuse to write in cursive and I prefer to type everything out if I can. I also have a math learning disability and can't even do fractions, division, higher multiplications, percentages, anything beyond simple add and subtract and lower multiplications. But I did excellent in other subjects especially reading and English and most especially art, I can draw and paint very good, I'm an artist. But my dad always got angry at me for my poor handwriting and blames me for it and calls me irresponsible and lazy. But I can't help it at all. I've been that way ever since I could remember.
 
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