Re: OCD causing problems with writing

[Guest guest]

Hi Kim, yes this is common, judging from parents' posts over the years. My

child's handwriting was illegible for months following her onset, and she

still (almost 7 years later) has " dysregulated " writing, with big and small

letters, spacing problems, and her hand tires easily. Teachers complain of

" impoverished " answers to questions and it is plain she writes as little as

she can get away with. This is much more pronounced when her OCD is waxing.

Dr. Swedo mentions worsening handwriting specifically (math problems

too) as characteristic of PANDAS OCD. I don't know if it is peculiar to

PANDAS vs. " regular " OCD, or if she, researching PANDAS, happened to notice

it clinically and report on it. Personally I think this underscores the

physical insult OCD can have on the brain, that it causes some physical

manifestations in addition to obsessions, compulsions, anxiety.

A common accommodation would be to reduce the amount of writing your

daughter must do, maybe allow her to answer with one or two word responses

rather than copying out entire sentences. If it's really difficult, maybe

she can do homework and tests/quizzes orally, or dictate her responses to a

scribe. My dd's main problem in lower grades was teachers, seeing the

uneven handwriting skills over time, assumed she went through periods of not

putting in appropriate effort.

Learning keyboarding was a lifesaver for my dd. Many schools have machines

called Alpha Smart that children with handwriting or note-taking

difficulties can use, you might check that out.

Take care,

Kathy R. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

From: <mnmomof1@...

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and then

> there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if this

> happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

> conferences, but

> just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look like

> I

> am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

[Guest guest]

My child has always had a hard time with hand writing because of his

ocd. He writes very slowly and it sets off anxiety. Anything with

alot of writing such as book reports are really bad. The amount of

writing overwhelms him so much that he can't hardly do it. Doing it

orally is no problem. This gets better and worse along with his ocd.

I too have worried about people thinking that I'm making excuses but I

know that I am not so I try not to worry about it. So far most of his

teachers have been very understanding.

>

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

then there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

this

> happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

conferences, but

> just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to

look like I

> am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks.

Kim

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

My child has always had a hard time with hand writing because of his

ocd. He writes very slowly and it sets off anxiety. Anything with

alot of writing such as book reports are really bad. The amount of

writing overwhelms him so much that he can't hardly do it. Doing it

orally is no problem. This gets better and worse along with his ocd.

I too have worried about people thinking that I'm making excuses but I

know that I am not so I try not to worry about it. So far most of his

teachers have been very understanding.

>

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

then there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

this

> happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

conferences, but

> just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to

look like I

> am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks.

Kim

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Is it the legibility or the content/thought/length...?

With the latter, you can mention distraction due to OCD or maybe

there is some OCD " thing " about writing?? had such a

touching " thing " going with his OCD, he didn't even want to pick up a

pencil or even look at a page sometimes for fear of getting " stuck. "

Legibility - OCD can definitely affect this, so can greater stress.

I would just tell the teacher that when dd's OCD is acting up, this

affects her writing. And if you have any accommodations you would

like for her in this area, suggest them; extended time for

completing/turning in, grading for the completion/effort and not the

content, maybe just a " check " for doing it, no letter grade....

Just some thoughts!

>

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

then there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

this

[Guest guest]

my 12 year old absolutely shows this same change! Sometimes I have to

have her dictate to me so I write, or type, and school has also

suggested using voice recognition software. This is all in her 504

plan as possible accommodations, as is no penalty in grading for

handwriting. When she is doing better, her handwriting and ability to

write are much better.

>

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

then there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

this

> happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

conferences, but

> just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look

like I

> am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

my 12 year old absolutely shows this same change! Sometimes I have to

have her dictate to me so I write, or type, and school has also

suggested using voice recognition software. This is all in her 504

plan as possible accommodations, as is no penalty in grading for

handwriting. When she is doing better, her handwriting and ability to

write are much better.

>

> Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

more

> active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

then there is a

> big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

this

> happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

conferences, but

> just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look

like I

> am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

was a pretty good writer as a younger boy. Found some stuff from

upper elementary recently, and his thoughts were well-expressed. Now he

can come up with good thoughts but dictates to me and I type it. He has

trouble organizing compositions logically. I like the hamburger idea.

I'll have to show him that. When he was really sick his penmanship was

awful and he couldn't organize thoughts at all.

Kim in IA ( 16 OCD)

fcpac5 wrote:

>my 12 year old absolutely shows this same change! Sometimes I have to

>have her dictate to me so I write, or type, and school has also

>suggested using voice recognition software. This is all in her 504

>plan as possible accommodations, as is no penalty in grading for

>handwriting. When she is doing better, her handwriting and ability to

>write are much better.

>

>

>

>

>>Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is

>>

>>

>more

>

>

>>active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and

>>

>>

>then there is a

>

>

>>big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if

>>

>>

>this

>

>

>>happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

>>

>>

>conferences, but

>

>

>>just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look

>>

>>

>like I

>

>

>>am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

>>

>>

>>

[Guest guest]

Hi, i noticed when my sons OCD was bad that he had problems with writing.

It was an early indicator for me.

I talked to him about this when he was well and he explained this to me .

On a good day he could write Rubble, but when ocd had a grip ( looked too

much like the number 6 . This number or any that had anaything to do with it

was bad. So on a bad day he would write RuBBle, it would also be very

scruffy looking because he would be shaking incase he made a mistake.

His teacher at the time was great she let him do all his work on a lap top

computer(strangly this was safe).

Hope this helps good luck in your meeting

and Jake

>From: mnmomof1@...

>Reply-

>

>Subject: OCD causing problems with writing

>Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:13:35 EDT

>

>Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is more

>active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and then

>there is a

>big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if this

>happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

>conferences, but

>just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look like

>I

>am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, i noticed when my sons OCD was bad that he had problems with writing.

It was an early indicator for me.

I talked to him about this when he was well and he explained this to me .

On a good day he could write Rubble, but when ocd had a grip ( looked too

much like the number 6 . This number or any that had anaything to do with it

was bad. So on a bad day he would write RuBBle, it would also be very

scruffy looking because he would be shaking incase he made a mistake.

His teacher at the time was great she let him do all his work on a lap top

computer(strangly this was safe).

Hope this helps good luck in your meeting

and Jake

>From: mnmomof1@...

>Reply-

>

>Subject: OCD causing problems with writing

>Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:13:35 EDT

>

>Does anyone else's child struggle with writing when their OCD is more

>active? My daughter is a great writer until her issues act up and then

>there is a

>big difference in how well she is able to write. Just wondering if this

>happens to anyone else. I need to talk to her teacher next week at

>conferences, but

>just not sure how you approach it. Any ideas? I don't want it to look like

>I

>am making excuses for her, but it really does impact her. Thanks. Kim

>

>

>