Re: Fw: Recovering fine motor and handwriting. Masgutova

[Guest guest]

My son's handwritting improved with neurosensory reflex integration work. We

have done the Masgutova Method.

http://www.thetherapyplace.net/newsletter/issue6/page4.htm

http://masgutovamethod.com/method.htm

>

> I am writing a general post and putting it out to the boards, searching for

answers. Perhaps someone out there has dealt successfully with this issue where

I have struggled.

>

> Mark is 15 and pretty much recovered. Actually, he just came home

> last night from a school trip to France for 12 days and did magnificently! He

didn't regress at all and while he was a bit tired from his travels, his eyes

were glowing and he was full of stories of his adventure.

>

> BUT, his handwriting, fine motor and paper management skills remain

> atrocious. He has come such a long way in this area but it really is not

> enough for higher level education. Mark begins high school next year (grade

> 10) and I worry that his lack of handwriting fluency is going to be his

> doom. At one point, his hands and wrists were extremely weak and frail

> along with the rest of his body. We have spent years in improving his tone.

> The body came in first and now his hands/wrists are nice and strong. I

thought

> that in achieving normal hand strength, his fluency would get better.... and

it did, a little, but not very much.

>

> Today, his gross motor is pretty good. He runs regularly, plays on the

> football team, wrestles, is currently rowing on crew, skiis (both snow and

water), kneeboards and is extremely

> active. This is quite a difference from the young boy who used to fall out

> of a chair, his body was so weak!

>

> Pretty much everything associated with his condition has been overcome. We

> have great speech, auditory processing is now good, good attention, memory and

the body is nice and

> strong. BUT those hands!

>

> For him, it is not just with handwriting. It took him until he was 12 in

> order to tie his shoes. He struggles with things like chopping veggies,

> folding laundry, opening the Glad garbage bag to place it into the bin

> (tactility issue on this one), inserting keys in locks to open doors. He

> will often write on his loose leaf paper upside down or insert it into his

> binder or duo tang backwards or upside down. His handwriting is sloppy and

> pretty much illegible. I don't know how his teachers read it! His writing

> is slow and laborious. He brings home ZERO notes from class and writes

> notes from his textbook onto the computer each night rather then take notes

> from the teacher. He does have a laptop to take to class but refuses to do

> so anymore finding it cumbersome and difficult to manage along with the

> myriad of textbooks he has to carry around.

>

> Mark is an excellent reader, always has been and his visual memory is quite

> acute. He tested out at the college level of decoding and reading

> comprehension when languishing in special ed in grade 6! So.... I know he

> isn't having issues with dyslexia but does have problems sometimes with

> visual scanning for objects, ie. an object can be right in front of him and

> he won't see it, he has hyper-peripheral vision which is probably the 'root'

> cause of all of this.... or is it visual motor? I just don't know anymore!

>

> I have done every handwriting program out there to no avail. The best,

> really, was Handwriting Without Tears and we did get some improvement with

> that program along with Form Drawing by Waldoff. We had repeated the HWT

> program a few times before Mark refused to do it anymore. He is DONE, DONE,

> DONE with therapy and just wants to live a regular life now. And he is

> doing this but..... I recognize that his lack of handwriting fluency is

> about to catch up with him. Today, our therapy now consists in the form of

> 'chores' or within the realm of organized sport. While he struggles with

> it, I make sure that he participates in cooking dinner, folding laundry,

> shoveling the walk, taking out the garbage, making his bed, etc.

>

> I know that for him, it is a visual motor issue but it seems to be more

> concentrated with small items or small movements of the hands and fingers.

>

> I feel as though I have exhausted the 'list' of things to do for fine motor,

> visual motor and handwriting. I have heard that fencing helps with fine

> motor control and know of a club that he could possibly join. Does anyone out

there have

> any suggestions of other things we could possibly try within your arsenal of

> experience that I may have overlooked?

>

> Looking for therapy and/or biomedical suggestions here....

>

> We are still chelating and 'hoping' that the handwriting will improve but

while everything else has gotten better with chelation, alas, the hands remain a

big problem. It's our last holdout and we won't be DONE with this dreadful

condition until I have recovered his hands completely! I once promised Mark

that I would get 'everything' back for him that was once lost. I am trying very

hard to keep this promise but am getting frustrated in this area....

>

> Does ANYONE out there have an older child who conquered handwriting and fine

> motor skills later in life? If so, I am ALL ears!!!

>

> Looking for suggestions,

>

> Janice

> Mother of Mark, severe global dyspraxia/apraxia/dysarthria/CAPD, now '90%'

> recovered

>

>

>