If your child had handwriting difficulties....

I'm thinking of becoming a handwriting specialist, so I want to see how needed it really is, and if people out there really do pay for a handwriting specialist. so hypothetically speaking, would you hire one if needed?

also, if you ever used a handwiritng specialist, did you find it helpful? please share any info thanks.

Diamond Member Joined: Sep 17 2009 Posts: 3989

Just so you know most people would send their child to an OT.

No, I would not use one b/c that's the job of an OT, who is more properly trained. Also, my last three insurance companies all covered 20 sessions of OT/year. So through an OT it would be a $20 copay per session but a handwriting specialist would be out of pocket for...a self madeup title?

op here

I am an OT, I'm just wondering if I should specialize in this...

Hi. I am an OT as well. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you are a relatively new grad. If so, I really recommend that you get a few years of general experience in pediatrics before deciding to specialize. Most kids don't fit in a neat little box under one diagnosis. You will be treating kids whose handwriting difficulties stem from a thousand different places, and the only way to properly and effectively treat them is to have a thorough understanding of normal and abnormal development in a wide variety of areas. Years of experience with all kinds of kids and disorders is the best way to gain this knowledge so that you can accurately pinpoint where the difficulties stem from and decide on a treatment plan.

As an OT, handwriting concerns do crop up a lot in my practice. Handwriting Without Tears is a great course to take and program to implement, whether or not you decide to specialize.

Moderator Joined: Aug 14 2005 Posts: 4555 Location: Ohio

We had this situation and used an OT. If we had known of a handwriting specialist who was more affordable, we would have given it a shot.
_________________
mommy to 2 girls, 1 boy

"I would rather have my people laugh at my economies than weep for my extravagance."
--King Oscar of Sweden

What is a handwriting specialist?
In Israel kids with fine motor skills issues go to OTs. My DD is in first grade and she's working hard on perfecting her handwriting, she doesn't have any physical issues but it's a challenge for her. I work with her at home, and I asked the school if they recommended professional help, they said not at this stage.
So I guess I'd go with whatever the school recommended.

OTOH I personally have dysgraphia (spl), which is a physical condition, I don't think anyone but a trained OT could help with this, and even an OT is not a miracle worker. B"H in this day and age people like me have many solutions and I rarely need to actually write out anything by hand in a way anyone but me could read it (to bad there were no such technological solutions when I was growing up). I don't think anyone specializing in handwriting only would help in such a situation because the problem is larger than penmanship, which honestly is not so important in this day and age outside of a school setting.
_________________
גשם, גשם בוא!

Diamond Member Joined: Oct 25 2007 Posts: 4863

I have no connection with the OT profession, but I'm going to take a radical stand: when my kids had handwriting difficulties, I would never have hired a handwriting specialist, particularly since there were no other, more significant problems pointing to a need for OT.

My solution to handwriting difficulties was to make sure my kids learned to type! Who uses handwriting for anything more significant than making an occasional shopping list? My two kids who had difficulty taking notes in class were given permission to use a laptop computer or a similar device designed for note-taking. In fact, I hate the fact that any of my kids waste their time taking notes by hand.

Given my attitude, you may be surprised to learn that I have beautiful handwriting and was quite involved in learning and practicing calligraphy as a teenager and young adult. But that's part of my point: developing good handwriting is the equivalent in our times of being great at knitting. It's a wonderful creative skill to have, but if it's hard for you, there's no reason to force the issue.

On the other hand, an OT who specializes in helping people learn to type and overcome keyboarding problems would really pique my interest. For example, companies lose tons of money because many computer programmers are such lousy typists. They type slowly or make so many mistakes that they have to constantly backspace . . . or they have to debug their programs because of the errors they didn't catch. Likewise, some people have difficulty composing at the keyboard. I know a social worker who writes out her charting entries and then enters them into her case management software!

People who have difficulty keyboarding for various reasons really are at a disadvantage, and I would think an OT who could help them be more productive could potentially find a lot of interesting work.

Platinum Member Joined: Jun 30 2009 Posts: 8233

How could you help someone feel more comfortable with composing at the screen vs. with pen and paper?

I said I would use handwriting specialist. I assumed op meant an OT, not some random person declaring himor herself a specialist. I have used OT/handwriting specialist.Turns out that kid had more than just bad handwriting. OP - amother recommended doing general practice 1st. As a parent I can't agree more. A good,experienced Ot will discover why the child has bad handwriting. Ok, some kids just do, then I'm not sure I would continue paying,as fox said Type instead. But need a few ot sessions to figure that out.

Anyone out there that is an OT with experience in this: Dh has a terrible handwriting (as do I) and wants a "professional looking signature." He is willing to pay for someone to help him learn. Pm me if you have experience or know someone who does. TIA.

Moderator Joined: Sep 30 2009 Posts: 1375 Location: NY

I voted no. If there was some other issue - a general problem problem with fine motor skills, an ability to write totally - then sure I'd get the therapy. I would prefer an OT. But just to focus and be so obseesed with handwriting? no thank you. I was hounded and hounded as a kid for bad handwriting/holding the pencil wrong/you name it. It was legible it just wasn't nice and this was seen as a BIG PROBLEM that required hours of special worksheets etc. that mostly had no effect anyway. Well all it did was turn me off from showing people my writing. I did not have fine motor skill problems nor was it holding me back academically. I was allready getting very good grades because yes, it was legible on test papers and essay, so it did not help me at all in any academic sense. It just made me resentful for why everyone was hounding me over something that really did not seem to matter much anyway.

In this day and age to focus on having a perfect handwriting when there are no other issues is just silly. As long as its legible who cares? for the most part things will be typed anyway.

And in case anyone is wondering how I turned out without intervention - open a medical chart. My handwriting is better than 70 percent of the other DR.'s entires. So it seems my bad handwriting was merely a sign of my being destined to enter the medical field.... Wink

_________________
Need Help with college or graduate school applications?
http://admit2med.com/

~ Complimentary ad for being a mod

Platinum Member Joined: Jun 22 2008 Posts: 6433

I had many years of OT for my handwriting... at one point I said no more, after that 1/2 of each session was fine motor skills, the other 1/2 was touch typing. I was tested for every possible cause, at one point one person said I should just go into the medical field...