Handwriting

<p>This is my first post....this site is an amazing resource!</p>

<p>My son, a sophomore at a mid-Atlantic boarding school, is a very good student taking a rigorous course load.<br>
At our parent-teacher conferences this year (and last) several of his teachers have expressed concern about his poor handwriting. We have been aware of this and he had private testing done when he was in 3rd grade, which showed that he has some "dis-connect" between his brain and his hand. He is not otherwise LD. The psychologist doing the testing felt that in the era of computers, etc. that this was not a huge issue and that he should be accomodated in school when necessary and be allowed to keyboard assignments. He did this sometimes in elementary and middle school. And in high school, much (but not all) is done on laptops. My big concern now, though, is the writing portion of the SAT. I have heard that it's nearly impossible to get accomodation for this, which worries me. Truthfully, I don't even know HOW to check about this. He is an excellent English student and writer, but what good is that if they can't read the essay?
Has anyone had an experience with this or any advice?
Many thanks!</p>

<p>I had a similar issue to your son. I'm a high achieving student with messy handwriting. I never thought it would truly turn into a problem. Last year, it was suggested to me that I'd fail the AP/SAT and my state's test due to illegible handwriting. The teacher (and a few others) have suggested typing all my work--and even typing it on standarized tests.</p>

<p>I looked into this exact issue. And I can assure you, the way it works--they pass your essay onto readers who can read bad handwriting. I have TERRIBLE handwriting--and I got an 11 on my essay!</p>

<p>They WILL be able to read it. Don't worry about it!</p>

<p>But, if your son/you want to type the essay portion, you must get in contact with the school along with the college board. I forget the name of it but it's filed under disabilities/special education and it enables you to type your essays on the AP/SAT. But realize, that this will go down your son's record and that he will have to take ALL standarized tests from now on--typed. He will not have additional alotted time. Just a warning.</p>

<p>I also get keyboard accommodations, but I never used them and got an 11. Don't worry about it. He should be fine! I remember hearing a statistic before that on average, the SAT only deems two (yes, two!) essays a year not legible.</p>

<p>My son has Asperger's Syndrome and TERRIBLE handwriting and he got a 10 (out of 12) on the essay. I know I would have hated to have graded his essay, but it worked out just fine.</p>

<p>Thanks for your input, all....I guess it just has to be "legible enough"? So, not worth trying for any accomodation? It seems like a lot of jumping through hoops for a long shot of actually getting it. AND, he would have to type ALL of them if he gets it? Hmmm...sounds like "be careful what you wish for.."
Anyway, thanks so much...I feel better about this.</p>

<p>Ikns, I sent you a PM....</p>

<p>I wouldn't worry about it. My son also has terrible handwriting and got an 11 on both the SAT and ACT essays. At teacher suggestion, we had his TAKS rescored in middle school due to his handwriting. His score increased from a 2 to 4 (highest possible). He does not have any accommodation, but always types his assignments. He just had to submit an essay in his own handwriting for a scholarship application. We'll see how that turns out!</p>

<p>Of course, another consideration is whether writing by hand takes up a lot more TIME for your child than the normal child. I think that comes into play for my son....if you'd watch the way he makes his letters and how long it takes, it would drive you crazy. I think that he doesn't have as much time to get his ideas down on paper, because the physical act of writing takes him longer than other students. If you think this might be the case for your child, you might still want to push for the accomodation.</p>

<p>Agree with missypie. In the meantime, I once called Collegeboard to get their definition of "legible" because of concerns about my D's handwriting. On a practice test administered by a tutoring company, she was devastated because they considered her essay illegible. The CB person I spoke to (after having been bounced around) said that "legible" means "in English." So it sounds like their graders are trained to deal with handwriting issues (or they refer it to others who can handle it.)</p>

<p>I was worried about my son's handwriting also. It is naturally tiny, lightly written and often illegible to my eyes. As part of his SAT test prep we got a copy of "Write Now" by Getty and Dubay, and he went through and practiced improving his printing. He concentrated on writing much larger than he normally would when writing the essay, and got a 12. He tells me one of his friends who has handwriting worse than his also got a 12. My reaction is "Handwriting worse than yours? How?" Evidently those graders are marvelously adept at reading bad writing. My biggest worry as he went into the test was that he would get a 0 on the essay because they couldn't decipher it. </p>

<p>It worked well for him, but the friend had received the 12 on an earlier test so he felt confident he was going to be okay. If you think your son will have a harder time coming up with an effective essay because writing concerns are a distraction, that is something to take into account.</p>

<p>Thank your for all the advice and reassurance. At this point, I'd have to say that maybe we should just go with the flow and try it without acommodation. He is not slow (in fact, that probably adds to the problem); we should probably encourage him to slow a bit and do the best he can.
:-)</p>

<p>Just be careful with that. Collegeboard's policy is that if you take the test and receive an "average" score, they won't give you accommodations, because your scores are already "good enough." (Stupid policy, I know)</p>