<p>That’s interesting, toots13. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he has a diagnosable issue, though, just because his writing is awful. In any case, I would not try for accommodations. He’s already getting above 700 on the writing section even losing a few points on the essay for lack of legibility. If I can help him get those points back using one of the suggestions here, that would be great. And the more general issue is that he can’t write quickly and clearly, and this is a lifetime problem. I will try the Tri-Conderoga pencils, thanks!</p>
<p>NYMom, if I didn’t see my kid every day I would swear we were sharing one. We have this issue, too.</p>
<p>OP, you’re looking for a miracle in a short amount of time. Just tell your son to slow it down, and try to be as clear as possible. You don’t want him worrying about what he learned in a book when trying to write his essay. If anything, just sit him down and let him write some passages out under your supervision.</p>
<p>My daughter had very poor fine motor skills because of her premature birth. And she’s left handed. Her second grade teacher challenged her to have ‘perfect’ assignments for a month and her prize was to be no homework for a week. She did it. Every paper was neat, and a lot better than it had been. She didn’t really get no homework, but she ‘won’ and that’s all that mattered. She also developed her art skills after that and now has nice handwriting and is a talented artist. She did have a disability and could have had accommodations all her life, but I think it worked out better for her that she conquered it instead. (A friend’s daughter got to use a keyboard all through school and has horrible handwriting because no one ever made her learn.)</p>
<p>Anyway, if my 7 year old could do it, your 18 year old can to. Practice, practice practice. For one month. Slow down. Be neat.</p>
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But was it a real disability if a second grader could “conquer” it in a month? Don’t be so sure she could have had lifelong accommodations for it. </p>
<p>I am convinced my son scored more poorly on the ACT writing that he deserved due to handwriting, but will never know for sure. (He is a pianist also, no fine or gross motor problems whatsoever.) He re-took the ACT just to do better on the writing but only increased one point. He is a good writer and composition has never been a struggle.</p>
<p>It was a real disability, documented and everything. My daughter was born 16 weeks premature, had a level 2 brain bleed, had OT and PT from birth on until age 7. She had strong gross motor skills because we worked on them(walking, swimming, bike riding), but rather poor fine motor skills, as in the lowest 7% for her age group (that was the standard in our state to qualify for services, but she was probably in the 1-2% range as she couldn’t hold a pencil as age 3). She wasn’t slightly left-handed, she did nothing right handed at all and that caused her all kinds of trouble, from cutting with scissors to opening packages or jars to arts and crafts. She just didn’t do it. Remember all those crafts your pre-schooler brought home? I got none of those. She entered K with very few fine motor skills. I could have just kept redocumenting the disability for her records, but instead decided she needed to learn these skills. If she had been at a public school, she would have had continuing accommodations, but I put her in a Catholic school and they just made her do it. In Catholic school (or at least ours) penmanship is still a graded activity and important. Neatness counted. Other preemie kids we know still have accommodations (in college), yet are pretty good artists and have good fine motor skills. I believe if they can draw, they can master penmanship. Good penmanship is just hard work and boring, not as much fun as drawing. It might take longer, it might require a different instruction method because they need to use a different part of the brain, but they can do it.</p>
<p>She had been printing and writing for 2.5 years by the time the second grade teacher challenged her to be neat and tidy in her writing, so she just had to decide to do it correctly. That month she had to redo some assignments, slow down, bring all the things she’d learned together. She had to learn how to rip the paper from the notebook neatly (her teacher hated that it was all ragged because she torn it out with her right hand and it ripped). It was work. It was hard. OP’s son is not starting from learning to print either. He has been writing for years, just needs to perfect it, to slow down, to concentrate on forming the letters correctly.</p>
<p>I’m convinced an easier to read, neat essay on the SAT or ACT will receive a higher score. My other daughter, who has always had beautiful handwriting but is not a good writer and is a horrible speller, scored high on the essays. Her writing is simple, her words basic, and her handwriting very neat. I think a reader who had just been through a couple of messy essays was thrilled to get to one that was neat and she got points for that.</p>
<p>Have you had your son evaluated? As another poster mentioned, most schools don’t care about the writing portion of the SAT. It’s possible you may be able to get an accommodation for him so that he can type the essay rather than write it out or your insurance may pay for occupational therapy. </p>
<p>Spykid’s handwriting is not neat even though he does make an effort. He doesn’t have dysgraphia but he struggled with fine motor skills as a toddler and holds his pencil like a lefty even though he is right handed. It is what it is and I’m just grateful most assignments are type written.</p>
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You seem judgmental towards students who receive accommodations. Catholic schools aren’t the cure-all for disabilities. Occupational therapy can help students. </p>
<p>I’m curious – is this the daughter whose schedule and courselist in college you are managing? Is this the one who can’t take a late Friday afternoon class, because you are afraid she won’t go? </p>
<p>As a not so well behaved student in early grade schools, my teachers made me to recite certain sentences many times by hand. I guess I got good training from there. 
It does take a long time to improve writing speed and legibility.</p>
<h1>27 I remember when my kids where in preschool one of the “games” the school would have them do is transfer grains of rice from one small bowl to another with tweezers to develop pincer grip.</h1>
<p>Interestingly, I started training my younger D typing on computer when she was in elementary school. We asked her to type half a page from time to time. It turned out to be a waste of time. As soon as she got an e-mail and facebook account, she started typing much faster than I do. 
I think both ACT and SAT are moving towards online testing (or at least test on computer). That would eliminate the problem of handwriting and legibility.</p>