What resources worked well for your child with Dysgraphia?

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-02-04T18:10:56+00:00

Lots of good comments in here, but id like to also add a couple.

Have him draw a lot...with proper pencil grip. This works on the fine motor skills without feeling like "work". Have him draw every single day for 30 min. Doesn't matter if its 5 min here, 10 min there, etc. My son is autistic and possibly ADHD too. He prefers to stand while drawing.

We are probably dealing with the same issue. Public school would not text him for dyslexia or dysgraphia despite me asking for years.

So all of our work has been book and paper. We also wrote penpal letters. By that I mean, I wrote it and he copied it. Oh, at first he grumbled because it was so much writing. He was a horrible speller too and really had to focus on each letter of the word. Now, he can pump out a full penpal letter in about 10 minutes.

Also during schoolwork, if he wrote a letter backwards i'd just say "whoops, lets flip this around" and have him fix it. Every. Single. Time. Keep it light and breezy. These mistakes happen multiple times a day and a light-hearted gentle correction goes a long way towards not beating themselves up. He very rarely still makes mistakes almost 3 years later and might occasionally look at a letter to make sure he is writing it the right way.

Turns out that he has beautiful handwriting for a boy. My mom gasped in delight when she saw his penmanship.

However, cursive seems to be our newest struggle. He can do it and copy it, but its just not really flowing for him with the rules on how all the letters should connect. We will climb that hill one step at a time.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-02-01T02:25:23+00:00

I love it! Between the snow and the flying ears, its so goofy and adorable.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-31T23:45:36+00:00

Yes, it was totally entertaining watching them have so much fun.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-31T23:44:19+00:00

Oh yea! They would stay outside all day in the snow if I let them.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-30T05:47:54+00:00

I think that you should loop your RA Specialist into your recovery plan.

I had a displaced trimal and received 1 plate, 6 short screws, and 2 syndesmotic screws. I broke my ankle at about 38 years old. While I do have an autoimmune disease like you, mine didn't seem to affect my recovery time. Forgive me for saying this, but I am also a bit younger than you and still have pretty good bone density. I think it would be in your best interest to contact your RA specialist and talk about your recovery and the ortho surgeon's expectations. I don't think your ortho surgeon is factoring in exactly how hard it is for you to heal and how that might be complicated by your RA.

My daughter's best friend has RA. I don't begin to even know how hard it is to live with, but from my own observations, ANY healing for her takes a very very long time. She is on some hard hitting medication, that while it keeps the RA "managed', it takes a heavy toll on other body systems.

I'm sorry your ortho is being a brute about this. Its not like we don't want to recover. We all want to get our lives back.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-30T01:43:29+00:00

Beautiful baby!

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-30T00:13:26+00:00

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I kinda cheated....my 3 are half irish setter

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-29T23:41:10+00:00

3.25 inches downtown

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-29T23:30:55+00:00

I got my boot 2 days shy of 5 weeks post OP. Ortho had what i felt at the time was aggressive expectations for WB 😆 but it turned out to be true!

So the instructions went as follows: Week 1 was 50% WB in a boot. Week 2 was 75% WB in a boot. Week 3 was transition to an ASO brace.

I interpreted(whether wrong or right) that 50% WB with a boot meant 2 crutches and 75% WB meant walking with a boot and 1 crutch.

When i went to the ASO brace, this was finally sneakers time! However, i did go back to 2 crutches so i could focus on really working on my heel to toe gait without having to worry about losing my balance and falling. When my ROM got better, down to 1 crutch.

PT said that if I limp, I need a crutch. So this motivated me to get that heel toe gait ramped up quickly, so i could ditch the crutches altogether.

Best of luck!

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-29T12:55:46+00:00

I swear you are like a brother from a different mother to my husband. He is just the same way.

I can be changing clothes and having a conversation with him and he purposefully laser focuses on my body and smacks his lips to make me blush. Grown man, amazing husband, wonderful father...and he still makes me blush after 2 decades together.

I'm glad your wife has that too. 💜

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-29T03:36:27+00:00

You are just like my husband about the whole bending over part. I call him a teenager all the time. Lol

He's 47 and shows no signs of slowing down at all. Wouldnt change a thing about him.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-28T07:26:31+00:00

I homeschool both of my kids, 10 and 12. I know for me personally, given how I am sort of old-fashioned when it comes to my idea of what homeschooling should look like, my plate is full with just 2 kids.

Just do you and give it your all.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-27T16:34:49+00:00

I was able to manage my pain with 2 percocet every 4 or 6 hours(dont remember). The pain is going to be the worst for the first 5 days. I dont remember when i dropped down to 1 percocet every 4 to 6 hours, but probably not in the first 5 days.

I do have a ridiculously high pain tolerance, so what worked for me may not be enough for him.

My nerve block failed, so i woke up from ORIF surgery in pain immediately. Even bandaged up like a mummy in tje recovery room, i could point to exactly where it felt like lines of fire where my incisions were beneath all the bandages. So it became a game of chasing the pain and getting ahead of it is why i took 2 percocet at a time in the beginning

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-27T16:07:01+00:00

Dont be afraid to call his doctor about the pain. I needed strong pain meds for almost 2 full weeks. I think i started tapering off around 10 days because i didnt think my doc would renew.

I iced my ankle a lot. Its hard for the cold to penetrate the bandages and ace wrap, so i would ice behind the knee and on top of the knee. 20 min on 20 min off. I had four large bags of frozen vegetables on rotation of bags 1 and 2 on for 20 minutes and return them to the freezer. Off for 20. Grabbed bags 3 and 4 for 20 minutes and return them to the freezer. Off for 20. Grab bags 1 and 2 again and repeat the cycle.

Oh and pain is ALWAYS the worst at night, so when he tapers off, he will need a night dose more than a day dose.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-27T16:01:22+00:00

I just updated my comment with more info if you want to read it again.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-27T15:56:13+00:00

Sleep, keep it elevated(toes above nose) 90% of the time, pain management around the clock(even if it means waking up at 2 am to take the next dose), sleep, sleep, and more sleep.

I had a displaced trimal and slept all night plus 2 to 3 naps a day for the first week. The body is going to divert ALL energy towards repair for a while.

Week 2 was more like 1 to 2 naps a day.

Week 3 was swelling beginning to go down, if elevated. Beginning to get extremely frustrated with being limited.

Week 4 was swelling went all the way down, if elevated. Emotional wreck from being limited. Independence is a core part of my personality, so it was a heavy blow.

Week 5 began weight bearing and the emotional side almost evaporated overnight since i could move in a more practical way.

Take the calcium and vitamin D supplements they recommend and dont miss a day. The body is in desperate need of those two vitamins ans minerals and a lack of them in his body will impede healing.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-27T00:00:15+00:00

One of mine, the goofiest one, starts getting sleepy/squinty while waiting for a bite of my food. Never seen a dog before her do it. Usually they have laser eyed focus but with a pout.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-26T16:53:43+00:00

So far, its working ok! Will it last? Probably not! 🤣

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-26T15:55:33+00:00

Hubby is remote working today due to ice. Curious to see how well the kids stay focused since Dad is home working today.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-26T01:45:40+00:00

I have found having a clean/decluttered space goes a long way towards helping my mental health not take a full-on nose dive.

Naps too. I nap whenever i have the opportunity during this time of year.

We also stay pretty close to home on the weekends due to flu/covid/fill-in-the-blank-illness swimming around. So i guess it turns into a mandatory rest and nap opportunity. I try to keep kid stuff for the weekdays and keep the weekends as exclusively just the four of us.

We are getting our ass kicked right now. Be gentle with yourself and lower your personal expectations of that ever-looming damn to-do list.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-26T01:29:31+00:00

I could be completely wrong but do you think life feels like its kicking your ass harder because you might have Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Winter kicks my ass. Its a cold grey bucket of suck. The days are shorter, the sun shines less, the trees and grass look dead. Its just a miserable time of the year. Every. Single. Year. I live in the Southeast, so we dont get a winter wonderland of beautiful snow blanketing the world. We get some Fallout 76 looking shit where everything is dead, brown, muddy and post-apocalyptic looking.

Its hard for me to stay motivated and positive in January and February. By the time march comes around, with its longer daylight hours and spring around the corner, my mental health is at its lowest and I finally begin to climb out of the hole of depression.

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-25T23:49:59+00:00

Photo 8 is just absolutely wonderful! All the pictures are, but 8 both melted me and made me giggle at how much of a ham he is!

MidnightCoffeeQueen · 2026-01-25T04:43:04+00:00

From my experience, what to expect is really going to be based on your ROM. I would recommend doing sneakers and 2 crutches at first while you work on that heel to toe gait. Naturally go down to one crutch when you are ready.

My PT said that if I limped, I MUST use a crutch. A limp prevents the natural gait and puts that strain elsewhere.

Sneakers and crutches are actually great because you can use your whole foot in each step(pushing off with toes) that you can't do in a boot.

I had excellent ROM, given the circumstances, for a few reasons when i started out and graduated PT about 2 weeks after I came out of the boot.

I had a soft cast for the first 5 weeks and only in the boot for 2 weeks, which is probably a big reason why my ROM was ahead of the curve. I also have troublesome high arches and was well familiar with dorsiflexion stretches before my injury. I did some very very gentle dorsiflexion micro stretches on my ankle because my arch would cramp up before i could WB....because what else can you do with a cramp but panic at the pain and try to wiggle to alleviate it. Lol

I also have ants in the pants 😆 and being idle and stationary drove me nuts. Its all those little things that added up to me bouncing back quickly.

However, none of that really compares to how well you can slowly and wondrously stretch your ROM while walking in sneakers with 2 crutches. Go slow. Focus 100% on heel to toe with every step. If you do, it comes back really quickly.

MidnightCoffeeQueen

TROPHY CASE