Re: handwriting decline

[Guest guest]

Yes we are having the same problem. . . my son who will be 5 in a few weeks has

been struggling with hand writting all year! It has been a major challenge to

get him to do it at all. . . he has never complaimned of arthritis in his hands

(his knees, ankles and feet are the worst) but his teacher called and told us

that is seemed to be getting worse over the last couple of weeks (he had been

dropping stuff more ect.) So that night when I went home I checked out his

fingers and sure enough his index and small fingers were swollen (or bigger than

the others I should say) My son has systemic on JIA and is on Kineret his

systemic features are much better but after this I talked to his doctor and she

said that the Kineret sometimes works miracles for the Systemic portion of the

disease but sometime the arthritis part still gets worse. Right now she has put

us back on the Naproxen BID and it has seemed to make a little bit of difference

but not as much as we would have hoped so we may need to go back on the steroids

. Let me know if you find anything else out that may be helpful. Our Doctor in

Cincinnati is going to have us do some OT when we go out in a week so maybe that

will help.

>

> My daughter's handwriting goes in cycles. It's never been as small and neat

as most of the 5th graders, but sometimes it is really terrible. She doesn't

complain of joint pain in her fingers, but she claims during these bad cycles,

she can't write any better than this. Does this sound like arthritis in the

fingers? Her fine motor skills aren't that great either,but they seem passable

for her age. We went to a neurologist, but he did not feel she was having

seizures, so he didn't order an eeg. Both he and her teachers think it might

be a visual spacial disability or the neuro just thinks she has poor fine motor

skills. They are supposed to assess her, but with the budget cuts in California,

it seems to be taking forever. I hate discussing it with her rheumatologist,as

suddenly she has pain that she never felt before. Are your kids' handwriting

poor if they are having a flair and overall below average in that area? I

realize some kids probably can't write at all.

>

> Jo

>

[Guest guest]

Jo,

My daughter's handwriting is atrocious. In Kindergarten and 1st Grade it was

pretty neat. She took pride in how neatly she wrote. She would hold the pencil

jus precisely the right way. sometime between 1st & 3rd things went down hill.

I did not even notice til it was too late. One night while helping her with her

homework I noticed that she held the pencil in a strange way. If I try to hold

the pencil the way she does my handwriting is horrible also. She was diagnosed

with the seizure disorder in Kindergarten and so for the next several years we

were in and out of the neurologist office trying to keep the seizures under

control and reglulate her medication so she was not over drugged. So I was not

too concerned with her handwriting at that point. We had months and months that

she could not stay awake during school hours

that we dealt with. Also, at that time unknown to us we were battling the JRA

yet we chalked it all up to growing pains and being a typically active little

girl that got hurt alot. Being the baby of five kids she was not in a quiet

house of kids. It was in Sixth grade that she was diagnosed with JRA and I

realized that it was very likely the reason her hand writing was so bad. Also it

probably would explain why she had changed the way she held the pencil if her

hands were hurting. I sometimes feel bad that it took me so long to notice it

but then figure that many very successful people have very bad handwriting. We

have tried to correct the way she holds the pencil to see if it will help but

she is not really interested in changing so it is a battle I refuse to fight. I

hope that you can get your daughters pain under control so that she will not

have the bad cycles of handwriting. I do not recall my daughter complaining of

hand pain, but she was always having aches and pains and if it lasted too long

off to the doctor we would go and get a order to give her ibuprophin or

something and she would get better or get acustomed to it. Jaye is now

17 and she is doing well. She will probably never write very neatly but then

there are much more important things in life that she will accomplish.

Veri & Jaye 17 poly

handwriting decline

My daughter's handwriting goes in cycles. It's never been as small and neat as

most of the 5th graders, but sometimes it is really terrible. She doesn't

complain of joint pain in her fingers, but she claims during these bad cycles,

she can't write any better than this. Does this sound like arthritis in the

fingers? Her fine motor skills aren't that great either,but they seem passable

for her age. We went to a neurologist, but he did not feel she was having

seizures, so he didn't order an eeg. Both he and her teachers think it might be

a visual spacial disability or the neuro just thinks she has poor fine motor

skills. They are supposed to assess her, but with the budget cuts in California,

it seems to be taking forever. I hate discussing it with her rheumatologist,as

suddenly she has pain that she never felt before. Are your kids' handwriting

poor if they are having a flair and overall below average in that area? I

realize some kids probably can't write at al l.

Jo

[Guest guest]

My is 7.5 and in first grade...he was dxed with developmental delays at age

3.5...two years before the JIA dx. His FMS have always been terrible...as has

his writing and drawing ability. He has poly which impacts among other

joints...his shoulders, elbows, and fingers.

At age 4 he started seeing an OT for sensory issues...she noted he had 'weak'

shoulders...little did we know. He was released from the OT at age 5...before

his dx of poly.

Last year we spoke to his rheumy about his and our frustration in regard to

FMS...specifically handwriting. We started seeing an OT weekly last fall and the

progress he has made is amazing. For a while we thought he would never be able

to write well enough for school and we even mentioned getting him a keyboard for

school.

We do private OT...the school would not offer it to him because " if you tried

hard enough and had an idea about what he was writing...you could read it. " . So

we went private...our insurance does cover it ($15 copay only)

shows NO signs of active disease yet he still struggles with writing...so

yes I beleive it is possible that it cycles....even when they are not flaring.

also has some visual tracking issues due to his nystagmus...

All the best,

& , 7, poly, nystagmus...SPD...

Sent from my iPhone

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I swear I can tell when my daughter is having pain just by looking at her

handwriting. She's also a 5th grader. I put in her 504 that all work

papers must be dated. I also keep a log on my calendar at home as to when

she is complaining of pain.but not always does she vocalize. If she does, I

can verify dates and it is almost 100% spot on. Another good indicator to

me is length of her written response. Less than 10 words and I know for

certain! So pain to me is indicated by enlarged writing, less writing and

sloppy in quality. No doubt it shows in her work.

You might consider measuring hand strength as well. My daughter can't often

open a water bottle.all her friends can. I believe about 3rd grade, very

generally speaking, kids start developing enough strength to do so. But

other little tests of hand strength that you conjure up when a friend is

over, might be telling to you. How about monkey bars, can she do those?

You could also consider calling your rheumy before an appt and ask to have

OT evaluate her during next exam, could be part of business for the day.

Just a thought.

Best of luck.

Alice in AZ

[Guest guest]

Thanks for all the responses. She can sometimes open a water bottle and

sometimes can't. Certain buttons are difficult for her to open too. I'll admit

sometimes the bottles seem harder for me to open than other times, so I just

chalked it up to that, but you're probably right. I hate to face the fact, but

I guess she probably has arthritis in her hands as well. Sure enough the other

morning her fingers had a bit of that red rash, but she hasn't complained about

pain. She has never been good on the monkey bars (she is overweight, however)

and only on one occassion when she was on prednisone, could she actually do

quite a few of them She says she doesn't know why her handwriting has gotten so

sloppy again.

Jo

>

> Hi,

>

>

>

> I swear I can tell when my daughter is having pain just by looking at her

> handwriting. She's also a 5th grader. I put in her 504 that all work

> papers must be dated. I also keep a log on my calendar at home as to when

> she is complaining of pain.but not always does she vocalize. If she does, I

> can verify dates and it is almost 100% spot on. Another good indicator to

> me is length of her written response. Less than 10 words and I know for

> certain! So pain to me is indicated by enlarged writing, less writing and

> sloppy in quality. No doubt it shows in her work.

>

>

>

> You might consider measuring hand strength as well. My daughter can't often

> open a water bottle.all her friends can. I believe about 3rd grade, very

> generally speaking, kids start developing enough strength to do so. But

> other little tests of hand strength that you conjure up when a friend is

> over, might be telling to you. How about monkey bars, can she do those?

>

>

>

> You could also consider calling your rheumy before an appt and ask to have

> OT evaluate her during next exam, could be part of business for the day.

> Just a thought.

>

> Best of luck.

>

> Alice in AZ

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Interestingly, I decided to see if my daughter could right well with one of the

" Big Matic Grip Pencils. " with the refilable lead. Her handwriting was so much

better. I'm not sure if this would help any of your kids.

Jo

> >

> > Hi,

> >

> >

> >

> > I swear I can tell when my daughter is having pain just by looking at her

> > handwriting. She's also a 5th grader. I put in her 504 that all work

> > papers must be dated. I also keep a log on my calendar at home as to when

> > she is complaining of pain.but not always does she vocalize. If she does, I

> > can verify dates and it is almost 100% spot on. Another good indicator to

> > me is length of her written response. Less than 10 words and I know for

> > certain! So pain to me is indicated by enlarged writing, less writing and

> > sloppy in quality. No doubt it shows in her work.

> >

> >

> >

> > You might consider measuring hand strength as well. My daughter can't often

> > open a water bottle.all her friends can. I believe about 3rd grade, very

> > generally speaking, kids start developing enough strength to do so. But

> > other little tests of hand strength that you conjure up when a friend is

> > over, might be telling to you. How about monkey bars, can she do those?

> >

> >

> >

> > You could also consider calling your rheumy before an appt and ask to have

> > OT evaluate her during next exam, could be part of business for the day.

> > Just a thought.

> >

> > Best of luck.

> >

> > Alice in AZ

> >

> >

> >

> >