Visual-Motor Coordination_Amanda Jacobs

Special need Visual Motor Coordination	Special Need: Visual Motor Planning and Execution or Dyspraxia
Characteristics	Student appears clumsy. Student has trouble tying shoes or manipulating other tasks with hands such as holding eating utensils. Student finds writing or copying from the board to be extremely difficult. There is large disparity in letter formation and size. Transitioning from print to cursive is difficult. These characteristics exist because the student has difficulty with transcribing motions from thoughts in the brain to fine and gross motor skills. Fine dyspraxia makes writing a labor-intensive activity which tires the students. Students hold the pencil very tightly and near the tip. Student may also have difficulty with speech. Student may find speaking to be a risky behavior and so may not speak willingly.
Misconceptions	Student is perceived as lazy. Student is perceived as slow or with lower cognition ability.
Resources	Center for Development and Learning: Graphomotor Skills: Why Kids Hate to Write by Glenda Thorne, Ph.D. http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/graphomotor.php Dyspraxia Foundation, USA (Harry Potter has dyspraxia!) http://www.dyspraxiausa.org/ NCLD: National Council for Learning Disabilities http://www.ldonline.org/article/14616?gclid=CN6r-MSl-q4CFUZN4Aod3ETWxA National Center for Learning Disabilities http://www.ncld.org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/writing/dyspraxia
Curricular Modification(s)	We can put an alphabet reference on the student’s desk for a close visual reference. Notes on the board may also be copied onto paper for the student to have a closer reference to. Our student needs extra time to write. Our student may provide oral answers to test questions instead of writing. Learning to type may help the student write faster and therefore get more ideas onto the paper instead of always struggling with printing.