It's a long story, but suffice to say we're having difficulties with the school about Michael again. Anyway, in the November 10th issue of "Neurology" there's an article about how autistic kids have a much harder time writing by hand than neuro-typical kids do. We want the school to see this so they'll be okay with letting Michael type things instead of writing them out by hand. I don't know the exact title. There's an article about it here . and you can find more by googling "autism handwriting."

Anyway, I want a copy of that article but it's only in the print version, and it's kind of a specialized journal. Since FOLCs know everything, I thought I'd ask -- does anyone have access, and could you send me a PDF file or something?

Thanks,
PJ

I already told Pam that I MIGHT have access through my school's EBSCO host but I have no idea how to access it :p . Need to ask on Monday. I did poke around a bit and found this:

Title: Children with autism show specific handwriting impairments

It's the American Academy of Neurology journal that seems to be titled just 'Neurology' and it's in the Nov. 10 issue.

Pam, My daughter found it. I am sending it to you. Let me know if it opens for you.
Sue

You are awesome, Sue. I should have asked here first. It opened up and printed beautifully, and I've got a copy saved to my hard drive.

Thank you!!

PJ

Hi Pam:
I'm so sorry to hear you are still having trouble with Michael's teachers and he's not getting the kind of help he needs. You are a great writer, maybe as you gather all these things you should do a self-help book for people with autistic children. Sadly, their numbers are increasing in this country.
Just a thought.
regards
Artemis

There's a thought, Artemis. I'll have to consider that.

PJ

Hi again, Pam.
Hubby and I are both children of teachers. My mother taught 3rd grade for many years. What bewilders me about Michael's problems is that the first place his teachers seem to go is assuming he is *refusing* to do as they ask, not that he has problems doing it. They see it as a discipline issue, not an ability issue. Our parents always took extra time with one or two students in every class that were having trouble learning at the normal pace. Granted, these were probably not autistic, but just behind for a variety of reasons. Today's teachers seem to go first to an obedience issue, rather than a learning issue. This is so sad.
Hope things get better soon.
regards
Artemis

That's exactly it, at least for the one teacher... that's the attitude that comes through in his IEP, too. It's very frustrating. We're working on it, but some people just don't want to learn.

PJ