May 27 2008
A Glimpse of Compromised Motor Skills
Every now and again I feel as if I’m getting a glimpse into some of Gus’s challenges. Today it seems that I am experiencing some trouble with motor skills.
I somehow managed to either tear or pinch something in my right shoulder which has left me virtually unable to use my right arm or hand without lots of pain. So I am left having to perform most tasks with my left hand. Fortunately for me I’m a little ambidextrous, but it’s still taking a lot of brain power.
I had to write Gus’s teacher a weekend update note. Something that usually takes two minutes took closer to ten minutes. My brain was telling my hand how to form the letters, but the messages were sluggish and a little baffling. Trying to brush my daughter’s hair, the messages were even worse. I was wondering when my hand was going to turn the brush around and smack me in the face with it, like in some horror flick. My morning has been incredibly frustrating.
Difficulty with fine motor control is not uncommon in autistics. Having to spend a couple of hours (and probably the rest of the day at minimum) using my off hand and fumbling through my frustration, I have a renewed sense of sympathy for Gus. I’m tempted to tell his teacher to cut the kid some slack during those torturous morning writing assignments, but then it would take me another half hour to write the note and I’d be late for work.
Yow! It must be particularly difficult. I did not even know this was a problem for kids with autism, although when I think about some being able to type but not write, I should have figured it out on my own.
Even more typical students, boys especially, frequently have trouble with handwriting, and many of them carry this very deeply and are still quite apologetic about it in HS, which is sad enough. Never mind a kid who is dealing with such other stuff that handwriting must be the last thing on the list to worry about.