If graph paper is not available, turn lined paper sideways and that will help keep the columns straight. Purchase only wide-lined paper. Teach the student to write every other line, or invest in the new light blue and white notebook paper printed by Norcom Writing every other line accomplishes two things. In addition, there is plenty of room for insertions, corrections, and suggestions by proofreading parents or correcting teachers. They use only words for which they know the spelling.
Children create strange sentences to avoid important words.
In class, when students write essay tests, reaction papers, etc., tell them to use the appropriate vocabulary, but underline all words which they suspect are misspelled - with no points deducted. Two benefits occur. First, if the student does trust the instructor, answers on tests will resemble closely the student's intellectual capability, or at least the knowledge acquired. Secondly, a whole area of unknown writing skills surface which can then be remediated. It is important to remember that an instructor should not use a student's handicap against him.