My best friend right through primary to secondary school however was "not allowed" to walk or take the bus. The apparent reasons-

- Her mum was scared if she walked, she would get abducted, bullied, robbed, hit by a car or skip school.

- Her mum didn't want her to take the bus because the bus stop was 3 blocks away. Again, she wasn't allowed to walk to get there, and if the mum drove her to bus stop, she 'may as well drive the rest of the way'.

She also didn't like the local school bus driver, who was often seen going 10-20K over the speed limit.
In fact, to me, who would be waiting at the front of the school for my friend to arrive, it would be a game to see if the bus driver would take the corner so fast again that he would hit the bus stop sign on the footpath. Game ended when he'd knocked the sign flat so many times they removed it.

She was worried her daughter would also get bullied on the bus, would not find a spare seat, or 'get in with the wrong crowd'.

The bus would also not pick up students from the school until an hour after school was over. Plenty of time for 'bad stuff' to happen.

Personally, if I ever have a kid and live within 20 minutes of a school, I would probably drive the kid to school. If I lived further away, it would be the bus.
References :

Fear of the chaos and bullying on the bus. Fear of bad bus drivers. Fear of too much time around "bad influences", around kids who are bored and get into too much trouble during the long drive on the bus.

Sometimes bus riders get to school late often, so riding the bus lessens their education. Other times, they get to school more than an hour early and have to hang around for an hour after school–and that time doesn't include the time then spent on the bus; so there is a lot of wasted time, a lot of time to get into trouble, a lot of time that may not have adequate supervision.

Schools are much worse now than they were a decade or two ago. Riding the bus years ago was probably not as bad an experience as it is now–at least that's the case in our area of the country.

You can't just blame the traffic on parents. You could blame the schools for not having smaller, more local schools–schools that kids could walk to. Or people who won't carpool because they'll have to step outside of their comfort zone and find someone who works at a different company down the street. Or the people who choose to live far from where they work. Or….
References :

Every parent can feel for his horrible tragedy. But what we can't feel for is his self-absorbed response: spending 20 years spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt, making himself a celebrity, and making millions of dollars convincing every parent that stranger abduction is a greater threat to their child than being hit by lightning.
References :

Once in college, she won't be doing all of her reports orally, most will be written…. therefore she needs to become comfortable in writing.
References :

Writing isn't so much the physical act of it; it's putting thoughts together in a creative yet coherent way.

Just because she doesn't personally write or type something doesn't mean she's not 'writing.'

Help her out, give her the tools she needs to succeed, and don't worry about what's 'right.'
References :

My daughter really hated writing when she was that age– loved telling stories, hated the physical act of writing. She always had a little trouble with fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination.

Instead of writing, she would do "radio shows" or make her own video documentaries or dictate stories to me and I would type them out, or read them into a tape recorder. I'd give her grammar worksheets where she wouldn't have to write out long answers, just circle or underline or check things to correct them.

Encourage her to physically write a little bit, even if it is just copying things, or encourage her to learn to type, because eventually she's going to have to build on that skill.

Incidentally, my daughter started learning to type well at the age of 12, began writing more and more from that age on. I think if I kept pushing it, she would have just grown to hate it totally and never would have really become adept at writing anything.
References :

Sometimes it's justified, and sometimes it isn't. But my opinion is that kids over the age of 10 should be allowed to take the bus or walk to school on their own in most parts of the country.
References :

By all means, let her use the technology available to get her words out. It is foolish to risk damaging her writing (storytelling) ability in order to attempt to improve a mechanical skill. Try instead to work on that in other contexts.

Some ideas:
-Have her spend 5-10 minutes (no more than that unless she prompts it) a day copying from a book. Try to make it an interesting book, so she enjoys the work (those Uncle John's bathroom readers are good for something like this).
-Let her spend extra time playing games on the computer if she plays games that require some typing-like skill
-Encourage her to draw, or, better yet, paint or even fingerpaint. They are similar movements, just different enough that it might help.
-Try not to worry. In this day and age, she will never be unable to use the constantly improving technology…and if anyone ever questions it, she only need say "I have a hand problem, but I have lots of ideas!"
References :