reading v writing skills

[ilikenoodles]

Hi!

My reception aged son is pretty good at reading and not so good at writing. At parents evening I was told that they need to "bridge the gap" which is fine, however teacher did keep putting a major ephisis on his writing ability (or lack of). She said his writing is of a level expected for an august born reception boy but nowhere near his reading ability and so my question is...just because a child is advanced at one thing, should he be equally good at the other? This is what I thought she was getting at?....I have never been worried about his writing, it's perfectly normal, from what I can see for his age. Is too much being expected of him?

Also if a child can spell, say "window" of the top of his head but then spells it differently when it comes to written work, is that weird??

Thanks xx

ps. I appreciate the school working to improve his writing, she's a great teacher, i Just assumed writing and reading were different skills no to be compared with?

[ilikenoodles]

forgot to mention, he's left handed and has little podgy baby fingers so all in all doesn't find writing easy :)

[itsnothingoriginal]

Very normal for this stage and great that he's being supported so well at school and home. How's his pencil grip?

Writing rarely seems a boys favourite activity but keep an eye on it as if his reading and writing ability don't start to level out further up the school there may be more of an issue. My DS still has real difficulty with writing even now in yr 4 but has been free reading since reception

[numbum]

My DS is now in y3 and, ever since reception, we've been told that his writing doesn't reflect his reading ability. He doesn't particularly like reading or writing so I've just let him do what he wants to be honest and let school try and deal with the 'problem'. They're increasingly frustrated which seems a little OTT when he's at the expected level for his age in writing

Bless your DS' little podgy baby fingers

[wandymum]

Hi

We're in exactly the same boat. 5yo DS is a free reader but his writing is nowhere near the same standard. His teacher kept talking about working harder on his writing, poor pencil grip, etc, etc... so we got the impression he was behind with writing. On checking, actually he is at the top end of his class for writing too - just not on a par with his reading.

It will come over time - just because reading 'clicked' very rapidly for him, there is no reason writing should too.

[simpson]

I have this with DD too. Although her teacher (reception) is not worried and DD is ahead in her writing just not as drastically as her reading!

She will write (when the mood takes her) and is not as taken with it as reading.

[SaveMeNow]

It's perfectly normal! It's also really common for children to be able to spell words verbally but struggle when they put pen to paper. Well done him on his reading though!!

[ilikenoodles]

thank you so much guys! Really put my mind at rest.

His teacher mentioned his pencil grip and said that I should try and get him to play with plastersine (spelt wrong, sorry) because its hard and should improve his hand strength, and few other suggestions, so they are being quite pro-active at moving him on.

I kinda put it down to being a boy thing too, he's 4! I don't expect him to be any better at writing than he is, but it sounded like they did! Writing is bloomin hard....it's taken me a good while just to write to this

[ilikenoodles]

or typre this, which is a struggle too

[MasterOfTheYoniverse]

What you describe is pretty typical in reception children, don't worry.
Why is this in G&T by the way?

[simpson]

Squeezing clothes pegs really helped DD (she is hyper mobile).

[Worriedandlost]

May I use an opportunity and ask what is considered to be a standard in writing for reception? My dd's first language is not English and it worries me that she may be behind because of that. She writes sweet tiny stories for herself (just 4-5 sentences), is it in line with reception requirements? Spelling wise she is ok though.

[Secondme]

ds3 has always been much better at reading than writing and finds writing a real struggle. It doesn't mean they need to be as good at one thing as another.

[Willdoitinaminute]

Controversial but Nintendo DSi' s are great for improving pencil grip. My DS had one at 5 and didn't look back. We chose games where he had to follow lines on the screen with the pen. He now has beautiful handwriting better than most of the girls in his year. At his school they learn cursive style from reception.
The small stylus needs good fine motor skills and the repetitive nature of the games meant plenty of practice. I am surprised no one has developed a game for this purpose.

[RINGFenced]

I wouldn,t worry at all. My son was turned down by Eltham College because he held his pencil incorrectly. He went on to win a place at Tonbridge, got 4 A'levels all top grades and graduated in History from Cambridge. He was trained by a top accounting firm and now is in a top position in a national newspaper. They don't always get it right. His handwriting is still terrible but if they had known how he would turn out I bet they would have grabbed him! A lot of intelligent people have terrible writing (look at doctors writing). I think it maybe because their brains are working faster than their can get their thoughts down on paper.

[dipdabdo]

DS was like yours OP. I kept hoping his writing would catch up with his reading but in the end his writing started to pull his reading down. ( Eventually reading starts to be assessed by the quality and quantity of written answers on a passage).
It turns out Ds has dysgraphia. His intelligence was masking the problem but eventually it was obvious that something was wrong.

Sometimes these discrepancies even themselves out but if that don't then you need to keep looking for an explanation. I wish I had done this earlier than I did.