5yo DD writing - am I worrying unnecessarily?

[vladthedisorganised]

5yo DD is coming to the end of Reception and I'm quite worried about her writing - to the point where I'm wondering whether there might be something amiss.

She is very articulate and uses complex language; can understand abstract concepts and follow (and issue) complex instructions (more often the latter tbh..). She is fascinated by science and has a much better grasp of maths than I'd expect. She loves drawing and her drawings are getting very detailed.

I am at a loss with her writing. At age 3 she would happily spend hours making squiggly lines on a page; she could form a few letters and write her name before starting school and I assumed writing would come fairly easily to her.

Then I started seeing what her peers are doing in class, and I was really shocked. DD will often get thank-you letters from her classmates that read "Dear minivlad, thank yoo for coming too my party thank yoo for my luvly prezent I hav paynted the box". DD can write her name and that's it. Ask her to write any word from phonic sounds and she might just manage the beginning and end sound, if that, though she will happily sound all of them out verbally. She also seems to have no concept of ordering letters or words at all when she writes them down, or writing from left to right - and it's a real struggle to teach at home.
"I went to the park" will appear on the page as "I to pk"; then if she remembers that she missed out a word, she'll tack it on to the end - "I to pk wt t". Occasionally words and letters will be scattered around a page or written sideways or upside down, which makes it harder to decipher. She can copy words correctly, though struggles with spacing, and her finger strength/ pen grip seems OK as she is producing really detailed drawings.
Her reading is OK - not massively ahead or behind as far as I can gauge, though she doesn't seem bothered about reading any book other than the ones she has to read for school - she loves stories and being read to, but has no real enthusiasm for reading them herself.

DH thinks she's still small and it's nothing to worry about, but the fact that she seems so far behind her peers - and seems to have gone backwards if anything - makes me quite concerned about how to support her. She's already refusing to write anything at all - including in a 'fun' way - at home, so I'm trying hard not to push it, but I also don't want her to fall behind and struggle more later. Is it something that might click later, or is there something I can do to help?

[BooChunky]

My DD is almost 5 and can only write her name... Her classmates are so varied, some can write sentences and some can't write their name so I'm thinking your daughter is doing well?

[QuiteQuietly]

Some of those thank you letters will be copied out. And if you are a school with competitive parents, a few may even be (shock) faked.

Does she like colouring in? There is an often pasted list of activities that build up writing muscles - maybe try some of that rather than making writing a massive issue? What does her teacher say?

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

It might sort itself out with time. Some children take a bit longer for it all to come together. I think you might be right in that there is an odd disconnect between her other skills and what she can do.

I'm not sure this is a motor skills issue given what you have said about her drawing. Given that she can orally segment accurately, I think I'd be looking at going back to some word level stuff with her. Get her to sound out the word, holding up a finger for each sound, then counting the sounds. Once she can do this, draw a dash for each sound and then try and get her to spell the word with a grapheme on each dash. Try and get her to read what she's written back by blending the sounds back together. Doing this with magnetic letters, might make it feel a bit less like 'writing'. At this stage though, I wouldn't push it too hard if she is very resistant.

[redskybynight]

My DS could only write his name at the end of Reception too. And, if remember correctly so could about half his class. Not all children have the fine motor skills required at this age.

[harryhausen]

My ds was hardly making any sense at with his writing in reception. To be honest, it's only now in Y3 that he's grasped writing at all. He frequently mispells really common words. However, at his last parents evening his teacher told me she considered him slightly ahead in his reading and writing (including comprehension) for his year group.

I remember being scared by glancing at others writing or seeing them running out with higher banded books. One child ran out one day with a pocket dictionary and shouted to his mum that the teacher told him to learn it as he knew all his other spellings....(years on I think this must have been a private joke).

My pfb is about to leave primary soon and looking back I giggle at how worried I used to be about both of them.

OP, don't worry. Your dd is very normal and will do really well. She's still tiny.

[Millymollymama]

I had a pretty bright DD1 and I remember her running out of school one day, when she was in Reception Class, with The Diary of Samuel Pepys. I did query this with the teacher but she said they had free choice of libary books - this was the Ladybird version. I guess other parents might have thought she was a genius! Dont worry about what other children write in Reception. This time next year, I am sure there will be an improvement. Also, some children are not keen on writing and find it hard work. Concentrationis needed and lots do not have it at 5. There are lots of good things about reading to your child. We did paired reading where I read a bit and then my DD's read a bit. We also got lots of library books to vary the diet. School Reading books are a bit of a drag and not always fun stories. Get her engaged with poems too. They have a rhythm and the use of words really helps.

[christinarossetti]

What does her teacher/the school think about her writing?

[ChopOrNot]

My DS was like this - around the same timescale too. He was certainly at the lower level of attainment thoughout Y1. Then this September he just decided, OK, ready for the now and has flown. Now he is in Y2 and above average on reading and writing and towards the higher levels within his peer group.

Certainly mention your concerns to his teacher. Ask for advice. They may reassure you and/or give you some ways to help support your DD. (I did and she gave me a few hints and tips to help him and extra summer holiday worksheets which we could try if we wanted - teacher was not overly concerned but happy to help us help him iyswim).

[vladthedisorganised]

Thanks everyone. I have asked for a chat with DD's teacher to see what they're actually doing in class. DD did say that 'I can write, but I can't write the way that everyone else that goes to my school does, and that makes it really hard for me and that's why I don't want to do it at home'. I tried a few techniques with magnetic letters and got her to copy them out, which worked pretty well; as did writing a single letter over and over out of context, which would have driven me round the bend at that age but which DD doesn't seem to mind. Writing on a whiteboard works a bit better than sitting to write on paper.

I can't imagine having the energy to fake a thank-you letter for DD to be honest, but several parents have sighed loudly that their offspring just aren't challenged enough by the curriculum, were already doing calculus in nursery etc etc so I might be alone in this..

[Bumpsadaisie]

How is her reading? Is there a significant difference between what she can read and write?

[vladthedisorganised]

There is Bumps - it's a weird thing. She can sound out letters without a problem, sight-read about 50% of the words in reading books and usually flies through the reading books in about 5 minutes (three quarters of an hour if we do any comprehension, as she talks about the more interesting story she would have written for ages afterwards...) I wouldn't say that her reading is above average, but she's definitely comfortable with it.

I suppose it's that aspect which I find most confusing. If she was generally struggling I'd be tempted to think 'OK, she's a bit slower to get there than the rest of them but it will click eventually' or, if nothing at all improved, then both I and the school would be on the alert to look at what additional support she needed. The fact there's such a gap between her writing and everything else seems odd to me.

[Caravanoflove]

My ds is 5 can't read anything more than CVC words (and that's often a struggle) or write anything other than his name. I hadn't given it a seconds thought. He's five!!!

[bobajob]

I would talk to the teacher. Most children of average or above attainment in other areas would be able to write a sentence with common words spelled correctly and others spelled phonetically at this point in the year. Some are going to be putting capital letters, spaces and full stops in too. I wouldn't worry though, 5 is still very young and with some children it just clicks later.

Has her sight been checked?

[Ferguson]

More and more is being expected from Reception children, in some cases almost to the extent that what was previously Yr1 or Yr2 work is now sometimes tackled in Reception.

I will add a few of my advice strategies:

ONE - ?When reading harder books with a child, get him to point to words as he goes along. If he knows the word, or can sound it out, he can say it. If he doesn't know the word, he can hover his finger over it, and YOU say the word for him. Don't stop to analyse or discuss the word at this stage, but try and keep the 'flow' of reading going. Review difficulties at the end, if you wish to.

This way, he has the satisfaction of reading more difficult books, without the fear of getting 'stuck' on words.

TWO - If you have a tape recorder, or a phone that records, the child can DICTATE their story, then later listen to it back, and amend if they wish. Finally, at some stage, the child can try to write some of it. In Reception, if they get the initial sound correct, don't expect too much more. It is, after all, only two or three years since they learnt to TALK.

THREE - An inexpensive and easy to use book, that can encourage children with reading, spelling and writing, and really help them to understand Phonics, is reviewed in the MN Book Reviews section. Just search ‘Phonics’.

[mrz]

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360534/ELG10___Writing.pdf

[poppy70]

Initial sounds are not enough at this stage in year, they need to have them by Christmas. Not uncommon to have a massive gap between writing and everything. Longterm I wouldn't worry about it. a child who is on track at this stage in the year would be attempting to write a sentence. She is. She is fine. No requirement for capital letters and full stops but we encourage them to use them. Writing is incredibly difficult. Short and long answer is she was in my class - she is fine.

[threegoingonthirty]

Do you live in an area where people do "state till 8"? If so it isn't unheard of for tutoring for the 7+ to start in reception.

[cariadlet]

I teach Year 1 and have also taught Foundation. As others said, there will be a huge range in Foundation. Some children are still mark making, while others are producing readable sentences.

However, judging from your OP, your daughter doesn't seem to have made the progress that I would have expected for her potential ability. The children who are still mark making this late in the year tend to be those who weren't really interested before they came to school eg active little boys who spent their nursery years running around outside being a superhero.

Those children, especially girls, who have engaged in mark making before school, enjoy drawing and come to school being able to write their name are usually (but not always) able to write a couple of sentences independently at this point of the year.

It's hard to know exactly what's going on without knowing your daughter and without seeing what is happening in the classroom. I can think of 2 possibilities. (but it could be something else).

One is that she needs to develop her working memory. Before she even picks up a pencil, it would help her to think of her sentence. Then say that sentence aloud. Then repeat it slowly a few times, "saying it with her fingers" ie put up 1 finger each time she says a word. Once she is sure of her sentence then she could try writing it - saying it over and over as she writes. Finally, once she has finished her sentence then she needs to read it aloud - pointing at each word otherwise she will say the whole sentence again including any missing words that she forgot to write.

I'm also wondering if something has happened to knock her confidence - especially as she doesn't want to write at home, even in a fun way. If she is a bright little girl who usually picks things up easily, it could have been a shock to her to find that learning to write is tricky and something to work at. This might have made her reluctant to choose to write so that she has been writing with an adult in class when asked, but doesn't choose to go to the writing table or to write in the role play area. If she isn't choosing to write and isn't practising as often as the confident writers, that could slow her progress down a little.

I wouldn't push her to do much at home at the moment as she is reluctant - keep going with the reading instead.
But what I would do is make sure there are always writing resources available. Things like sparkly pens, gel pens, post it notes and little notebooks sometimes encourage reluctant writers.

I'd also let her see you writing - make it look enjoyable and model how you are writing a sentence eg by saying your sentence aloud over and over, and counting the words on your fingers.
For example if you go out for the day, buy a postcard to send to Granny. Ideally find somewhere to sit quietly while you are still there, ask dd what you could tell Granny and then you write the sentence and she just writes her name.
Pretend to be a bit forgetful so that you have to write messages to yourself on post-it notes and stick them around the house eg "We need more milk" on the fridge or "Numberjacks is on Mondays" on the tv.
If she does a lovely picture that you stick up on the kitchen wall, then write a label for her eg "This is dd's amazing garden."

With a bit of luck, and in a no-pressure, no-criticism environment, she might want to start copying you and writing her own little notes and labels.


sorry this turned into such a long post. Hope something in here is helpful!