Wwyd? - illegible writing and homework

[OddBoots]

Background: ds (12) struggles with his writing, he has very hypermobile fingers, wrists and arms and this means he struggles to grip a pen well. He has things to help him, an angled writing desk and a pen with triangle grip but his writing is still very hard to read.

Now: He has been given by his new English teacher (as have all his class) a long writing assignment to do over this half term, the instructions say to hand write so that is what ds is doing and I think it is right that he does it. He is taking his time and I am really proud of how hard he is trying but his writing is still awful and takes a lot of work to read.

Do I:
1 - Just let him do the work as is given and leave it to the teacher to try to understand.
2 - Ask him to type it up after he has written it and submit the typed copy alongside the written one.
3 - Type it up myself (with translation from him as required) and submit that with the written one.
4 - Send a note to the teacher asking if she would like me to do either of these things?
5 - Other?

I am tempted to do 2 or 3 (or share it) but would this annoy the teacher? What would you do?

I'd phone the school and ask if his teacher would give you a call back when they are available. It will save you all this agonising and it means you'll be able to explain your concerns clearly.

Is it a new school? If not, the new teacher may be able to talk to your DS's previous teacher to get more of an understanding.

It is a school he has been at a year but a new teacher.

I think I will call, thank you.

With bad handwriting there are a few tricks that can help.

• Write on every second line, this gives space and makes it easier to visually distinguish between letters.

• Write slightly larger. Again, this helps the eye to decipher the writing.

• Only write on one side of the paper, again for ease of deciphering the writing.

• While this doesn't affect the quality of the actual writing, this helps with the ease of reading.

• Use black ink rather than blue, and make sure it is a fine to medium point.

Writing is something your DS will need to get a handle on if he wants to undertake further education. Exams will need to be handwritten for the majority of subjects.

I would suggest practising a small amount of handwriting every day in order to keep working on making the writing more legible. By it only being a small amount, it will be easier to encourage him to really take his time in forming each letter clearly, and with constant practice there will be a gradual improvement.

I think 4 or like someone said call the teacher. It would be unfair if he was marked down on the content just because the teacher couldn't read it.

He sounds determined!