Advice wanted on 6yo writing ability (pic included)

[KikiAndJiji]

DD is year 2, summer born.
We have had little progress in terms of handwriting and spelling for the year. She will spell inconsistently and our current aim from school is to learn one spelling a week. These she can spell in a test but often gets wrong when used in her written work.
She has been 'screened' as low risk for dyslexia.
We took her to a specialist opticians on advice from the SENCO who suggested an overlay which seems to help with reading but I've since read there is no research that this is anything other than placebo. We will keep going with it regardless and I'm happy with placebo effects, not sure how this will help spelling and writing though.

Nothing we do seems to help her to progress and willing to give anything a try if anyone has any tips or advice. Or even a 'my Y2 had atrocious spelling and writing and is now the best in the year' type of reassurance.

I've attached some of her writing (just done for fun)

To translate that piece it says:

How to recognise monsters
Scary monsters have crosses on their tummies. Cute monsters have hair or a hat. Big monsters have their hands sticking out always. Kind monsters are always giving presents to everyone in the town.

Your daughter is 6? I don’t think this is horrendous for year 2 but maybe a professional will
correct me. The sleeping are plausible. I can read every word and understand. It also makes a lot of sense.
The handwriting is joined too which seems good for year 2.
I take it that school have been concerned with her progress? Do you have anything from a year ago to compare?

Has she had help with those spelling of words? It looks ok to me for her age. My almost 11 year old son couldnt spell as well as that and writing bigger but slightly neater. He has dyslexia.

Has the school suggested she's behind compared to her peers? I have a very bright just turned 6 year old (P1 in Scotland) and she's definitely not joining up letters. In fact my 8 year old is struggling to join up. I'm not concerned though. Seems about right for their ages.

It would help to work on her letter formation (printed, not joined) as there are inconsistencies and some poorly formed letters. There is also a lack of capitals in the correct places. It isn't currently meeting the expected standard for Year 2, but it isn't too far off.

I'd also work on spelling the year 1 and 2 common exception words correctly, as she will need them time and time again.

I’m a Year 2 teacher- I’ve seen much worse!

Her handwriting is what I’d call spidery , but I can make out the letter formations. If it’s just for fun, felt tip is fine but I’d encourage anything for school with a sharp pencil. Has she tried a triangular pencil or triangular grip?

Spellings are largely phonetically plausible - eg- Cyoot (?) does sound out as cute so she’s using her phonics to spell as she writes. How does she get on with spelling high frequency words such as what, where, when, there?

My 8 year old writes in a similar way - school have mentioned it a few times, but they don't want to give him huge amounts of extra writing practice as it feels like a punishment.

I'm not sure what the solution is, I just keep hoping that it'll get better with time.

@Pinkflipflop85 completely agree with this post, looks like they teach approach stroke but back to basics print will help clear letter formation

My DD is 6 but yr1. Her handwriting has taken a massive step backwards as they're now doing 'pre-cursive' with flicks and loops everywhere. When it was just printing it was fine, but I can barely read it now.

Your DDs is better, letters mostly the same size etc. Spelling I can see why you don't think it's great, but it's phonetic, so that's a good sign I think?

How's her reading?

Nessy. It's a really great online gameified phonics programme. Developed for learners with dyslexia, it is still really great for young writers. Its algorithm pitches the programme at the right level for your child. You do have to subscribe (Nessy Writing) and pay an annual fee, but I really recommend it, having used it both at school and at home.
What is her reading like? Her decoding / encoding knowledge might not be congruous.

That writing looks fine, all letters much the same size, gaps between words nothing concerning. The spelling shows she has good phonics understanding, if I’m honest it just look like she enjoyed writing so much she’s got carried away and written so quick all spelling has gone out of the window.

They taught cursive from day 1 which I don't think has helped. I think the majority of letter formation work was done on whiteboards whilst sat on the floor in reception. They have suggested going back to print but she has habits of doing cursive now.

But perhaps it's not as bad as I thought.

We have had meeting that she will be 'working towards' the standard for Y2.

I see lots of others work posted on the class blog and it is miles ahead in terms of neatness. That's all I have to compare to.

My 7 yr olds writing is big and he nowhere near your dd.

My son's was much much worse at that age and he's now doing s master's degree. It is fine! She's only little!

Try not to focus on neatness as an indicator of progress/success in writing.

Expected standard at year 2;
Demarcation sentences with capital letters and full stops
Use question marks
Use past and present text correctly and consistently
Use coordination and subordination in sentences
Segment words using phonics to write them, spelling most correctly
Spell common exception words
Form letters correctly with appropriate spacing and sizing

*demarcate

Bloody autocorrect

This is so sad. She’s still so little.

She has plenty of time to improve. I am
actually really impressed at what she has written. My DD is nearly 7 and can only write her name in capital letters- we are not in the UK.

It is natural to worry about your kid’s ability. I think she has written a great little text! Try to relax, she’ll get it eventually. Even if she is a bit behind some of her peers, she is way ahead of her continental
cousins!

Also just to say that I absolutely LOVE what’s she’s actually written, adorable!

Two thoughts:
Given there are no lines on the paper, she has done an amazing job of writing in straight lines!
Bright kids can "fool" the simplistic dyslexia screenings they do in schools. Don't dismiss something like dyslexia if concerns continue through Y3 because the screening says "low risk".

I think what she’s written is lovely. My DD is very dyslexic and wouldn’t have been able to write anything as phonetic as your DD in Year 2. I did a few dyslexic courses when my DC were younger, cursive is taught as it is quicker and more fluid to write that way and creates muscle memory for many words, something that is very helpful for dyslexics but I imagine all kids. Interestingly, when reading non-cursive should be used.

Does it even really matter? My DH has dreadful handwriting but he’s a director in a big 4 consultancy firm and never has to write anything, just type. I only have a child in reception so can’t compare but her writing looks fine to me.

This happened with DS2. DS1 is dyslexic and the alarm bells were ringing loud and clear for me. He went through lockdown in ys 2 & 3 and was brushed off as being behind from that. In y5, we've gone through a dyslexia assessment and he has a very spiky profile and is very adept at using his strengths to mask his weaknesses and appear to be average with a bit of a weak spot in reading/ writing/ grammar.

For me, a major giveaway was that he finds that words wriggle on the page. His writing style is spidery, and he tries valliently to do cursive, but it jumbles. Spelling is very phonetic. Vocabulary and understanding strong, but writing speed too slow to complete work. He understands SPAG but can't co-ordinate all features accurately in a piece of work.

Schools won't do much before y3/4 in case the child matures out of it. Ours wouldn't even put us in the direction of a suitable assessor at the end of y4, just told us that they're dyslexia friendly which was a bloody joke after refusing DS1 his reasonable adjustments for y6 SATs because he was "doing well", then reporting that he hadn't met their expectations because he was anxious, well no shit when you've refused to support a dyslexic, dyspraxic, autistic child. This was within 3 days of each other

This looks fairly good to me. My 10, almost 11 year old is great o really but his written work is awful. Bs, Ls, Ps Qs and Ds are always mirrored, Js and Gs inter usable and he doesn't see it. He has a sever dyslexia diagnosis.

I think she needs to write with a pencil on lined paper.

The cursive is the problem. She is starting some of the lead ins too high and her o begins in the incorrect place, once you look past this it seems OK. Cursive is an outdated waste of time. She just needs to keep going and she'll be fine. She is still young for the dyslexia screening I thought? It's the threshold 7?