Teacher getting ds to write joined up Yr 4

[Shithole101]

Ds has special needs. He's year 4 working at year 1 level . He finds it hard to form letters. And they are trying to get him to write joined up.

Presumably, this is a mainstream school. Does he have an EHCP and what is being put in place to support his needs?

Joined writing does help to form muscle memory which aids spelling, but it rather depends on what type of need he has.

Perhaps they are trying to stretch him rather than let him stay in his comfort zone. Better to aim higher than settle for the minimum.

He can barely form letters though. So I feel they are setting him up to fail . Do people even use joined up writing now?

Take it from someone with a teenager now struggling with handwriting because we (for the same reasons) opted out of the joined up writing. It’s now so difficult for him to keep up when writing and his writing literally still looks like it did when he was 8. He’s 16. It was a big mistake not trying to master the joined up writing.

All children are taught to join their handwriting from the start, to make sure they learn good habits from the beginning. It's harder to re-teach good letter formation and joining later on if they've learned a different way originally. So the fact he can barely form letters isn't a reason to not teach joining.

Does your DS have a physical disability that affects his handwriting, or is it an academic one that just means he is learning slower than others?

Or is this specific teacher being very harsh or unkind in how they're teaching the joining? They should be encouraging it, but not being aggressive about it.

Ds has autism and learning difficulties. He's writing at year one level . . I will talk to senco