Any tips on how I can help my daughter to improve her handwriting..?

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She is 8 years old and in primary 3 (Scotland). Year 2 in English money (I think…).

Shes a bright little thing but not particularly interested in school work, to be honest. Her reading is great and she likes to write little stories etc but my god, her handwriting is atrocious.

I knew it was pretty bad but we went to a school event recently and were able to compare some of her work to others in her class, the difference was very stark. It’s not just messy writing, it’s like the work of a P1 child who has literally just started to form letters. Her spelling is pretty poor too.

Had a parents evening and her teacher agreed it was something to work on but didn’t really give any tips on how we might do that. Other than practice. But she has zero interest in practicing with me. I have tried. She will write her little stories on her own terms but she isn’t particularly bothered about her handwriting (although to be honest I haven’t made a thing of it, I don’t want to shame her over it).

I’d be grateful for tips or even some reassurance.

I should add that when she takes her time she can improve it, but it’s very slow going and she says she doesn’t finish her work when she writes like that (also she needs to be in the mood to do it - like I said, she is not bothered about what her work looks like, so generally does not see why she should bother taking her time to make it more presentable).

She wrote out her Father’s Day card earlier today and it was practically illegible.

Just wondering if she has dyspraxia/dyslexia?

Mine all (grown now so my experience is old) struggled and all still have awful handwriting.
Can be evidenced by things like difficulty holding pencil.
It does matter less as they get older.

My boy has always been similar. He’s now 12 and his handwriting is still terrible. (Not to discourage you!) He can write neatly enough when I sit with him and he slows down, but he just couldn’t care less otherwise and it’s completely illegible. He’s moderately dyslexic so not sure if that’s a factor. Have you seen any other things she struggles with at all? Might be worth asking school if they can test for dyslexia, dyspraxia etc?

You could be talking about my ds. No answers yet but he just won't put the effort in. He was given a sheet to work through by his teacher and he did both sides in about 2 minutes flat. She looked perplexed when I told her that as her intention was that he would take his time to be neat and careful.

You need to start by thinking of her overall muscle stability.

So how strong are her shoulder/ arm muscles? Could she be hyper mobile and having to work much harder to control a pencil.if you think these things could be an issue, try googling OT exercises for handwriting.

You can do things like wheelbarrow races and push ups against the walls to improve stability. Get her writing on vertical surfaces as it improves muscles too. This could be anything from side of a fridge freezer/patio door with a dry wipe pen or chalk on a blackboard.

What is her letter formation like? If not good, get a handwriting book that shows how they are formed and do lots of short bursts of practice.

The secret is lots and lots and lots of short bursts of practice.

You need to get her on board. Is she likely to work to a reward ( eg 10-15 mins of practice Monday to Friday earns her a treat at the weekend) or can you just work on getting her to write her first name beautifully ( look for issues like not staying on the line and where ascenders/ descenders should be) and get her to believe that she is improving and promoted a pride in doing well?
Sky grass ground paper can be useful to practice on as it helps with the sizing and placing of different parts of each letter.

planbee.com/products/ground-grass-and-sky-handwriting-guide

for motivation to practice can you get her a fancy pen of pens? I’m not actually talking about something that costs more than a fiver but is in a colour she likes or is glittery or is a cheap fountain pen etc. Something to make it more exciting.

PS, if you happened to be in or near Hawick I know a superb retired paediatric OT who might be willing to do some tutoring

Excellent ideas. I thoroughly agree with the idea of ensuring that her core and upper body strength is well developed as weakness in these areas make it very difficult for children to develop the appropriate hand strength for writing. Monkey bars, ropes, pulleys, carrying buckets of water, balancing on a wobble board etc will all help.

https://developlearngrow.com/core-exercises-for-kids/

https://gatewayalliance.co.uk/spotlight-on-early-years-the-development-of-upper-body-strength-by-ruth-swailes/#:~:text=Running%2C%20jumping%2C%20climbing%2C%20swinging,upper%20body%20strength%20and%20dexterity.

Is she hypermobile?

Thank you all, I am reading and considering.

I don’t think she is hyper mobile? Honestly I’m not sure what that means…she loves the monkey bars, cartwheels etc. she’s always on the go

Age 8 is year 3 in England. Does she like fine motor crafts like bead work? Maybe some plasticine- that takes real work to mould and shape. How does she control a paintbrush? Would be good to see an example of her writing. I work in primary and see a wide variety of writing daily.

You could perhaps try handwriting workbooks, with the ready ruled pages? Use a medium or wide nib to reduce the rampant inky spider effect. Fancy pens and some bribery might help too.

What about offering to display her stories if they are neatly written? Or a special notebook for her to write them neatly in?

Any displays of calligraphy nearby that might grab her interest, illuminated manuscripts for instance. Or point out different fonts seen out and about, keep a scrap book of different fonts maybe?

Frequent practise is the simple answer though, unfortunately.

My handwriting was/is terrible.
I’m left handed, my first 4 teachers were right handed so they form letters differently.
I got a left handed teacher in year 4 and something clicked so my writing became more legible.
If i take my time it’s ok but quick notes take a while to decipher. It’s like my brain thinks too quickly for my hand.

handwriting pens can help. And drawing the infinity symbol over and over again can help with control.

My son at this age needed a wishbone pen. He is bloody bright but has the ‘illegible’ trait of dysgraphia.

My DD had the worst handwriting I’ve ever seen. She was diagnosed as dyslexic at 10 but years later we found out that she’s also hypermobile. It means her ligaments are loose and her joints have a large range of movement meaning that her muscles need to work harder to support her joints.
For example, her fingers bend backwards, her wrists are very bendy, she can touch her thumbs to her wrist so stability was always a problem for her when holding a pen.

My DD hs dysgraphia. At the end of year 2, I cried when I saw her work compared to some of the other children's. Some of them had completely nailed it, cursive, in ink. My DD was made to stick with a pencil for ages when she actually wrote better with a pen. F'ing pen licences. My DD's work was never put on the wall. I'm pretty sure that was about her handwriting.

My DD also has inattentive ADHD. I've come to the conclusion that writing by hand is actually a form of multitasking and she's not really up to that much multitasking. You have to think about letter formation, where the words go, putting spaces between them, punctuation and then the actual content of what you are writing. Obviously it becomes automatic once you nail it. But I'm not sure she ever will. My DH can't really write either, so I think it may be inherited.

My DD types a lot now and the quality of her work is much better. She uses a wider vocabulary and more of all of the things thry are taught to write with, whereas handwritten work was just the bare minimum. It might as well be a different child's work. She does seem to go back through and punctuate, but that's easier on a computer.

We did a fair amount of handwriting practice, sheets of cursive letters. She's also dropped cursive writing now. I think it was useful to have a go at it - it sorted out some back to front letters. Luckily, she's moved to a school that doesn't have to follow the national curriculum, so is ok with her not writing cursive.

I think you do have to pursue some level of handwriting for maths and science. But typing is a game changer.

It’s funny. She’s obsessed with typing. She’s always messing about on Notes on my phone and loves my laptop.

If she has poor fine motor skills generally then it might be something more significant is needed than just extra practise. Can she tie shoe laces? Use cutlery correctly? My eldest has dyspraxia with hyper mobility in some joints as well. His writing is still largely illegible at 14. In his case no amount of 'trying harder' or 'extra practise' made any difference and recognising that was important for his wellbeing.

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this looks useful

Try getting one of those 'practice your handwriting' books. Set a time limit. With a short time spell. Concentrate on getting her to work slowly and carefully. Start with just one line of letters. When she has finished the line ask her which she thinks is the best one. Then give your opinion and put a little star by it. If you only do five minutes a day that will soon rack up it works out over two hours a month! And will really make a difference. Lots of praise.

My son was the same and we did the magic Link handwriting course over the summer holidays with him when he was in Year 1 or 2. It transformed his handwriting. He wasn’t happy doing it but he is Year 8 now and even said the other day about how much it helped him.

His issue was his school moved cursive before he had even got forming the letters down properly so it was never going to flow for him.

My DC was finally allowed to type in secondary school; and then assessed as requiring this adjustment for eg exams in sixth form college and university.

In work if he has to write notes for others to read he has learned to take extra care.

All three of mine had terrible handwriting until they went to secondary and teachers told them they didn’t need to do cursive. Suddenly they stopped and formed letters separately and their writing became lovely to read. I’ve learned cursive doesn’t work for every dc. Also realised, dh doesn’t write cursive (but he writes weirdly with his left hand and is right handed for everything else except playing pool).

Maybe try something like this Leapfrog game if she likes the laptop.