It's another what age of child did this question but this one is different

[elliejjtiny]

I'm going to be straight with you. Ds is 12 and he wrote this today. I know he has development delay but since he started school everyone has been quite vague about how far behind he is.

I've seen far worse handwriting from 12 year olds with no developmental delay.

My 13 year old is academically quite able, but his handwriting isn't as good as that. The school called and asked if he could just use a computer for all of his lessons and on tests! It's genuinely incomprehensible. My 11 year old could do much better handwriting though.

I'm not sure you'll learn anything from this as it's not great handwriting, but it's not terrible either.

My DS13 has similar handwriting. He is academically pretty able. I don't think there is necessarily a correlation between handwriting and academic ability.

My son is in his 30s and his handwriting is much like that, he had special permission to use a laptop pretty much all through secondary school. He now has a PhD.

There's no way of telling from that. That's better than some teens and adults quickest scrawl and worse than some 4 year olds very neatest handwriting.

If he is 12 and there are concerns about his handwriting what concerns have been previously raised? Why are they being vague with you? Has the relationship with school been poor? Does he have an echp or IEP?

That’s not far off my 13yo boy’s handwriting. He has no developmental delay of any sort.

did your son write that without assistance?The spelling is bang on. My older dyslexic child would potentially have misspelled that at the same age.

I hope your school gets its act together soon and gives you some meaningful feedback on your child’s progress :(

It's okay. It's inconsistent but totally legible. I've seen worse from many adults!

That's similar to my 13 year olds and we have no concerns about him academically. And it's probably a bit better than my hand writing, which luckily I barely have to do these days.

Interesting that it's all parents of boys that have answered.

Tbh that’s pretty legible. You should see some of the GCSE English scripts. They go something like this - ….a………h….S…. S is usually Shakespeare. The rest? Anyone’s guess!

My 18 yo has worse handwriting - he's got autism and adhd. He was allowed to use a laptop for his GCSEs.
My DP has far far worse handwriting, I often can't read it! However he has a good job, and most stuff is done on computer now - maybe that's why it's so bad as he hardly ever writes.

Better than my handwriting and I’m 40. Looks like he’s doing great Op x

Having worked in year 6 class I think I've seen anything from joined cursive to writing like that of your sons. No special learning needs.

Neatness of handwriting tells you pretty much nothing. You can be highly intelligent, an absolute genius and have shit handwriting and vice versa.

All it says it's that they might have minor challenges with fine motor skills and/or spacial awareness. Nothing that is likely to be a major issue.

My ds is 10 and has asd. His writing is similar but his knowledge and understanding is at age related/greater depth. He can have a scribe if needed for exams.

My 16 (almost 17) year old DS's handwriting is much worse than that. He was given help all through school to try to improve- sessions and exercises to practise his fine motor skills- but nothing helped.

He has no diagnosis (though I suspect hyper mobility) but was allowed to use a laptop for exams and did very well. When he started sixth form college last year he told the teachers straight away about his handwriting and that he had used a laptop for his GCSEs and they immediately allowed him to use a laptop in class and exams.

We would need way more than this OP to make any kind of assessment on a child’s writing. I’ve taught in primary for over 30 years and assessed thousands of children’s writing (so feel pretty confident about it 🤣). If you’ve got a piece of independent narrative you feel you could share, I’d be happy to take a look for you.

DS2 no development delay (but dyspraxia and ADHD) would right like that.

I'm.a 51 year old female and.its better than my handwriting.

I’m an ex secondary teacher and yr 7 parents would always ask about handwriting. Honestly, as long as it’s readable then no one in the secondary system gives a fuck. His hand writing is very readable.

My handwriting is worse and I’m a grown woman. Legible is what’s important. Anyone who’s watched a pharmacist screw up their eyes trying to figure out what a doctor wrote on their prescription knows handwriting isn’t the be all and end all or where you’ll end up in life.

Thank you. He has an ehcp and attends "handwriting intervention club" at school. He uses a laptop at school and sometimes a scribe but he will have his scribing time reduced when he starts year 8 in September. I'll try and find a longer sample of his handwriting to show you.

When he was little the health visitor used to do an assessment called SOGs (I think it stood for standards of growth or something like that.) That was really good because she could say he was X months behind in physical development and X months behind in communication. But since he started school it's all been phrases like "foundation knowledge" or " working towards expectations ". Which just sounds really vague. At parents evening the child comes too so the teachers are all really encouraging in their comments and only mention problems if it's something the child can control and do better like if they aren't handing in homework on time or turning up late.

DS improved massively in all areas when he got a scribe in year 6, which we never thought would happen. He had been diagnosed with global development delay, then mild learning disabilities, then moderate learning disabilities, although the senco doesn't think he has moderate learning disabilities anymore as he is doing so well. So they are giving him less TA time next year and encouraging him to use the laptop instead. There are less TA's allocated to year 8 than there are to year 7 so they understandably have to prioritize supervision for the children who can't be left on their own for their own safety or because they destroy things.