to not practice DS handwriting?

[fastichecastiche]

I apologize in advance if I sound like a complete muppet - I have no experience of the UK school system and just do not understand how my son, age 4 is being taught handwriting.
They are teaching him 'cursive' writing already which i just don't understand and I have been told that he might stay in reception for another year as they have mixed classes at his school. Not a problem if that's what he needs, and this is because he has poor fine motor skills, his teacher told me - and that did scare the life out of me. I think he is fine, he can read really well (he is ahead on the word sheets they send home and can read all the little books), enjoys being read to, loves numbers (can count in hundreds, add and subtract - not a stealth boast, i'm very proud of him!)

He cannot write his own name and cannot legibly write a single letter of the alphabet in cursive writing. He things he is good at it though, which i think is lovely, so while writing absolute gibberish he says 'aren't i doing well mum!'; and i say, yes darling, because i don't want to knock his confidence.
i don't want to push him at home and make is something he doesn't like. but i am very worried about this fine motor skills problem and worry that if he cant do good hand writing at school then he will in some way fail. But he is only 4 i cant help thinking, has never had any interest in drawing/ art no matter what we've done beyond splashing about with paints and colours.

is it unreasonable of me therefore to refuse to repeatedly practice the 4 letters per week that the teacher has told me to do at home? Should I seek professional help for him, if that's whats best? I don't know what though. ALl suggestions gratefully received, but go easy on me I am really struggling to understand whats required of him, and of me!

If he has poor fine motor skills, and he is only 4, I would concentrate on getting him to practice stuff to develop them at home a lot - in 5min bursts at different times through the day. And make it fun, join in with him! If you google a bit you will find lots of suggestions - make the activities as varied as possible and don't make it sound like homework IYSWIM.

If he is bright but struggles with the actual handwriting, he is going to get very frustrated when he tries to start recording the maths, never mind writing, so it would be good to try to help him to develop those skills a bit now.

I work in an infants school and do two days a week with children your sons age. We only begin teaching cursive in Y1 to the very top writers and even then we begin by teaching digraphs cursively before the full alphabet.

If he enjoys writing practise it can't hurt, have you got an easel he can stand at and pretend to write? Or get some chalk pens and let him write on your patio doors (if you can, it wipes off with window cleaner) just to strengthen his fine motor skills. Things like threading beads onto strings, chalks on pavements, painting at an easel or spreading wallpaper across a table, sticking it down and letting him draw all over it with pens and crayons. Make it fun, make it different rather than sitting at a desk doing boring worksheets. Playdoh is great, too, for fine motor skills, especially rolling the dough out with a rolling pin as it strengthens the muscles in hands/arms. If he loves counting, get some little candles and make mini birthday cakes from playdoh, decorate them with buttons and get him practising numbed while he's there.

Don't beat yourself up about it or panic, though, he's 4, he's still so very young to be fretting over this. You sound like a great Mum with an incredibly happy little boy.

You can practise but do it in a fun way. On chalk board, paints, in sand ext

Ooh, I forgot about scissors but a lot of children with poor fine motor control struggle with scissors, so give him some colourful magazines, a pritt stick and some little scissors to practise making collages; he could cut out the letters of his name and arrange them so he's cementing his letter recognition, too.

As the OP said, make it fun and in short bursts.

Get the Lego out, threading, peg boards, actual pegs -set him up a washing line -all help with fine motor skills

Dot to dots, mazes and other pencil games help with pen control and will help with writing without battling about practicing writing

here in Ireland my dd was taught to write letters first then write sentences and it's only now at age eight they are learning cursive. what's the point in learning to join letters you can't form correctly yet. doesn't make sense to me.

if he has issues with his motor skills work on that at home. how is his pencil grip.my dd took years to consistently hold her pencil correctly.

Along with previous suggestions, here are some fun ideas - they are part of an occupational therapy programme but are equally useful and enjoyable for all small children

www.ekhuft.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/information-for-patients/patient-information-leaflets/fizzy-leaflets/

My DS also has motor skills issues - both gross & fine. He didn't like coloring or writing. His writing was a disaster. It is less so now - especially if he takes his time about it.

Have you verified his pencil grip is correct? My DS doesn't use a standard tripod grasp and for the longest time I thought his grip was okay. Turned out it wasn't. His current school and OT sorted it out and now his writing is coming along - even without the tripod grasp. He won't use pencil grip/positioners either. His writing is still not great, but like I said, it's legible. He can also color and stay in the lines. Cutting is a work in progress.

Do lots of activities at home that will develop his fine motor control. Trying to teach a child to write when they are manifestly not ready in terms of motor development is just lunacy. If the teacher wants to do it at school then that's her problem, but you're under no obligation to support school stupidity at home.

We live abroad in a country where script is not taught at all, they go directly to cursice, but children are not expected to "learn to write" until age 6-7 (although there are preparatory activities from age 4-5 - they do things like lots of lines and loops using finger paint).

If the school has mixed classes, it doesn't mean that he is staying 'in Reception' for another year - he will still be in Year 1, just in a mixed R/Y1 class. Lots of schools do that, and they choose how to mix the classes up for a variety of reasons - sometimes the ones who are struggling more will be in the split class, but other times it's the younger ones, or a random mix. Try not to let him think that he is being 'kept back' rather than 'moving up'. He is still moving up next year, just with a different mix of children in his actual class. It might well happen at other points over his primary years, too, and again doesn't mean he is being held back a year.

All the other suggestions for strengthening fine motor control are good, as are things for strengthening shoulders, as that is also very important for writing - so large work, easels, chalkboards, big paper, big paintbrushes, physical exercises/dance that move his arms a lot, etc.

i really appreciate all suggestions. i am grateful. can i tell his tacher taht i dont think he is ready for hand writing practice? or will this cause problems, do you think? are most children ready for cursive handwriting at 4? it seems a lot to me.

All the research demonstrates that we start writing, reading and formal education far too young in the UK. It puts kids at a long term disadvantage. Children often don't have the fine motor skills required and would be far better off building up the appropriate muscles through carefully selected play instead of launching into writing. Teachers in other countries I've lived in are often quite horrified about the idea of the way we do things in the UK. I'd concentrate in his fine motor skills (but try not to worry too much he's really really young) and not stress about writing. He shouldn't really be being taught it anyway.

twooddsocks - but wont this put him at a disadvantage in the classroom and knock his confidence? he is a bright, inquisitive child who loves to learn so im worried. i cant help but agree with what youve written though. can i say that to the teachers or will they think im just a clueless fool?

I don't think it matters what they think. Put a positive spin on it - you feel that at this stage, the best way of supporting his handwriting at school is by working on more general fine motor skills at home :) You could give some examples from this thread. Who knows, the teacher might even learn something ...

fastichecastiche I would be careful to make sure his confidence isn't knocked but the fact that he's a bright kid will mean he'll easily catch up with handwriting when he's ready in a year or so. I would just make sure he gets lots of praise for his reading and all the things he's excelling at and not stress about the handwriting that he's just not ready for.

Imo it would be a bad idea not to get him practicing his handwriting. Yes he's only 4 but if everyone else in his class is learning to write then it will hold him back in year 1 and 2 if he's only just learning to write.

As pp have said, it doesn't have to be constantly copying letters, make it fun and maybe start practicing shapes which forms the basis of letters.

What kind of pencils does he use at school? My ds had awful writing in reception so I got him some triangular shaped pencils to help him hold it properly and it made a fair bit of difference for him. He's in year 1 now and his writing is still messy but it's slowly getting better with practice.

It's boring but practice is the only way he will learn. Cursive can be confusing but at my dcs school they use cursive from nursery and it really helps when they come to do joined up writing as they're already used to the letter formation.

If he is only practising 4 letters a week, I would do it, but like previous posters have said, make it fun. Do letters in the sand, scratched with a stick in leaves, painted in bright colours, written in bubbles in the bath. There are endless ways to make the experience more fun . And definitely do anything you can with playdoh, Hama beads or anything that builds up finger strength and dexterity. The big plus with joined handwriting is you only learn the letter shape once and do not have to relearn for joined writing. Also , all the evidence points to it being extremely beneficial for dyslexic children because children learn to write using muscle memory too. Generally, anything that is good for dyslexic children is good for all children.

A lot of schools are now teaching children to write in pre cursive from Reception, although regardless of this it is an expectation of the EY curriculum for children to be able to form identifiable letters correctly. If he is making good progress in all other areas it makes sense that the teacher is asking for additional support from home in the area that he finds difficult. I have to say I don't agree with the posts are saying 'don't worry he will do it when he's ready', If you are in a UK school handwriting plays a big part of the English curriculum and it will hold him back if he is unable to form letters correctly.

What order are the letter shapes being taught in? It may make sense at this stage to focus on the "easy" letters where there are no changes of direction - the writing method my son used started with e, l, i, u which have no mid-letter directional changes (which IME is what kids who aren't quite ready really struggle with).

Also before writing a letter with a pencil have him write in the air to make sure that he has mastered the sequence of pen movements required and to avoid bad habits like forming letters in the wrong direction.

thanks so much for this. ok, i dont want him to be held back - we will practice. i will make it fun and do other things as posters suggest. is there anything i can read that will make the way its taught make more sense to me? i just dont get it. and yes we will try the easy letters. any work books that people recommend that i could buy?

sorry to ask again - is this usual in peoples experience of the english school sytstemn? ie cursive hand writing in recetopion?

My dc are 19 and 17 and were taught cursive from reception/ year 1, so not new.

My son is in reception and.uses a curly k so yes, cursive.

My DS is learning pre cursive hand writing in Reception too. I have to admit as a primary teacher I always thought it was a silly thing to do but he's picked up the formation and the idea of the letters having flicks to join pretty quickly.

I don't think starting with cursive writing works for all children - some aren't ready for it and find the letters difficult to form or then read back and it can be a nightmare for a child with any kind of visual processing difficulties. But if in the long run it means easier and more legible handwriting then I do think it's a good idea to start with it so the children don't then have to change how they form letters later on.

I have not heard of cursive writing being taught in Reception. Children are often just still getting used to using print. I know when my children were a School they were not taught Cursive writing until Juniors Year 3