Am I being ridiculous to be worrying about a four year olds development in terms of writing / drawing?

[Nevertooearlyforcake]

I'm looking for some RL advice really as I'm finding that when leafing through development books or googling I'm homing in on the negative stuff.

My DD is 4.5 and for over a year has been attempting to write her name each morning at nursery (she attends 4 days a week). During that time there has been barely any change in her ability to do this - her name is four letters long but she can still only manage to make two of the letters legible, she will almost always write her name backwards and, while she'll start with the right letter the rest are usually in the wrong order. In general, she seems to find it impossible to copy most shapes and we spent about 15 minutes tonight trying to write the letter 'S' - even when I formed the shape as a dot-to-dot, she connected the dots in the wrong order. She seems to be so far behind the other kids I know of her age (in writing and drawing) that I am unsure whether I should be worried or if it's actually totally normal.

She is about to have her second set of grommets as treatment for glue ear (although she's never had an ear infection or seemed to have hearing difficulty - her ears were initially investigated due to a constantly running nose). The doc thinks her hearing must be affected to some extent even though she's never complained - I mention this as a friend told me about a link with hearing difficulty and dyslexic when I was questioning whether the op was really necessary prior to her having it last year (aged three). We live in Scotland so she won't be starting school until next September. Is it too soon to be worrying? I really don't want to pressurise her and erode her confidence.

yes, too early to worry!
my ds1 still writes his name backwards sometimes and his S is always back to front, he is 5.5 and in yr1!

sorry that was a bit blunt.
i think if she is keen to keep doing it then that's great and it's how she will learn. you can write it out for her to "trace" over, or let her copy your writing.
she'll get it eventually, it jsut takes practise i guess!

Please don't worry. Children develop differently- my DS could hardly hold a pencil until he was 5.5 and I had many sleepless nights (PFB )He is now in YR4 - his writing could be better but it is nowhere near the disaster I was convinced it would be.
Just keep encouraging her if she wants to try.

if she is receiving a low level of auditory input because of her ears, this can affect hervlanguage development and her ability to distinguish sounds in words. This is not dyslexia, but when the time comes, she may benefit from the same sorts of interventions as those you might expect for people with dyslexia.

Note when the time comes. She is still very young, and clearly doesn't get it yet. And I'd say it's too early to worry.

Aside from making sure her hearing is sorted out, which is clearly a priority, make sure she dies lots if drawing and colouring in. This should help her with the fine motor skills that will be needed for writing later. Old fashioned writing patterns, for example to make borders for her artwork, might help.

And if she can make a couple of linked pictures and tell you a story about them, or even just one picture with a good description if what's happening, that's a great foundation for later literacy too.

Well my 4.5 year old is exactly the same so I wouldn't worry.

He never ever draws anything representational, only scribbles, and doesn't write at all. He will very, very occasionally write his first initial if I really nag, but it's so shaky as to be unrecognisable.

However he knows all his letters and can type his own name perfectly, or use a mouse to pick out the correct letters on screen. No idea what this means in developmental terms but I have decided not to worry - particularly as his teachers seem completely unconcerned.

His hearing is fine by the way, so I don't think there is a link in his case.

I wouldn't worry about her writing at the moment. Probably she'll surprise you one day by suddenly writing it correctly. In the mean time there are lots of activities to help her develop her fine motor skills - painting, play dough (practise making snakes, lines, circles) jigsaw puzzles. When she does write I'd suggest she uses felt tips rather than pencils. In order to write with pencils you have to press down as well as move it over the paper which is hard to do when you're learning. While with felt tips she can just concentrate on how she's moving it over the paper. Schools use pencil because they can be sharpened when broken and don't have to be thrown away when someone leaves the lids off!

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I know the worst thing I can is make adverse comparisons and I don't want her to find something a struggle and then for it to be compounded by my making her feel ashamed about it. She seems to be quite a confident little girl in general and I'd hate to spoil that.

She sounds lovely and I second what people have said. Just keep her interested in learning and it will come. I know plenty of children at school who can't write in yr1. Encourage the correct grip though, this helps.

Your dd is still little. It will click one day, and it will be as if a switch was flipped.

DS who is nearly 5 can't write his name yet but we practice most days. His name is a bit complicated (Matthew). I wouldn't worry as such but maybe find different ways for her to practice. Try a blackboard or whiteboard? try with paint? Print some pale very large letters on your printer and she can draw over the letters with a very bright pen? (both my DS always choose to do writing and drawing with highlighters!!). You might be able to find an alternative way of practicing her letters without the standard lines and pencil.

We have a few books to help 'practice' simple lines (loop the loop, wavy lines, etc) without doing actual letters. Both my DS don't like coloring in general (unless it's monsters). But if I give them a 'project' on a subject that interests them (like drawing a racing course, a monster, a dinosaur, or a Ben 10 monster) they have no interest. DS 1 can easily do a 'M' but can't figure out how to write 'w'!!

Stop trying and she'll get it when she's ready.
I wouldn't even try at the moment, encourage motor skill development- does she like drawing?

My dd1 is 4.4. She started pre-school a few weeks ago and like your dd nevertooearly will go to school in Sept '11. (We are in Ireland) She loves painting and using felt tips to do big messy pictures but until she started pre-school a few weeks ago refused to hold a pen or pencil properly and do any writing or drawing.

A few weeks into pre-school now and she will do a rough circle with unevenly spaced dots for eyes etc and 4 lines sticking straight out to represent arms and legs. I'd say she is months away from even trying to write her name.

She is very bright though and, like another poster's child, recognises all her letters and can type her name on the computer if I call out the letters.

I think they all develop at their own pace and your dd is quite young still. I think the year our dd's will spend before school will see them making huge leaps in development.