Child’s Handwriting

[Yellow85]

Ok so hands up, I know I expect a lot of my kids...I’m working on that...but how good/bad is your kids handwriting? My DS is pretty intelligent, great with his school work, but his writing is just terrible (IMO). He tells me he finds it boring - which I get. I’ve tried all sorts to try and better it, but feel it’s probably the worst in the class and I want to help him as I can see he get frustrated. Anyone out there have idea on how to improve the writing of a bored 6 year old? Or will it just get better in time?

Don't compare him to other children for starters.
Remember that any fine motor control activity will help.
And cut the poor child some slack, we're in a global pandemic and home schooling

That’s. I’m definitely not pushing him on it or pressurising him, I’ve just noticed it as his class have all written a page of a story and his writing just stands out. I really just want to figure out how to help him as he’s getting fed up with the overwriting and alphabet books now!

What about...

Stickle bricks
Threading beads
Games like operation that use a tweezer, there's a version with a dinosaur
Small lego
Threading pasta

As these are all things that will help his fine motor skills.

I think focusing on handwriting itself could become sole destroying since he's already frustrated with it.

Is he strong? Core strength and shoulder stability are a good place to start - lots of park visits and climbing then move down to the wrist (writing on vertical surfaces is good for this - like having a blackboard or painting a wall with blackboard paint and giving him chalk or chalk pens - less messy) once he has that strength then it’s more hand strength and fine motor stuff as mentioned above. Also using scissors correctly is a great way so support hand writing as the stability of one side of the hand and mobility of the other is mimicked but make sure you google using them correctly (I know that sounds silly). Playing with plasticine or playdough or theraputty/clay. Lego etc is good. If he has any difficult with letter formation after this it could be more visual perception too which would need further support.

Also look at his grasp is he using his ‘3 magic fingers’ (yes I know that sounds ridiculous). My son was using 4 for ages and I worked hard with him and got him a pencil grip to facilitate it which I asked them to use at school as well. His writing is actually super now which I think is partly because he’s strong and swings on his pull up bar a lot (that was just to help him have an indoor outlet but I think it helped with shoulder stability and core strength too).

Thanks for the great ideas everyone! I’ll get him to the park! He’s not very outdoorsy tbh, he loves drawing and can draw amazing things. I think the messy writing is really down to boredom and lack of interest. I tried to get him to write silly words and sentences recently and it’s helping a little bit.

I would strongly recommend that you use naturally contrived situations and the kid's motivation to work on fine motor activities. Don't make it a chore. If the kid likes playdoh offer and create activities and opportunities around that. Makeup games, hide stuff in theraputty(that they would like to find) and practice squeezing the putty(e.g Aaron's thinking putty). There are many things available that can help. Don't forget wikistix to improve visual-spatial coordination. I learnt about this product much later and it made a significant difference to my son's fine motor skills. You can read about our experience(special needs) and some other tools here.

www.musingsandreviews.com/blog/fine-motor-skills/fine-motor-tools/

Have patience, don't quit trying different things.

Goodluck.