Poor handwriting.

[user1490172297]

Hi Everybody. I am a newbie, even though my children are 21 and 12 respectively!
My son has coordination problems and I am waiting for a dyspraxia assessment. The worst problem at the moment is his handwriting. Despite endless practice at home when he was in year 6 his writing is still very poor. Now the work is faster paced in high school it is pretty much illegible and he is getting some really negative feedback from his teachers. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I can do to help? He is a sensitive boy and is getting really upset. He is academically quite bright so his teachers aren't seeing what he can do.

How bad is it? I am 40, I am the only person on the planet who can read my writing but it hasnt held me back (needed to use a computer for a few exams but that was standard at uni - high school was a bit more complex then). I started doing homework on a computer in 4th year (age 15 I guess) as thats when my parents could first afford one.

He needs a wee laptop to take notes (maths will need specialist help though but there is far less writing in that) and do homework but that should be easy to arrange these days.

Dont worry, be supportive and look at finding the best adaptation for your DS.

That's annoying the teachers cannot see through the handwriting to the content.

Is the writing actually legible? I would stress to him and help him practice making it legible. It doesn't need to be nice or especially tidy, just readable.

I say this as DS's handwriting is appalling but his teacher's always comment on the content being good so I guess they can just about read it. (He's year 8). When he was working really hard on making the hw better, he actually lost focus on the content so now he has learned legible + quality content is the goal.

Thanks so much for your replies.I am hoping school will allow him to use a laptop at some point. If he slows down he can write a little more legibly....but then he can't keep up and he certainly can't do his best work. I take your point about practice....we might go back to that and try in the mean time!

Tell him to print his letters instead of joined up writing. Why primary schools waste so much time and effort on it annoys me.

Have you had a look at teachhandwriting.co.uk ?
It's quite useful to help you analyse where the root of the problem lies - fine motor skills? Eye tracking? Spatial skills? Specific learning needs?

Are school aware he is being assessed?

They need to make allowances for him if it is likely he will be diagnosed. When I was teaching, I could, and did, produce slightly different sheets for a variety of SEN issues to reduce actually having to write while still getting content/ work/ effort in