handwriting - how much does it matter?

[aegeansky]

DC has just finished infants with a lovely report and we have no concerns academically.

However, I've noted that handwriting isn't a strong point, and the school hasn't really done anything about it. We're looking at letters that occupy the whole space between two lines instead of one, and letters that should sit on the line that float well above it. The writing is also large and erratic. DC has excellent fine motor control and showed early talent for observational drawing, which continues.

This is a summer-born child, so when I say that I have seen better handwriting in children in year 1, that's probably something to bear in mind.

But I'm just wondering, as DC goes into year 3, whether some teachers may be frustrated when handwriting lags writing ability. I note that handwriting is actually an evaluated component in statutory tests, for example.

I guess what I'm saying is, try and fix it now, starting over the holidays, or see what happens next year? Oh, another worry is that that's when cursive writing gets serious and I can't see that he could deal with that when the letters are the wrong proportions.

my son scored lower on his SATS for hand writing and so I am getting a couple of tutoring sessions over the summer to help him. I just feel that writing is so important - after all its no good being amazing with maths or literacy is no-one can actually read it!!

I have the same concerns. DS1 has just got all 3's in his Yr2 SAT's apart from in writing where he got a 2A which I think was extremely generous, he didn't deserve it as his handwriting is absolutely diabolical. He really doesn't seem to grasp the importance of making his writing legible even though he is more than capable of it. I am also thinking of getting him a few tutoring sessions to see if it breaks the back of the writing otherwise I really don't know what we're going to do about it. His teachers have been extremely patient about it but it really doesn't appear to have come on at all this year.

fiveweeksandcounting, good to hear I'm in company. I think my DS does understand the importance and does try, but handwriting is fiendeshly complicated and I think some children, even high ability, need extra support with it that may not be available in the classroom. Also some schools, I know, practice it a lot whereas others hardly bother.

I'm glad you don't think I'm making a fuss about nothing.

1Littleboy1Bigboy, yep, totally with you there on the fact that people (tired teachers!) need to read this stuff!

fiveweeksandcounting-in Yr2 SATs, handwriting is only a VERY small element of the writing assessment, the teacher is looking for content, vocabulary, punctuation, stylistic features etc which, together with handwriting and spelling make up thr writing mark. This is not to say however that handwriting isn't important, it is from a presentation point of view, to provide a sense of pride in one's work, to create an impression, but not as a means of levelling work ( not sure about KS1 SATS but at KS2, handwriting accounts for 3 marks out of 50)

God, this is such a bugbear for me. I have a wonderful DS, 10 years old and sharp as a pin. However, his writing is awful.

I have spoken to all his teachers from Year 2 onwards in an effort to find a way we can improve it - I have never asked them to work more with him, I am more than happy to do that, just wanted advice, books to buy that may help etc ... nothing, with the exception of his most recent Y5 teacher! One teacher came back to me 4 months after I asked her if she could suggest a book of cursive writing stating she couldn't find one!! Really, three minutes of Amazon would have done it!.

All I would say is that yes, in my opinion, writing is important. His Y5 teacher told me that it needed improvement as exams were written, not oral (in the greater part) and so he needed to be legible.

Get onto Amazon and look up handwriting exercise books, the Basic Handwriting Book 1 is excellent.

Good luck. The only way past this is practice. Daily practice, and it will get better.

I would say its not overly important, for all the love in the world my handwriting is crap, it just is when you teach handwriting I say a little rhyme so that they start the letter in the right place so for example for n start at the top down the road back up the road and over the bridge. If he isn't starting in the right place he will find joined up writing hard.

Thanks Timba

It matters a great deal IMO. When I watch children closely, some of them have not got things automatised in the h/w department and need much directed, observed practice to do so, especially if they are at a school that demands a lot of writing.

If the mechanics of the letter formation are automatic, attention is available for spelling. If spelling is under control attention is available for sentence and paragraph construction.

The easier it is to write quickly and legibly the better. It's an essential skill in a literate society, and ultimately is used to test children.

Malaleuca, thanks. Your middle par is especially interesting. I note that DS can write clearly when he pays a great deal of attention and writes very slowly , thus using up quite a lot of bandwidth.

How is his fine motor control in general?

It is good to outstanding. He has been doing fine observational drawings from the age of 4 and has been climbing to a high standard for the last 2 years.

A few links handwriting links:

www.spellingsociety.org/journals/j19/handwriting.php Handwriting, and its relationship to spelling

www.aei.org/article/13071 'The Write Stuff' by Christina Hoff Sommers, on Boys and Handwriting.

www.scribblers.co.uk/cgi/gridlines.pl
Handwriting paper to print.

www.prometheantrust.org/admin/files/tracing.pdf Sound Foundations handwriting tracing sheets; pre-cursive leading to cursive.

There does seem to be far less focus on handwriting in the UK than we saw in the Netherlands. DD1 did practically all her primary education there. She was taught a very attractive script. Since coming back to UK she has adapted it to meet UK expectations but it is still very good.

DS & DD2 missed out on this and have by comparison quite dreadful handwriting. As Malaleuca describes, both have to concentrate to produce decent legible handwriting which means that they arent concentrating on the content.

One of the problems we saw in primary was the constant use of unlined paper. We challenged it repeatedly but were told that this was what the school had bought so had to put up with it!

Our school insist children to write inthis font right from reception.To begin with DDs writing was completely illegible, but now ,by the end of reception although still rather large many of the children are producing goodlooking joined up writing,which looks like the work of a much older child.

Katiestar 'by the end of reception....many of the children are producing goodlooking joined up writing...'

Wow. At the end of yr 2, my son's handwriting is erratic, variable in size and capable of being shockingly untidy, with wildly different pressure visible in the strokes. I'm amazed your school has cracked cursive by reception - inspiring stuff.

I teach year 3/4 and am very honest with my chd that I have always found having neat handwriting very difficult. Obviously I make it as neat as I can for them, but my mind races ahead in a way the pen can't follow!
Teaching others handwriting is one area I feel I have a real lack of knowledge. It was not covered at all on my PGCE and at my school I was just given a scheme to follow from a book. I will admit the teaching of handwriting in my class is a bit erratic but I have already made it an area for improvement next year...

Just a note for those with neat handwriting... please don't assume it is just because we don't try hard enough or haven't had enough practice. The torture I went through at school due to handwriting still remains as a very distinct memory! As long as it is readible its OK........

This is something DH and I have discussed at length - 6-yo DD1 is doing very well at school but her handwriting is abysmal. But then, so in DH's and, to a lesser extent, mine. And my parents were both primary school teachers, so you can imagine the emphasis that was put on good handwriting in my home. FWIW, my older sisters have lovely writing but my brother and I have terrible writiing.

I rarely write anything these days - it's always typed. When was the last time you handwrote something to give to someone else to read (other than cards or such like)? So we're trying to find a balance between making sure DD1 produces legible writing without overemphasising something that we feel isn't critical in the grand scheme of things.

''by the end of reception....many of the children are producing goodlooking joined up writing'

well goodlooking is relative! Goodlooking as in properly formed joined up and you wouldn't think it had been done by a 5 yo -not goodlooking as compared to an adults!

My 10yr DS2 has awful handwriting. It has driven his teachers mad for years! His yr 5 teacher really hasn't seemed to concerned about it. He seems to think in these days of computers he won't need handwriting skills so much.
I disagree because exams are written and as i have told DS2, if the person marking it can't read the content he won't get good marks.

I am worried because he now has the same teacher for year 6. If he concentrates he can do better writing. Seems to be lack of concentration!

I wish it wasn't important but it is. Worse than that unless it's cracked within the first few years of school (certainly by the end of Year 3) it won't be easy because habits will have developed. If you want your child to have relatively effortless good handwriting make the effort now.

Maverick has posted you some good links.

Another truth is that fountain pens are fabulous for training children into good hand writing; failing that sharp pencils and fineliner pens that the children have to learn not to press into the paper.

Good luck.

alicatte, thank you.

For parents willing to do some work over the holiday, I would recommend "Speed up" by Lois Addy. This is a kinesthetic programme to develop fluent handwriting. It is for children aged 8 to 13 but I think some of the ideas could be adapted for younger children too.

Write from the Start by the same author is more suited to younger children

Over 40 "Teaching others handwriting is one area I feel I have a real lack of knowledge. It was not covered at all on my PGCE and at my school I was just given a scheme to follow from a book".

Good - it's not just me then! I got a great grounding in phonics (letter recognition/blending/segmenting etc) but zero on the mechanics of teaching letter formation and handwriting. As a result I am planning to research handwriting for my MEd dissertation next year and it's very helpful to hear some other teachers' and parents' views.

by the way - mrz - do you have an opinion of the font with lead in strokes as well as exit strokes?