does good handwriting really matter? (as long as it's legible, i mean?)

[LadySanders]

ds1 is in year 5 - he's dyslexic, so getting anything at all written down is a real struggle but he has made great progress over the last year.

his handwriting is completely legible but not very pretty - he is hampered by school's insistence on joined up writing rather than printing which for some reason they will not be flexible on.

he is now upset because he is being sent to a lunchtime handwriting club to improve his writing so that he can move on to using a pen rather than a pencil. he sees this as a punishment because lessons are already hard enough without him having to work all through lunch as well.

i see it as totally bloody pointless because as long as his writing can be read, beautiful calligraphy is frankly the least of his worries, and is a totally irrelevant skill.

any thoughts? if i'm missing something i'll be glad to know?

i don't think you know very much about dyslexia - poor reading is just one facet of it. difficulty with spelling and writing is a well recognised aspect of dyslexia.

Stands to reason if you have difficulty reading your hand writing is going to be poor - how are you supposed to form the letters if you can't see them properly?

We had an assessment done on DS a couple of weeks ago and woman said there is a lot of overlap between dyslexia and dyspraxia and you can see why. She was quite surprised that my dyspraxic DS is actually a very good reader because he has problems with such things as copying from the board because his eyes don't track properly, which, as I understand it, is common with dyslexia too.

On top of that there are many forms of dyslexia so to say that it is the just about not being able to read is frankly a massive oversimplification of a very complex problem.

Hope you got on alright this afternoon, LadySanders.

Technically dyslexia is difficulty reading dysgraphia is difficulty writing and dyscalcula is difficulty with number.

For many children with dysgraphia, cursive writing has several advantages. It eliminates the necessity of picking up a pencil and deciding where to replace it after each letter. Each letter starts on the line, thus eliminating another potentially confusing decision for the writer. Cursive also has very few reversible letters, a typical source of trouble for people with dysgraphia. It eliminates word-spacing problems and gives words a flow and rhythm that enhances learning. For children who find it difficult to remember the motor patterns of letter forms, starting with cursive eliminates the traumatic transition from manuscript to cursive writing. Writers in cursive also have more opportunity to distinguish b, d, p, and q because the cursive letter formations for writing each of these letters is so different.

Children with poor writing need to be carefully monitored otherwise they continue to make the same errors over and again. For this reason it is often necessary to have a very small group of children, so I can easily see why some teacher is giving up her lunch break to provide this practice for some children. There is rarely a second staff member with children in a G5 classroom. So I can understand the timetabling, although the child and parent do not like it.

The dyslexic child's typical avoidance of literacy type activities contributes to lack of practice in writing, but poor letter formation is not invariably associated with dyslexia.

Just out of interest - Definition from the International Dyslexia Association

Dyslexia is a neurologically-based, often familial, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic.

Definition from British Dyslexia Organisation

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which mainly affects the development of literacy and language related skills.

It is likely to be present at birth and to be lifelong in its effects. It is characterised by difficulties with phonological processing, rapid naming, working memory, processing speed, and the automatic development of skills that may not match up to an individual?s other cognitive abilities.

LadySanders it isn't clear from your posts the exact nature of your child's difficulties with writing but it seems that you are saying his "handwriting" is a problem in which case it would fall under Dysgraphia - Writing Difficulties - refers to the child's difficulty holding and controlling a pencil so that the correct markings can be made on the paper.

now your child may also have dyslexia
Visual dyslexia is characterized by number and letter reversals and the inability to write symbols in the correct sequence. but it isn't clear from your posts.

a 5 year old needs to run around at lunch

fwiw, my OP was, i think, fairly clear that in fact there is NO problem with his handwriting other than it being not very beautiful.

i mentioned the dyslexia (which in his case largely revolves around problems with working memory) only because it seems to me that a child who has difficulty 'getting things down on paper' (again, i stress, nothing to do with the physical handwriting) doesn't need to have the added complication of worrying whether the appearance of his writing matches the standards of the school calligraphy club.

Then I suggest from your OP your son's problems with handwriting have nothing to do with his dyslexia. I'm afraid if he has no problem other than it isn't very beautiful it doesn't fit the criteria ...

oh my god, i really don't know why I bother, but if you actually read my post this might have been a more sensible discussion.

the issue i was posting on was whether 'pretty' handwriting matters, i wasn't asking for opinions on how dyslexic my son is or isn't.

luckily most of those who commented on this thread understood my OP perfectly well, so i thank them for their input which was helpful.

OK in reply to your OP good joined handwriting is important for dyslexic children and as a SENCO I would encourage it in all children who have problems with letter order.

I can vouch for the joined up writing being good for dyslexics as I am dyslexic myself and it is good as your hand learns the natural feel of the words so common words can be learnt by the hand and not the head.

I myself am a messy writer and now I can write and it is legable but by no means tidy. Some teachers would push the handwriting some reaised after a while it was like flogging a dead horse.