Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Any ideas on how to correct a child writing letter anticlockwise?!

26 replies

emy72 · 28/09/2010 14:03

Hi there,
my son has just turned 4 and started Reception.
The good news is that he has surprised us all and is massively keen on reading/writing, like something has suddenly clicked....he will sit down and write stuff.

The bad news is that he writes all letters like O, A, etc anticlockwise. You don't notice when they are written as they are formed well, but if you observe him then every single letter is formed anticlockwise!

We have tried holding his hand and doing it "right" but as soon as he is doing this himself then is back to square one! He then gets upset and says he doesn't want to write anymore, so we figured it would be better to leave it.

Yesterday though he came home really upset as he said the teacher told him he was writing his name "wrong". So my DH went to the teacher to see what we thought we should do and she says we should keep correcting him otherwise it will become a lifelong bad habit.

What can I do correct him then? Anyone has encountered this problem? We were wondering whether he is left handed but he doesn't appear to be.....

Thanks for reading this far!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
CecilyP · 28/09/2010 14:07

Aren't you supposed to write o and a anticlockwise?

ethelina · 28/09/2010 14:10

I got pulled up at secondary school for writing my O clockwise! Cant say it caused any problem whatsoever for me though, its all perfectly legible.

potplant · 28/09/2010 14:10

My DS had handwriting practice books which shows how to form the letters properly like a dot to dot. I think its just down to practice really.

Agree with Cecily though they are supposed to be anticlockwise.

FingonTheValiant · 28/09/2010 14:10

I write my letters anti-clockwise, that's how we were taught to do it Confused

bamboobutton · 28/09/2010 14:10

i write my O's and A's anticlockwise.

why is it even a problem if the letter is legibleConfused

Original poster
emy72 · 28/09/2010 14:10

Sorry I meant the other way round then :o/ I am fuzzy brained!

OP posts:
Original poster
emy72 · 28/09/2010 14:12

I know I can't understand why it is a problem either. I am more worried that if we keep making a big deal out of it he will switch off writing altogether, which would be a terrible shame!!!!

OP posts:
bamboobutton · 28/09/2010 14:14

tell the teacher to get a grip.

if he was left handed would she force him to use his right hand because "the right hand is the right hand to write with"Hmm

CecilyP · 28/09/2010 14:23

I thought you might have meant clockwise. Confused With the o it is not really a problem (may be more so when they come to do joined writing)but with the a doesn't that mean that he has to go round it twice. In which case, could you sell the idea of anticlockwise being less work. You could try the books suggested by potplant but I wouldn't make too big a deal of it if his writing is legible.

Original poster
emy72 · 28/09/2010 14:30

Yes his writing is perfectly legible and tbh you would have to really look to notice it's been done "the other way".

However, I will try and encourage him and maybe get him to trace letters on the books suggested, see if he "clicks" with it....

(thing is he's not toooo keen on doing sit down and trace, he's more a kind of "mummy I am going to write this word or that word and then he's off iyswim....lol)

thanks!!

OP posts:
beautifulgirls · 28/09/2010 17:21

Is he left handed? Left handers do form some letters differently but correctly in the opposite direction to right handers o. They also cross lines in the opposite direction to for letters like t and f.

mrz · 28/09/2010 17:46

o, c, a, s, d, g,q should be formed anti clockwise
forming them clockwise will cause problems especially when moving onto joined handwriting so it is important and as a teacher I would be doing the same as his teacher. Better to correct it now before it becomes a real issue.

mrz · 28/09/2010 18:00

should add it has nothing to do with being left handed many right handed children do the same especially if they have learnt to write their name by copying (they copy the shapes rather than write the letters) or "tracing" (including dotted letters) unless carefully supervised. I'm afraid it requires sitting down and spending 5 minutes (daily if possible) to talk through how to form the letter. I would "write" each letter on the table with a finger tip while repeating the correct sequence of movements (until tip of finger begins to feel warm) then writing on paper or a whiteboard.

reinforce the starting point (number 2 on a clock) and the direction

Curly caterpillar family
Anticlockwise movements

c round (I say ... and leave it's mouth open)

o round, round and join

a round, up, down and flick

d round, up, up, down, down and flick

g round, up, down, down and round

q round, up, down, down and tick

s round and round the other way

f round, down, down and round ? across

e across and round

Original poster
emy72 · 28/09/2010 18:24

yes mrz, you are right as he's taught himself to write but so did his sister I guess and we didn't have this problem, but they are all different!

Thanks so much for those pointers, I will brace myself and give it a go!!!!

OP posts:
Rosebud05 · 28/09/2010 19:41

This has been on my mind recently. My 3.6 year old dd is 'teaching' herself to write by copying the shapes of letters. I'm aware that they 'should' be done as mrz describes, though at 3.6 I'm not sure how useful it will be to sit down telling her how to do things.

Shall I just leave it and wait for school when she will be taught properly?

ragged · 28/09/2010 19:47

Meh, DS1 (now Yr6) has never written correctly. Not his letters or numbers (starts numbers from bottom, starts letters from strange places -- I wince to actually watch him write).
Nevertheless, he managed to make it onto the sodding G&T lists for literacy and numeracy (maybe the most able boy in his year for literacy, even -- that's what his teacher said in past, anyway).
He's not a genius, am just pointing out that it may not be worth worrying about, they can still excel in spite of quirky writing.

Original poster
emy72 · 28/09/2010 19:51

Just reporting in with an update!

DH used the pointers that Mrz suggested and after several (bit painful) attempts, DS1 is finally forming some of the letters correctly!

Thanks so much!

OP posts:
mrz · 28/09/2010 19:57

It won't happen overnight but with a bit practise he will get the idea Smile

taffetacat · 28/09/2010 20:11

as usual some brilliant tips thank you mrz will use with my DD(4) Smile

MsHighwater · 28/09/2010 20:17

My dd (5) is being taught to form o and q clockwise! We have a information sheet supplied by the school that clearly shows the clockwise direction. Seems wrong to me.

ZephirineDrouhin · 28/09/2010 20:43

You can download worksheets that have traceable letters with little arrows showing where to start the letters and which way to go. You also get a lot of these in the little workbooks that come with those magazines aimed at pre-schoolers/Reception age - these ones

Dd has just started doing the Ruth Miskin scheme at school which seems to be very good at teaching letter formation in a fun way - might be worth a look.

ZephirineDrouhin · 28/09/2010 20:45

Ah - just seen mrz's link - that was the sort of thing I meant.

mrz · 28/09/2010 20:50

I would only ever use dotted sheets if I was sitting with the child to make sure they make the correct sequence of movements

JaneS · 28/09/2010 20:52

It sounds as if he is well on track now, but just in case, but here's something that worked really well for me: you get those plastic stencils of letters as guides. That way, he can feel his pencil (a thick felt-tip is better) bumping up against the shape of the letter as he traces it. Then, get him to shut his eyes and trace the letter.

I thought it was fun (perhaps because I was a very sad 6 year old? Grin), but also, when you're not looking, you concentrate far more on the shape. If you start him in the right place on the letter and guide his hand slightly, he won't be able to trace the letter anti-clockwise and gradually the right movement will become muscle memory.

This is really only worth it if there's a real struggle, or if there's one stubborn letter he needs to correct - too time consuming if the letters look fine, I suspect.