Handwriting help for Y5 who hates writing

[lexcat]

DD almost 10 uses capital letters (always P, W and J and most of the time I plus other random capitals) mixed with lower case. Can do joined up but has to really concentrate which slows her down that leads to frustration. Plus she lacks finger spaces in places making her work sometimes very hard to read.

Writing has never been her thing. I worry as she's expected to write more and more with less focus on the handwriting. Now her handwriting is getting worse and she's getting into bad habits.

I'm looking for inspiration to help dd with the handwriting.

Bump
Anyone please

Hi there, it sounds as though your daughter has a few 'bad habits' and by the age of ten they will be fairly well set by now so the first thing to do is tackle the bad habits. She also sounds as though she has poor motivation for writing because it has become a chore for her so any changes to her habits need to be done slowly rather than tackling everything at once.

Ask your daughter what she would most like to change in her writing (something small like using a lower case p instead of the capital) and then just spend 5 minutes every night (or more or less - let her put a time on it so that she is more likely to stick to it) and practice writing short words with a p in them. Don't try doing joined up as well or make any other changes - so let her use other capitals if she wants as long as she really focuses on using a small 'p'. Let her use whatever strategy helps her (i.e. having a card with the 'p' on it so she can keep looking at it). Once she feels better about this, ask her what she would like to try next.

Keep the practice sessions 'little and often' so they never become a chore and always make sure that her target is fairly easy so she manages it and feels good about it.

I know this is only the beginning of what will be a big challenge for her but the only thing that will help her get better is practice at correct formation....

hope this helps

Thanks mullymummy some great tips. I am hoping that the bad habits are not to well set as she use to have much better handwriting, without such regular use of capitals. The only problem she's always had is remembering finger spaces.

Could this be Dysgraphia?? Does she hate writing, spell badly? If so this may be the problem.

My 10 year old has bad handwriting due to dyspraxia - and it is incredibly hard to fix. (Does your DD have Dyspraxia?

This is all I have found out about the causes and interventions so far:
(Your DD may well suffer from all of these problems.)

Visual Perception Problems
(Not leaving spaces between words made me think straight away of this.)

The handwriting course that helps with visual perception problems is Write From the Start. Trouble is - she's a bit too old for it, it works best with kids 4 - 8. Still might work though.

Otherwise I highly recommend getting her eyesight tested by a behaviour optometrist and doing vision therapy if recommended.

Gross Motor Skills
Speed Up is the best program to address these problems. Basically in order to be able to write properly you need enough core strength to sit up straight (does she always slump at her desk?) and enough shoulder strength to control your hand.

Fine Motor Skills
This is problems with your fingers. I suspect because she hates handwriting she means it physically hurts - because of problems with her fine motor skills.
You need to do loads of things with her to improve her hand strength and pincer grip to improve this. Theraputty is what OTs recommend for this.

Daily practice
Has made absolutely no difference at all to DS. Absolutely none.
Now that we have addressed his vision, gross and fine motor skills I am hoping that it will help. But am not all that confident.

If you really want to improve her handwriting you (and she) are going to need to do a lot of work on it. Daily exercises, for a year or 2, to address all of the above.

You could see an occupational therapist privately for help, and get a tailored set of exercises.

Some places offer remedial handwriting courses.

Talk to the school SENCO. ASk her/him to look at your DD when writing and see what s/he thinks. Ask if s/he thinks a referral to a paediatric OT might help for assessment of any particular problems. Your GP may be able to refer to an OT if the school won't can't.

Otherwise Mullymummy and Indigo Bell have good thoughts.

Thanks but not really sure theirs any problem beyond dd lack of interest therefore very little input on her behalf.

Dd is over all a bright, very able child, just lack motivation with writing yet still manages to be in the top sets for everything even literacy. Got great spelling when she wants and reads beyond her years. Fine motor skill are very good, good core strength due to swimming 3-4 hours a week which is dd love.

Not sure but dd is very creative and was thinking maybe calligraphy she might and enjoy and get her thinking more about her handwriting. Her handwriting is not untidy just quirky with if it's capitals and often lack of finger spaces.

Indigobell, the only well to get better at a specific skill is to have direct experience of that skill. So if someone is poor at forming the letter 'p' the ONLY way to get better at writing the letter 'p' is to keep doing it. If there is a difficulty with fine/gross motor then yes, there are lots of activities that can help build those skills in general, but even if you spend 10 hours a day for 5 years doing all those general practice skills if you never actually write a 'p' in all that time of practice I guarantee you'll be no better off at doing it at the end.

I can't agree with you MullyMummy.

If you did improve somebody's fine motor skills, it is possible for their handwriting to improve without doing any handwriting practice.

We learn things all the time without actually doing them. For example we learn loads of things when we sleep, when our brain can make sense of the input it received during the day.

Athletes use 'visualisation' to improve their performance - loads of studies have proves that visualisation works.

Doing handwriting sheets every day will not always improve handwriting...

DS has been doing handwriting sheets every day, either at home or at school - and has made no progress at all.

So it was a bad use of his time, and we would have been far better spending that 10 minutes doing something more effective with him.

However, once we improve the underlying causes, then doing handwriting sheets hopefully will improve his handwriting.

You can't learn any skill without having mastered the pre-requisites....

I wouldn't recommend that anyone ever does something as dull as a handwriting sheet - I absolutely agree that that is ten minutes very poorly spent!

I think one of the key points for lexcats DD will be building up her motivation and confidence with writing - she needs to experience some success, which is why I think it will be important for her to set her own targets and methods for practice so that whatever form the practice takes, she's willing to do it.

Ok, now I'm really confused.

So writing short words with a 'p' in it isn't dull, but doing a handwriting sheet with a line of 'p's and rows or short words with 'p' in it is dull?

The diff seems quite subtle.....

Is the diff that she chose the p? or that she chose the words? or that she doesn't have the correct formation in front of her to copy?

(Genuine question - I will do anything to improve DSs handwriting)

Hi again,

I mentioned writing the 'p' within words as 'p' is never seen on it's own so it's better to practice the letter as it will appear in writing - (they are more likely to remember it). So there's no getting away from the fact that at some point you have to do writing to get better at it but this could be done in loads of different ways - write the words in steam whilst having a shower if thats what inspires the individual!

Calligraphy sounds like a great idea for making the task of writing more enjoyable - choose a font that is simple though and uses the same strokes as the writing she will use in school.

The key is to get the child/young person inspired to practice and I think that presenting them with a sheet of words/letters to copy over/underneath is not going to do that. If they have come up with the plan of action themselves (even if it's a little wacky) they are far more likely to stick with it and therefore get some results out of it.

I think this all sounds a bit simplistic.

DS has been doing writing practice every day. It hasn't worked.

He does the worksheet every day with no agruments. He likes routines and he's in the routine of doing it. He likes knowing exactly what he has to do, so worksheets suit him fine.

So while he's not 'inspired' by doing the worksheets. He's perfectly comfortable doing them. He does want to improve his handwriting.

If it's the physical act of writing that improves writing than it doesn't matter if they get that practice via a worksheet or via other writing - in both ways they should improve.

But they don't help him at all.

Not sure what experience you have of working with dyspraxic children....

Well, my recommendations weren't for your child... they are all different!

Has your daughter been taught how to form letters correctly lexcat? Where to start the letter, the sequence and direction of movements and where to end?

That's the thing I remember well when she was Y1 in a mix Y1/Y2 class she was the only Y1 who use to join the Y2's for handwriting. So I know she capable but some were a long the line that has all gone out the window.

If she takes her time and thinks about what she's writing, dd still got lovely handwriting without her bad habits. How do I get that back to the norm?

I think it's very much down to how much presentation is valued by the teacher/school and judging by TES many teachers don't see it as important.
With my class I do a piece of writing (copying a short poem) each half term which I display and them repeat the same piece a week later and our DH judges who has improved the most in that week. The winner gets a prize ~ I usually buy a special pen although for Easter I've got Eggs. Visitors are always amazed at the presentation of our children's work which matches the high quality content. Both are important.