DS Yr 3 problem with writing

[PeanutButterOnly]

Hi - I have a DS who is 7, a summer born yr 3. He's reading pretty well, slightly above average for his age, but his writing is not good. I'm worried about all aspects of writing. Letter formation: he still has trouble forming some of the capitals. For example, today he asked: 'How to do I write 'G'?'. He seems to be trying to write joined up and I'm not sure whether this is a good idea, seeing as he's still slow at printing. Today he failed to write his own name clearly in joined up. Motivation: he doesn't choose to write very often at home. He doesn't seem interested in writing imaginative stories for example. Punctuation: he does full-stops in a big dot! He often forgets capitals altogether.

Should I be worried and what on earth can we do? To date, we've tried to relax about it, so as not to pressurise him and also he has two younger siblings and we are very busy so it's hard to find the time to do lots of coaching at home...!! Of course I will speak to his teacher again...but just wondered if anyone had experienced similar?

Just answering as nobody else has. Haven't really anything useful to say, but I have a summer born Yr3 DS too. With him, though he loves writing, he's always in such a rush, so he doesn't think to stop to think and scrawls down long reams of very phonetically spelt text, which is often illegible. His teacher's focussing on slowing him down and has taken him back to basics, so is doing more in terms of handwriting practice and reinforcing basic spellings, with lots of praise for thinking it through before he writes. It's already made a massive difference. Hope your teacher has a plan too!

Handwriting advice

Also have yr3 summer born who does not choose writing as an optional activity ever! Came home recently with all the b's in his spelling homework written as p's eg stumple. Z is often back to front. Usually remembers capitals but remember a question mark? I'm taking the not worried approach. School assure me DS is doing well in literacy!

I would talk to the teacher as they are likely to be pushing joined up now. You might also find out he's not the best but by no means near bottom of his class.

Thanks Indigo. Very interesting links as ever.

I'd definitely talk to the teacher. DS1 is in year 4 now, and I think he got away without writing well in year 2 because he was so good at reading and numeracy, and there were a number of difficult children in his class who seemed to need alot of attention.

In year 3 his teacher was not happy with the fact his writing lagged so far behind everything else, and he was given extra writing practice for homework (which he refused to do - lack of motivation again!) but she also put him in to the group who needed handwriting help at school.

Ask if your school does this - it was a regular, twice a week (only for 30 minutes I think) session where they did something not about writing, but to strengthen their hands. Gardening, playdo (much excitement about that from a bunch of 7 yo) baking, all sorts. Plus some handwriting practice but done in groups and in a more fun way than a tired / stressed parent can manage after school.

1 year later and his handwriting isn't great, and he still prints rather than joining up, but it is so much smaller, neater and more legible than it was.

Thanks for all your ideas - will talk to his teacher again and am setting some time at home to practise too, if he'll do it! I'm off to check out the Handwriting link!

Peanut. I don't know where you are based but if you are in Greater Manchester, I know a fantastic handwriting tutor. She is a qualified OT and is able to look at any underlying physical problems that might cause difficulties with handwriting as well as doing the letter formation type stuff. She is be happy to see people for a "one-off" session too in order to assess and offer advice and suggest exercises to help, with no obligation to continue with further tutoring if you choose not to. PM me if you want her details.