How important is handwriting - y1

[iwantanoompaloompa]

So, I managed to sneak a peek at some other children's written work this week.

Lots of children's handwriting is much better than DS.

DS writes well in terms of vocabulary, grammar etc but his writing is not great. Letters different sizes, not on the lines etc.

I have a hang up as my handwriting was always the worst in the class at school although I was clever.

Does it matter? Do I need to encourage him more at home? Or will it just find its own level eventually.

No it doesn't matter. He'll be given stick about it all the time unfortunately but once his work can be read it won't matter a jot in later life. A lot of children have horrendous handwriting in Y1, he still has loads of time to improve it, so I wouldn't worry for the time being.

My dd - yr 2 has pretty bad handwriting. Sometimes I get on a mission to sort it out - buy nice paper, pens etc and it has got a bit better. As her teacher said to me - she has bags of imagination , her creative writing is full of great language - the writing just needs polishing

I'm a children's Occupational Therapist and handwriting is something I'm asked about a lot. IMHO, "poor handwriting" could pose a potential issue if a child with lots of ideas can't legibly record these on paper and no extra time/alternative means of recording has been agreed with the school. Children who persist in forming letters in an immature manner (i.e from the bottom up or in a clockwise direction) seem to complain of upper limb aches and pains when writing, moreso than other children. My advice would be to ask the class teacher if a little extra work can be done to target letter formation/sizing/spacing etc with your DS. If no noticeable improvement after a term, ask for a referral to a paediatric OT. PM me if you have other questions.

In his life, important documents are likely to be word processed so handwriting doesn't have the importance that it once did. I have appalling handwriting though, and it is something I wish I could do better almost every week of my life. Fact is though, I can't.
However, I wouldn't worry in Yr1. My ds's writing didn't really come together until Yr5, and one of his ambitions now is to be an author!

SOmething that a lot of children are helped by however are really simple exercises to 'warm up' the right muscles before writing....

• hands flat on the table and lift up individual fingers
• fingers 'running' up and down own arms (like spiders, I used to tell the children)

-giving hands a really good shake -holdingfingers in a really tight fist then sort of shaking your hands (as if trying to shake fingers off)

when writing, get him to hold something small (lid of pen / paperclip / bit of sponge or blutac) with the ring finger and little finger of writing hand (it helps a lot of children hold their pencil better)

Also, activities that strengthen the finger / hand muscles :

• unfastening lego/duplo bricks that are pressed 'stuck' on top of each other
• anything that involves a 'pincer' grip... games with tongs such as 'Operation' / threading or posting games (like putting coins in a money box) or anything that involves threading a string through something (cotton reels or polos or sewing cards)

-games / activities involving clothes pegs

• play dough and plasticine or real dough... just simple things like rolling 'sausages', and squashing it back into a big ball afterwards
• retrieving objects (eg paper clips or pennies) that have been squashed into playdough
• turning over cards that are on the table or floor - this can be games like patience or any game that involves picking up the card with that pincer grip

Mrz has a comprehensive list that gets copied and pasted onto here regularly, but really, anything you can do to get him using his fingers is likely to help a bit.

Hoope that helps a bit for now though.

Handwriting is important.

Far easier to teach in Y1 then when he's older.

Indigo, all the most successful people I know (including my DH) have absolutely appalling handwriting. It can be a problem when it comes to exams but beyond that it means nothing.

Really?

You dont think it's a problem for the rest of their school life if they:

• can't read their notes,
• the teacher can't read their work,
• everyone looks at the scruffiness of the work and assumes the content's poor,
• his hands / wrists hurt
• he avoids writing

A year 1 child needs to learn everything. Reading, writing, arithmetic and handwriting.

If you've done everything you can and by Y6 their handwriting is still illegible then it's reasonable to give up on it.

Before that it's a cop out and you are restricting by your son for no reason.

Your husband may well be successful - but poor handwriting certainly has a huge adverse effect on my Y6 son. not in exams - he hasn't had any yet. It is a problem for him every single day of his school life.

I wouldn't wish that on anyone when it's so easy to prevent if you attack it in Y1.

I'm not saying nothing should be done about it. There is huge focus on handwriting in Y1- most writing is focused around improving handwriting. What I'm saying is that in the long run it'll be annoying but not a massive problem.

Thank you all. I suppose I want to know whether he needs to practice his handwriting at home or just the writing.

For example, his spellings. They look terrible because he makes no effort to write neatly. Do I make him write them neatly or not care, just get the words spelt.

The same with birthday cards etc. I don't want to put him off writing independently by constantly pulling him up on his letter formation.

get him to do a draft copy and then a good copy.

First he can do his spellings correctly, then he can copy them out neatly.....