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Original poster

Help. DS forming some letters wrongly and I don't know how to help him

31 replies

Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 21:24

DS is 5 and will finish reception year on Friday. We got his report at the end of last week which mentioned that he really needed to work on his handwriting and suggested we keep a diary over the holidays to encourage him to write regularly.

I'm dreading it.

No matter how many times we practise, he seems to form some letters consistently wrong and no amount of demonstration or tracing or explaining seems to help. He writes a's clockwise then gets confused as to where the 'stick' should go. o's are also done clockwise although these look OK once he's finished. Straight letters like i and l are all started from the bottom. r's are just done up and over, he won't go down then over. He used to do the same with m's and n's but he seems to have resolved this now.

I know he's only little and only just beginning and I don't want to pressure him and put him off writing but I do feel like it's important that we work on this now as it's obviously something the school think he needs to work on and I'd rather he learnt to do it correctly now than carry on like this and have to re-learn how to write later on.

I try to help but I just find myself getting more and more frustrated as he wriggles and fidgets (even after just a couple of minutes) and none of it seems to make the slightest bit of difference. I have total respect for his teachers as they must go through similar with 20-odd kids every single day and I am dreading the thought of trying the same with just 1! We tried writing the tags for his thank you gifts for the teachers tonight and both DH and I gave up as he just couldn't seem to do it Sad

Can anyone suggest any ways of helping him that might make things a little more fun or that might get through to him in a way that we haven't managed yet? I really want to help him but I really don't know how and it's making me feel a bit tearful.

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Fuzzymum1 · 18/07/2012 21:29

How about shaving foam on a tray? My DS who is also in reception loves a tray of shaving foam to practice letters in - or draw, or whatever else he fancies doing.

LadySybildeChocolate · 18/07/2012 21:32

A tray of sand which he can write in?

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 21:36

He's not keen on being sticky or 'dirty' but I could try the shaving foam.

Will try sand too as he might prefer that.

Thank you

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crazygracieuk · 18/07/2012 21:36

Lightsaber (or magic wand) in the air?
Aqua draw mat?
Let him use a water pistol on the pavement
Drive a car around big letters?

Basically I find that non-pen and paper methods very popular with my son.

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 21:39

Ooh, we have a big aqua draw mat!

Driving cars would appeal to him too. Maybe we could make 'a' town and draw out a road to drive along?

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chipmonkey · 18/07/2012 21:42

Blather's, I replied on Twitter but see here that he's still very young.
Ds2 and ds3 did a programme that divided letters into "families"
The family of C was c d a o q
The Stick family was i l m n p etc
and there were a few miscellaneous ones, x, w etc.
We got ds3 to make a c first for the family of c then finish it off. The sticks always started from top to bottom
It was just practice after that.
A tray of flour that he could write in was also good.
My suggestion on twitter was to see a behavioural optometrist as we help with things like laterality and directionality as well as eye movements etc but I may have been jumping the gun as he's still very little!

pixipie151 · 18/07/2012 21:44

He needs multi sensory handwriting activities, helps neurological processing and movement memory. Try baking dough letters, writing in sand with stick on beach etc. Great handwriting course: handwriting without tears. Also rainbow letters free download from sparklebox. Its quite normal for his age BTW.

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 21:51

Thanks chip, Funnily enough, my way of explaining a, d, q etc has always been 'a curly c, then the stick...' He still seems to want to start a's especially from the bottom right corner and go clockwise!

l, m, n, i, t are always started from the bottom.

Will definitely try writing in different mediums, not just pen on paper and will look up the handwriting course and downloads.

He reads really well, has been on the year 1 books for months already, he just seems to struggle when it comes to writing

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smalltown · 18/07/2012 21:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:02

Had a look at the sparklebox letters pixi thank you. At the moment, he's got the Alphablocks characters cut out from a magazine, laminated and stuck up next to his desk so he can see how the letters should look and also the same characters mounted on little foam blocks that we sometimes use to create the word he needs to write before he copies it down.

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Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:04

I saw that on Amazon earlier smalltown, is it good?

We have the leapfrog phonics letters on the fridge and DD has the 'leaptop' and tag junior but I'd never seen that before

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Kewcumber · 18/07/2012 22:05

isn't this normal? Confused DS was exactly the same as what you are describing (sterted year 1 on teh EYFS scale for writing) and still (at the end of year 1) has some issues but generally has done loads to catch up this year (ended above the national average for his writing) - I haven't done anything except praise him copiously when I think his writing is partiicularly good

"he just seems to struggle when it comes to writing" - doesn;t like like he's struggling to me - he sounds totally where you would expect him to be.

Though I seem to be in the minority thinking that!

littleomar · 18/07/2012 22:09

Phew kewcumber I was getting worried there - all sounds normal to me too. My 5yo is too knackered after school to do anything but the odd bit of reading at home, he doesn't have any of the resources people have mentioned. Or a desk!

smalltown · 18/07/2012 22:09

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Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:12

His teachers have pinpointed it as something he needs to work on Kew.

I promise I do praise him copiously when he writes well but a lot of the time, we both end up frustrated.

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24joy · 18/07/2012 22:12

This is really normal! In sweden they don't even start until 7!! My boy's just finished year 1 and he's only JUST getting the hang of it. And he's bright and 'normal'....

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:18

He has a desk because his cousin was handing one down when he got too tall for it. The little drawers are mostly full of Lego men and colouring books but it is where we do the little bits of homework that his school send home. I don't see why him having a desk is a big deal?

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FishfingersAreOK · 18/07/2012 22:19

My DD is just finishing Y1 and am sure she was in a similar place at the end of YR. DD is now on G&T for literacy. I know, I know, stealth boast perhaps - but just to reassure OP I really do not think you have to worry too much. Just make writing fun - the sand, the paintbrushed with water and the patio. Going shopping, ask him to write a shopping list. Play "schools" together. If he does any drawing get him to write a title on it. If he is playing role-play stuff get him to write his "name" on an address label and stick it on his shirt. If you have jobs to to get him to write your to-do list. And tbh I would not correct him. Just getting him practicing and enjoying it surely is the best thing for him over the holidays?
The report maybe suggested the diary as an example of a way just to keep him practising on a regular basis. But if you get stressed/it becomes a massive chore/issue you risk putting him off writing.

Kewcumber · 18/07/2012 22:19

Yes I guess you know best whether he truly is having a problem. I can only say he sounds exactly like the majority of DS's class at the end of reception particularly the boys. And yes our class teacher suggested working on his writing too - doesn't necessarily mean there is a problem but that its the area he's weakest at.

DS scored significantly above the national average (two grades above) on every single area and his teacher still suggested he might benefit from writing practice over the holidays!

For what its worth DS's (very very experienced reception teacher) didn't suggest we work on his writing but on his fine motor skills and the writing would come in its own time.

BonzoDooDah · 18/07/2012 22:22

Hi Blather Just wanted to say that my dd is the same age, just finishing reception and forms her letters exactly the same way. You could have been writing about her!
Nothing was said in her school report or by her teacher. I just think it is early days yet.

But my DH just said that when he first went to school they did lots of pattern drawing - e.g. lots of loops one after another that only later they realised were lots of 'e's joined up. He said this kind of thing taught their hands to draw the shapes in the right order before concentrating on the letter and word writing.

Also, in DD's school they are being taught cursive writing at the same time. In this style you do start the letters m, n, l etc from the bottom as that is where the previous letter ended. But the up and down is a problem.

Maybe some pattern drawing as games can be devised .... lots of up and downs like jumping beans? Lots of mountains ('m's) , loops up (e) loops down (o) etc etc.
I think I'm going to give it a try.

Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:22

Yes, I really don't want to put him off. Just a bit worried that he is so sure that that way he writes the letters is correct, that he's going to struggle even more when he has to relearn how to do them properly.

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Original poster
Blatherskite · 18/07/2012 22:26

The Jolly Phonics books do a lot of pattern drawing Bonzo. Lots of loops for e's and lots of c's together to make a caterpillar etc. I think I might go back to the books as well as doing the more abstract, messy play type ones.

I will look at the fine motor skills things, thank you Kew

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Kewcumber · 18/07/2012 22:31

"Just a bit worried that he is so sure that that way he writes the letters is correct, that he's going to struggle even more when he has to relearn how to do them properly."

DS didn't, he just got slowly better and some letters have just corrected themselves. A few letters he still does wrong and occasionally I point it out to him. I have now pointed out to him that he'll be starting joined up writing towards the middle of next year and it will be easier if he knows where to start and finish the letters. He is now very interested but he wasn't at all at the end of reception.

stealthsquiggle · 18/07/2012 22:43

Blathers IIWY I would back off completely for a couple of weeks at least.

I am not saying it is not important. My DS slipped through the net when it came to pencil grip (he's left handed, but that is no excuse) and the poor child has been being berated about his handwriting since Y4 but it is just too late - he has tried his best to improve it, but it's still pretty bad and his brain goes so much faster than his hand still Sad.

However he's probably knackered and not receptive right now and a complete break from school makes it a lot easier to then sell it to him as a game rather than "work". Lots of good suggestions on here - but also general find motor skills like threading would be good. Letter formation in icing, maybe Wink?

As for being sure that "his way" is right, I leave all those battles with DD to school [coward] but she had a book from school with the letters in which I would refer back to when arguing with helping her.