Any ideas on how to improve DD's handwriting?? Reception age...

[simpson]

DD has a very poor pencil grip/hold due to hypermobility and she is under physio/OT for it.

We have been doing daily exercises for months now to strengthen her hand/finger muscles and practising following dotted lines on paper and letter shapes etc. but there has been zero improvement as yet...

She has been using flash cards that wipe clean with dotted lines on to help with letter formation etc...but still really struggles.

I know she is still very young but today her teacher said she was in tears because she just cannot do it and most of her class can. I don't mean they are writing long sentences or anything just that they can do more than her or their pencil control is better than her. She says her fingers don't do what she wants them to do

Any ideas on how to help her??

Chalk on a board or stone like a patio? Paper, brush and paint?

Thanks, will give those a go. A friend has suggested doing letter formations in the air too....

at school we have trays with sand in the bottom and a stick for them to make marks in (a bit like an old fashioned etcha-sketch)
it is very easy to make a mark in the sand and so to do lette shapes in the sand would be easy either with her fingers or with any little instrument she wanted. We have also used white sand with glitter in it in the past.

Hi. At work we use exercises such as pegging ( clothes pegs!), threading and picking up objects with large tweezers to help improve finger strength and help get the fingers moving they way you want. With the letter formation I would say don't worry too much about the small movements with the pencl at the moment, try practising letter formation using large movements in the air with your magic writing finger! Also sand tays are great as never knowing suggested and shaving foam in a tray is also great. I would also recommend a small lap sized whiteboard and pen to try writing the letters on. This is as it is a lot easier to make a controlled mark with a whoteboard pen on a board then it is with a pencil on paper as the pen is more responsive, also it helps with confidence as mistakes are so much easier to get rid of. Some teachers also recommend the child laying on their tummy as they use the whiteboard as helps develop arm strength which is beneficial for writing. Anyway I have waffled enough. Hope something may be of help. She is vwery young still I am sure it will all come together.

Write from the start

Is very effective for developing pen control, although your dd is still very young for it to be any kind of issue. We did right from the start when ds was five years and eight months and the improvement really was dramatic. However it is not particularly play based or fun.

Prehaps enrol her in gymnastics to build upper body strength

Reallytired - that book looks really good, I have just ordered it!!

We have been doing finger strengthening exercises for ages and the only thing that concerns me about her writing (or letter formation) is because she is upset about it iyswim.

She tells me her fingers won't do what she wants them too

She cried at school about it yesterday...

I have not got a white board so will get one of those, she finds it easier to write/draw with felt tip pens as she does not have to press so hard on the paper..