Reception writing

[EmmaGellerGreen]

DS has some behavioural issues which he has help with and he's making great progress. His reading is "officially" very good (Ed Psych and Senco). The Er Psych letter that we got recently commented about his writing being a cause for concern, whereas the school thinks is ok and I thought it was good!
During the holidays, we have been writing every day about what we've done.

I went swimming with mummy. We meet (name of 3 people spelled phonetically ok). We all had fun playing and jumping.

And

I red horid henreey with granny. It was funneey. We laft a lot.

The spellings are all his.
Do any teachers have any views?

Thanks

I'm not a teacher, but your DS is doing better with his writing than mine, who is also in reception

Thank you for replying! I know they all do things when they're good n ready but its just horrible having it in a letter giving me something else to fret about.

Thank you for replying! I know they all do things when they're good n ready but its just horrible having it in a letter giving me something else to fret about.

Hi Emma. My ds has low tone and was referred to OT. He subsequently had a 6 week course where they mainly worked on his letter formation. I was quite happy for him to practice his writing with a progessional but personally felt it was unecessary. I work in YR/Y1 and could see that he was defimitely at least average but wasn't going to complain. I think sometimes when you're in the system you get offered stuff that children outside the system wouldn't ever come to their attention forever when they fall quite below average if that makes sense.

wouldn't ever come to their attention for even when they fall quite below average if that makes sense.

Are the concerns regarding the content of his writing or the actual fine motor aspects ie pencil grip,letter formation, size etc? I am a Reception teacher and the content of those sentences looks very good, he has good phonic skills and if he used finger spaces, capital letters and full stops then he would definitely be exceeding the Literacy Early Learning Goal if not working at level 1 (depending on the handwriting). If the difficulty is with handwriting then that is a whole different issue, and I'm sure the school could give you some support and ideas to help with that. Don't worry, I wish my class were all writing as well as that!

Thank you. I agree that once you're "in the system" the child is more under the spot light and help is more forthcoming but I want to understand what are problems relative to the whole cohort and what are issues that are noted because of his behaviours.

Thank you Evie, that is really helpful. Spacing, fullstops etc, he needs telling each time, which - think is ok for this stage. Grip etc seem ok.
I thought his writing was OK and its really good to hear you thoughts. I will em the Ed Psych next term to check what she meant. Thanks again

Thank you Evie, that is really helpful. Spacing, fullstops etc, he needs telling each time, which - think is ok for this stage. Grip etc seem ok.
I thought his writing was OK and its really good to hear you thoughts. I will em the Ed Psych next term to check what she meant. Thanks again

How well does he form the letters? Is that the issue, maybe?
I'd be pleased if my yr1 DS could write sentences that well (that many words).

They look ok to me and DH can read it relatively easily. He is lefthanded, whereas we're both right handed so he looks clumsy when he's writing. I will do some more investigating next week and take his holiday writing in with me.

They look ok to me and DH can read it relatively easily. He is lefthanded, whereas we're both right handed so he looks clumsy when he's writing. I will do some more investigating next week and take his holiday writing in with me.

I agree, I think it's good for reception. DS1 is doing well in Year R and has written at a similar level about his Easter holidays: " I went to a weding and then I went to the resepshun and I darnst." Unless its a handwriting issue I can't see that anyone would seriously expect more than that from reception.
Perhaps the Ed Psych was comparing your DS's reading level to his writing level? I know DS's writing level is nowhere near his reading but then would you really expect it to be. Well done to your DS.

Thanks Abby, and well done to your DS too. I love the way they spell phonetcially, darnst is lovely.

Thanks Abby, and well done to your DS too. I love the way they spell phonetcially, darnst is lovely.

Maybe the EP didn't really know about his writing? In my experience they focus more on behavioural issues than stuff like writing.

You probably need to ask the EP what their concerns are regarding writing. It could mean anything.

Thank you

Yes, on the surface of it it looks good, but I wonder what they are reacting to. Was he asked to do some writing and wouldn't do it then or something?