Letter formation

[MerryMarigold]

Ds1 (7) is finishing Y2. The vast majority of his letters and numbers are incorrectly formed. I think he may be a bit dypraxic as handwriting is something the school focus on and some of the kids are even doing joined up writing. He enjoys creative writing, though struggles with spelling. I don't want to squish his enthusiasm for writing but it is very slow currently and hard to read.

Some examples are: He always writes a 1 as it looks here, not just a straight line, but this can end up looking like a seven or even a 2.
He writes a 4 in 3 different strokes. I think the vast majority of his letters are formed incorrectly so I can't even go into each one here. It's pretty overwhelming.

I want to use the summer to work on his writing before he goes into Y3. It suddenly occurred to me tonight if I should start him straight onto joined up writing if he needs to re-learn everything and at least he would feel like there was some point to re-learning rather than learning for the same 'end product' IYSWIM. Would this be really ridiculous?

Are there any good schemes out there we could do a little bit every day in the holidays? I don't want to be doing too much when school starts as he has plenty of reading etc. to do when he's at school hence wanting to get a good start in the holidays.

Unfortunately I don't know of any good schemes - but would be interested to see any recommendations that others may have.
My DD is in reception and they teach cursive from the get go. Handwriting is not a strength, however everything she does write is joined - it just takes a very, very long time. I came across this:
www.cursivewriting.org/joined-up-handwriting.html
a while back and was wondering about using it to allow DD to develop her muscle memory by tracing out words and sentences with all the correct joins in place. You know, without the pressure of thinking about what to write, she can just practice the movements until they are more automated. It's possible to get fonts that are made of dots too. Not sure if it's the sort of thing that might be helpful for your DS, but thought I'd post just in case.

Best of luck!

Thanks for replying and the link. Wow, my ds could only write his name (NOT joined) by the end of Reception so don't worry too much about her!

Am really interested in what people think of doing joined up etc.

Actually, I think joined up might be positive for him. DD is only in Y1 but she had a lot of trouble with reversing letters. She's a good reader and an enthusiastic writer but it wasn't only b and d, she'd get y the wrong way round or h. She was also starting letters from the wrong place and was v resistant to correction either from me or her teacher. DD started joined up writing about a term or so ago and although she doesn't always use it consistently at home, her letter formation has improved immensely and she gets 99% of even printed letters the right way round now, with an occasional wobble.

Well perhaps DD is in a class of strong writers as quite a few of her peers write half a page or more quite happily - but it's their speed that helps (if you're slow then you simply can't write as much in the allotted time) and I do wonder if cursive, once you've cracked it, helps with speed!?!

I agree with Harum as DD reverses numbers a lot but rarely reverses letters (but she did when she was practicing their formation initially).

Have you also seen this: www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/services/dys_handwriting.php

Thanks so much you two. That link looks brilliant. I think I will try out the joined up then. Yes, I have wondered about dyspraxia. His Y1 teacher said she thought he was possibly dyspraxic. But he has quite a few learning needs. He has been assessed by OT but there is a huge demand in our area for any kind of treatment. They determined his motor skills were in the 2nd centile, which is pretty poor. He also has some auditory processing problems, which leads to very poor focus, which he will have some treatment for in September. I guess they felt this was more pressing or easier to treat to treat than the motor skills. He can ride a bike which is an amazing achievement for him and his football is coming on, plus he draws a lot. Still the reversing letters and starting completely in the wrong place is continuing.

It's fantastic that you can see all of the progress your DS1 is making and so important to ensure he focuses on his own progress for his self esteem. It can be really tough not to make comparison with friends but if he realises that the only person he ever needs to improve against is himself then he will likely be far happier in himself. I hope that makes sense!

One other thought is that you may get more responses if you try posting this issue in the www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs thread. I think there are parents with far more experience of supporting their DCs with handwriting struggles (and auditory processing problems too) than is suggested by the amount of posts you've received on the primary education thread. The children's special needs thread bunch seem (from my lurking) a very suportive group indeed.

Again very best of luck

Thankyou, tired. I will try there as well. I just feel weird posting there when we don't seem to have had a 'proper' diagnosis for him, despite concerns since half way through Reception. (Also he is my first child, so it's hard to know what he should be doing). Now his brother, who is 3 years younger, has pretty much caught up with him in many of the non academic things, we realise there are definitely some issues, but I feel quite on my own in dealing with it. We live in a very deprived area, so there are a lot of children with complex needs in the school and the fact he has help at home/ supportive family has meant he is in fact trailing just below average nationally.

Honestly your post I feel sad, angry and frustrated with the lack of support, and the challenges with finding out how to access what is out there.

It's fine to post on that thread without a diagnosis - people often seek out info on whether they should be looking to push for a diagnosis. We didn't get a diagnosis for DD1 until she was in year 8 - the school had just labeled naughty / behaviour, but actually ASD (though at the milder end).

It can be more of a challenge when children are close to average, as the schools of course focus on those children with the most pressing needs. If he's just below average his handwriting would have been assessed as a 2C??? Have you seen the criteria for the level the school have given him & do you agree with their assessment? If his brother has caught up, but is 3 years younger then your home support is making all the difference. Still, is it worth talking to the school SENCO and being a little pushy!?!

I have been quite pushy by my standards! It was also good for us that the SENCO actually taught ds1 for phonics so experienced him firsthand and could see some of his issues - we got OT referral through it. Previously we had a CAHMS referral as ds was sleeping and eating very badly in YR and Y1, but that improved with a a class swap around in Y2 (when he finally got a good friend) so we were discharged from that.

We get reports on Friday so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Although if my dsis is to be believed, teachers 'vet' the SAT scores left, right and centre - in particular struggling students who come out with average levels and then when my dsis assesses them (she teaches the 'catch up' kids and also tutors 2 children in the evening) she says they are nowhere near that level. So not sure how much I can 'trust' the score.

His brother has caught up in things such as following instruction, getting dressed, bathing/ cleaning teeth, playing games/ running, asking questions etc. not specifically anything academic.