Should I concentrate on handwriting or writing?

[PeppermintScreams]

May born DS is in year 1. He is above average for most things, but his writing is letting him down.

At parent's evening last week his teacher said that he needs to write more, and make more of an effort. When I asked her what we could do at home, she just gave me the usual things that are mentioned on here, writing shopping lists etc.

I asked him about his Literacy lessons, and he said it's the only thing about school he doesn't like. I've asked him why he doesn't like it (I asked if it was boring, or if his hand hurt etc) and he said he didn't know.

His reception teacher last year had no concerns, and said his writing was phenomenal. (That's the word she put in his report) Comparing the writing he did last year in reception with what he's done so far in year 1, and I think he had slid a bit. I appreciate there is a difference between standards and time given to complete work in year 1 and reception, but he was writing 3-4 sentences last year, unlike now!

I'm struggling to try and get him to write more than the odd birthday card or Christmas cards at home. But I've giving him one of his Christmas presents early (a Boogie Board) which he is loving writing me messages and requests, and playing games.

I was wondering if I should concentrate on his handwriting and doing something like the Letts Handwriting books or something like Write From The Start? If the handwriting improves then the writing should follow?

Any ideas?

He also writes out his weekly spelling list daily. He already knows how to spell them so we just work on writing them.

I had a very similar problem with my now year 3 DS. He is very bright but refused to write. I ended up going to a educational psychologist cos I was so worried. It continued into year 2. The psy told me he was bright and there were no issues. He suggested I taught him cursive writing myself. I got some writing books and he loved it! He now writes beautifully.
I think my school encourage but do not teach cursive writing. DS enjoyed the fact he doesn't have to keep lifting his hand off and that his hand writing can keep up with his brain now. I suspect your DS could be the same. Frustrated that he cannot write as fast as he thinks so he just doesn't bother.

Personally I'd leave the handwriting. If he feels caught up in that, he'll feel frustrated with the whole process and 'give up'.

I also wouldn't necessarily buy anything to do with him- but a nice a4 notepad, let him decorate the front cover and have it as his special writing book. Let him write whatever he wants. If he's reluctant to start with, for the first few times he can tell you a story and you can write it down as he tells you it. He could type some writing out on the pc, print it and stick in. He could write lists of his friends names, write about Christmas, write a list of his favourite football team, research and find out about his favourite footballer, draw a picture of the park and write about how he likes to play there...anything he can write about, get it down.

The first step to writing is talking. Get him talking and excited about things, discuss his ideas then begin to write...

I would also say ignore the handwriting myself and concentrate on encouraging him to just write. Spelling and handwriting can be sorted out later once he realises he can get his ideas on paper.

Reception writing expectations and yr1 are very different. 3-4 sentences in reception might been seen as good from the sounds of what the teacher wrote in his report but I know in DD1's Yr1 class there are at least 5 or 6 children who can write 3 or more pages so the expectations have shifted.

With Christmas coming up why don't you write a Christmas story with him. You could do it in a couple of ways, a joint story so you sit and talk about it and decide what you want to write but he writes it or you could take it in turns to write a sentence, like those drawings where you draw the head and fold it over, the next person draws the body and so on. So you could write the first sentence, then he writes the second, you the third... then you can read your funny Christmas story together. You want to keep it fun and so that he doesn't realise he is doing it.

Absolutely- fun is the key. Has he written his letter to Father Christmas yet? That might be a good thing for this weekend... You could buy Xmas stickers to decorate it, maybe buy a 'special' Xmas pencil if you can find one...

We had a similar reluctance, but DS liked printing pictures off the computer (google images) cutting them out (much-needed scissor practise) and gluing them into small exercise books and writting a narrative on the opposite page. At first it would be a few words, but now we get a couple of paragraphs per picture. He still enjoys this very much and I have a large collection of the various adventures of spiderman/dustbin boy/dennis the menace etc. Over time, the writing became longer and slightly more interesting and the exercise books have got larger. I have scanned in one of his longer tomes and printed and bound it on lulu.com and he is looking forward to giving grandparents etc a copy for Christmas. He enjoys it because it is his own project and I don't nag him to do it.

I think if you can find something your DS will enjoy doing and don't encourage it too much, then he will write - your DS sounds pretty able, just a bit unwilling.

Try to find out why he has the problems. A couple of weeks ago I posted something similar about my DD (Y2).

Her handwriting is appalling, her pencil grip totally wrong and her hand hurts.
Due to virtually no writing homework in Reception and Y1 we hardly spotted it until the report came out in Summer and there was a comment on it.
Since then we work on pencil grip and handwriting. It is still very early and DD is not very cooperative.

I would try to get him writing but at the same time correct pencil grip if necessary. Without that he won't write, you need to sort out the issues first.

I think you should concentrate more on writing than on handwriting. Your son is too young now and you should not bother much for that. Try giving him few words daily and increase it gradually. Practicing everyday will make a difference. My son had the similar problem and I applied this technique and it worked.

Hi Peppermint:

We actually did writing practice as part of learning phonics with DD2 by using the jolly phonics books - which include writing out the letters/ words.

We did this in a very small way (1-3 pages week) with DD2 colouring in those pages she was interested in or not as she felt like it. I also would bring the book along when we were waiting at doctors/ dentist/ etc...

I'm not sure how far along with reading your DS is - he may be well past this stage - but perhaps this is a solution?

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the other thing we found useful for building up co-ordination was colouring very complicated designs. The Modern Patterns colouring books have geometric/ botanical designs to colour in for example (www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=modern%20patterns%20colouring%20book) or you can find something that requires a lot of detail.

Anyway - we found our DD2 especially - really improved her pencil grip and hand strength - from colouring a lot in these very detailed books with crayola twistable pencils. (Also kept her busy on long journeys).

HTH

Thank you everyone for your suggestions so far.

I'm not concerned about the neatness or flourish of his handwriting. I'm just wondering why he doesn't like writing, and wondered if it's the actual process of writing is putting him off.

I can get him to pick up a pencil to do odd words like his spellings, but haven't found anything to motivate him with writing sentences.

www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wie/research-new/teachingandlearning/resactivities/subjects/literacy/handwriting/

Oooh thanks for that mrz.