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Primary education

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Original poster

Left handed child struggling with writing. Advice needed.

54 replies

peachesandpickles · 21/12/2013 09:07

My dd is in Yr R. She has an early winter birthday so is not one of the younger children.

She is left handed and is having problems with writing. Her letter formation is all over the place and she writes almost entirely in mirror writing.

I spoke to her teacher a few weeks ago and she is not very concerned as she says getting to grips with phonics/reading is the priority and she is doing really well with that. They seem to do quite a bit of writing in school though and she is clearly behind.

I have been helping her at home but the problem is when she writes in reverse she sees it the same as the correct way. When we do tracing letters etc she can do it but freehand it's all backwards.

She tries so hard and I want to help in the right way and not discourage her.

Has anyone any ideas?

She is really good at art by the way, loves to draw and is good at it and is the neatest colourer in her class according to the teacher.

OP posts:
SapphireMoon · 22/12/2013 18:57

Well the left handed stabilio sorted the pencil grip style of my ds so worked for him.
Only a bloody suggestion you grumpy gits!

mrz · 22/12/2013 19:04

I think they are great SapphireMoon I buy them (and right handed option) for children in my class who need support.

SapphireMoon · 22/12/2013 19:04

Sorry, just read posts more carefully. See some support re grips.
Had glass of wine.
Time for coffee!!

SapphireMoon · 22/12/2013 19:08

The stabilio [one you linked to mrz] made huge difference to ds. He is now better with ordinary pencils too.
The leads are strong as well which is great for a hard presser.
He now writes without his hand hurting. His teacher approves too.

mrz · 22/12/2013 19:10

I buy 2B leads they are softer so require less pressure to make a satisfying mark

1944girl · 22/12/2013 19:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrz · 22/12/2013 19:30

Children are now referred to Occupational Therapists because dyslexia isn't an obstacle to becoming a "good writer"

1944girl · 22/12/2013 20:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mrz · 22/12/2013 20:26

Dyslexia still isn't recognised by my LEA and many experts dispute it's existance 1944girl but fortunately fewer children are written off for being left handed.

Original poster
peachesandpickles · 22/12/2013 20:52

Thanks for all the replies.

So for now I am going to make sure her pencil grip is correct, that she gets to sit to the left and have her paper angled slightly.

She has loads of art stuff at home and draws/paints/colours every day by choice so I'll keep that going.

I've seen some Left handed writing skills workbooks on Amazon so I might try one of those. She likes those type of books because she sees her older sister using similar ones.

And lastly, I'll not worry about it for now.

OP posts:
SimLondon · 22/12/2013 20:54

I'm left-handed and there was no special pencils / pens / dyslexia insinuations (seriously?) or treatment in my day. I may not have the best handwriting around but it's fine.

Oblomov · 22/12/2013 20:56

Watching with interest. Same with ds2.

Original poster
peachesandpickles · 22/12/2013 21:00

Oblomov - is your DS2 a November ish 5 year old? Think I remember you from the Nov 08 thread. I was suiledonn then.

OP posts:
lookout · 22/12/2013 22:41

Ds1 is now in yr 4 and had this same problem exactly in Reception. He is now fine with the neatest handwriting in his class! I think perseverance and patience are the most important things tbh, and not to worry about it yet. What can be more frustrating now is how much of his work is smudged by his hand passing over the ink he has just laid down! The good old techniques of sandpaper letters (I think this is Montessori?) and writing in the sand are great. The tactile nature is good for helping them to develop muscle memory.

TalkinPeace · 22/12/2013 22:45

mrz
as the child of two dyslexics who were never diagnosed at school I find it shocking that LEAs can pretend it does not exist

both of my parents are poor at reading
my dad runs his finger along the line - he's 80 this week
mum only likes reading newspapers becuase 'the lines in books jumble themselves'

luckily I did not inherit that aspect from either of them Smile

ElizabethBathory · 22/12/2013 23:42

I'm left handed and started off mirror writing. It didn't take long to get out the habit though and my writing's lovely.

My mum bought me all kinds of left handed writing pads and stuff but tbh most of it was just annoying and backwards. And those special pencil grips annoyed the hell out of me.

I do write with my hand hooked around the page but it doesn't cause any problems. I got through a lot of blotting paper at school though :)

OldRoan · 22/12/2013 23:48

It is worth having at the back of your mind the use of mini-whiteboards says she gets older - left handed children can really struggle because they wipe the work off as they go. Not a problem right now, because they probably won't be using them much in reception, but she might find it frustrating in a year or so.

oxeye · 22/12/2013 23:53

I'm a lefty. Once I learnt to tilt the paper I was away. Wrote mirror for ages, still find it easy. Other than having to learn a rule for "D" and "B" I was ok, not dyslexic, just reversed. Dots and arrows for letter formation help, but tilting paper means it feels easy and starts to flow. Also you don't smudge ink because your wrist/ hand is underneath the line. My best thing was finding left handed scissors, I always cut off the line before, because they were effectively "upside down" never fear. Obama is also a lefty, but not one whose crabbed style you want to emulate, though it has hardly held him back!!

MistressDeeCee · 23/12/2013 06:45

She's only in Reception Class. This will sort itself out over time its too early to worry about stuff like this. You are helping her, school are helping her. Im lefthanded took me a while but my writing developed easily enough, maybe a bit slower than some, maybe a bit faster..who knows? I didnt feel any stress, my parents didnt mention it as far as Im aware and nor did teachers, so I had no worry about it. One of my brothers is lefthanded too. & not everyone writes the same anyway. Ive never used any lefthanded items I dont even think about that. Although Ive seen comments about lefthanded keyboard above..Ive never even heard of that, Im curious to see/try one nowSmile

Plateofcrumbs · 23/12/2013 09:00

I'm left handed and had trouble with writing when I was younger. I still start a lots of letters from the 'wrong' place which means I find it hard to write neatly fast (I can write neatly or quickly, but not both at the same time). I also have a hooked grip so smudged writing is common - no fountain pens for me!

However it's not something that's ever been a problem, and have always been very good at art. Barack Obama writes with the same grip as me, so no impediment to success Grin

Retropear · 23/12/2013 09:07

I have twin boys- one left handed and one right.

Rest assured I was tearing my hair out in rec but both have fantastic handwriting now year 5.I was a primary teacher myself though and badgered- a lot.Smile The Penagain grip pencil was the only thing that worked for us re grip.He doesn't like the Stabilo pens as the ball sticks.

I have to say having twins I was shocked to see how judged kids can be re handwriting.My right hander always had amazing hand writing and was put in the top sets for everything from rec.His leftie hand writing struggler twin is the same if not brighter and was always in the middle.Now he has beautiful handwriting they are in the same top groups- funny that.Hmm

I was ruthless over formation and made him go over letters not formed correctly.I refused to have him written off re handwriting due to being a leftie(often we were told he'd never have nice handwriting due to being a leftie).We page tilted too.

Interestingly my dd right handed has a bad grip when not corrected and suffers from an aching hand,her handwriting is ok but not as good as her brothers,partly due to 3rd child syndrome I suspect.Blush

I haven't given up on her though.Smile

Mirror writing can just sort itself out with age.

Meerkat8 · 23/12/2013 09:18

The anythinglefthanded site is brilliant for information and products for left handed children.
www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/acatalog/child_books_videos.html

My left handed DD is about the same age as yours and also struggled with letter formation. We found this book
www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk/acatalog/lh_writing_book1.html, really good and she loves doing it

vkyyu · 23/12/2013 09:54

Hi I don't have a left handed child but when my dc2 had problem controlling her pencil I was told by a sen expert that we should encourage her to do more colouring and drawing as such activities help children practice their hand motoring skills.

mrz · 23/12/2013 14:35

"as the child of two dyslexics who were never diagnosed at school I find it shocking that LEAs can pretend it does not exist"

recognising the dyslexia label isn't a problem as children's needs are well supported I'm more concerned about LEAs who hand out the label and use it as an excuse to fail children

BoffinMum · 23/12/2013 18:01

She's a bit young for this to matter yet, but basically the firm Anything Left Handed have great little gadgets that get lefties over the worst bits of this.

Anything Left Handed

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