Should I have a tutor to improve my child's handwriting?

[Fiona2011231]

My son has just started Year 1. Although he can write, his handwriting is really ugly. And I suspect that his teacher would not have time to help him write better.

In your experience, would it be a good idea to have a tutor to improve a child's handwriting?

Thank you

My dd is also in Y1 and her handwriting is no masterpiece!

I wouldn't get a tutor just yet: too much pressure on everyone, perhaps? Maybe ask his teacher what her opinion is on his handwriting? Formation, lgibility, etc.

*legibility

Same situation here. I was going to start a thread about it. My dd's handwriting is appalling. She's just not getting it. She's left handed too and keeps smudging. Last year her teacher put her in a little handwriting group with a TA. I'm going to speak to this years teacher to see what she thinks but tutor did cross my mind too.

Try not to worry to much. My ds was exactly the same ( summer birthday too). Handwriting didn't really improve to year 3, I did some research, and apparently their fine muscle skills can take until 7 to develop. He's year 9 now, and his writing is lovely if he concentrates, otherwise it's still messy. Thankfully much work is on the PC now!

My dd is yr 1 too and was only 5 in June. Last years teacher reckoned she just needed more time for her fine motor skills to develop.

The best thing you can do is give him activities to do that will improve his fine motor skills. There are lots of suggestions on the Internet, but things like threading beads, making pictures on peg boards with elastic bands, using big tweezers to put dried peas in a pot. You can make a lot of it into a game. Little and often.

Thank you so much for all your kind replies.

When you say the writing will improve over time, maybe after 7, does it mean the school teachers have a role, too? Are they required to help improve their pupils' handwriting?

Thank you

I remember still having handwriting lessons up to the end of primary school. It's early days!
I think a tutor would be a bit much and unnecessary at this stage. But maybe the odd bit of writing at home if you can get him interested? Does he like to write stories, secret messages, diary, postcards, shopping lists, instructions, anything really? My DS is on and off with this, he has phases of doing loads and times when he'll only write at school. We've seen real improvements when he did do writing at home because we could keep an eye on him 1:1 and get him to practice things that often went wrong. Big leaps when he wrote christmas cards, birthday thank you cards, holiday diaries.

What exactly is wrong with the writing? Do they do cursive or printed letters? Only the former do tend to look dreadful in the short term, but we are starting to see the advantages with DS at the beginning of Yr 1.

Thank you. I would like him to follow the cursive style, but at the moment, it is 'free style. So I would like him to improve the handwriting.

Yes teachers are expected to teach children who to hold their pencil effectively and how to form letters correctly