Tips for getting reception child to write...

[Smudger35]

Just that really.

Summer born son in reception is refusing to engage with the whole process. It's not helped by the school teaching cursive writing which is quite difficult to pick up and the fact that his class is dominated by older girls who will happily colour and write all day.

Feel the need to start addressing this now as he's going to struggle and fall further behind his peers as time goes on. No problems with reading or maths (other than not writing numbers) so the problem is just his sheer stubbornness and him deciding to apply himself to something he finds difficult.
The iPad might be a draw (excuse the pun) if anyone can recommend any decent apps, Would need to be cursive though,

Tia

One thing we have had success with, but only in the past few days is this.
www.crayola.com/digitools
I got it from the Christmas Bargains thread last year for £3 but have seen it since for similar in Home Bargains.
It's colouring not writing but you could write with it- DS enjoys it for short periods now. I think it's the fact it's the iPad - makes it "cool".

It sounds like your son is struggling with the handwriting bit of writing'; the actual pen-to-paper letter formation stuff.

My DS had this problem and his teachers suggested doing many of the great fine motor skills activities that have already been suggested on here. Rather worryingly, he had already started to say things like "I hate writing" and "I am rubbish at writing". I was worried this would become a self fulfilling prophecy, so I decided to separate the two things out and teach him to type using an old laptop and MS Word. He discovered that he actually loved writing. By the end of Year 2 his handwriting had finally caught up and he was 'exceeding expectations' whatever that means.

Mine is Feb born and it's suddenly clicked a bit before Xmas. He suddenly sat down and insisted on writing all the names on Xmas cards over a few days, which surprised me no end. I thought he'd do one and then get fed up. I even rationed it 'you can do only 6 today and then the 6 more tomorrow' and he's the kind where if it's rationed it's more fun.

Then during January we've been playing hiding chocolate gold coins and writing secret messages with clues leading to more clues that the other then has to find. He enjoys producing these short treasure hunts - attention and a sweet reward and a bit of pirate life thrown in. Maybe the idea is of use to anyone - I got it of a friend with younger twins who weren't having any of this writing and phonics stuff.

He needs to see the value of writing, I'm attempting to implement story scribing in our reception class where the adult talks to the children about what they're playing e.g. in role play or with small world toys and writes the story for them, demonstrating some key technical features of writing like sounding out, finger spaces and correct letter formation. They key part though is choosing children at the end of the day to have their story read and acted out to the rest of the class, not sure how you could replicate this part at home.

Poor gross motor development may well make writing very difficult if not painful so I'd focus on developing core strength and shoulder girdle stability. I'm sure he'd enjoy monkey bars and gym balls more than writing at this stage. I'd be inclined to ask for an OT referral

He may like patterns more than words. Try doodling patterns in front of him. Take a pencil for a walk on the page and fill in the patches created with different patterns. Make grids. Colour in alternate squares. Using a paint brush and water is good, or a paint brush and lemon juice. When the lemon juice is dry, warm the paper over a light bulb and see the picture turn brown. Do a wax resist picture, and let him do the paint wash over it. Then he can do the wax next time.

Let the maths and science lead the writing.

My child was exactly the same a year ago but now is allegedly ahead for writing. Dc is behind on lots of other stuff but not a stealth boast - just mentioning to show you what can be done.

We did:

Fine motor every day - hama beads, play doh, cutting, painting, colouring with felt tips, 'painting' outside with big chunky decorator's paintbrushes dipped in water/washable paint.

Cross motor every day aiming to strengthen coordination and palmar grip - swinging from hands on bars in playground and counting how many you can hold ok for, swimming, scootering, climbing.

Also as did an element of neural pathway developing in the brain in terms of pencil grip. My dc literally wouldn't do anything other loose fist in the pencil so there was no grip at all. We used rewards and a timer for having the pencil in your hand in the correct grip position for literally 20 minutes a day while we intoned - wow what amazing Pinchot fingers etc etc. This was recommended by an OT friend and seemed to really get him over the hump. Every day he did it he got a sticker and every week where he did it every day he got a much wanted scooter accessory eg bell, wheelies etc.

Finally we got to a point where he was willing to put pencil to paper and all he was willing to tackle was his name. So again to help with neural pathways every morning without exception he wrote his name on his own little white board with a chunky whiteboard pen.

Probably getting a bit older helped to, but the transformation has been amazing - he used to be so dejected about not being able to write last year.

Not 20 minutes - have baby brain 30 seconds!!

20 seconds

Some fab ideas on here. We've had similar with DS. Summer born, currently in reception. Pushy nursery got him to drop fist grip at 3 and completely put him off any kind of mark making. We did a lot of the strategies mentioned above, I hid all pens and pencils at home and now, at 4.5, he is asking to use them and getting along ok, whereas he refused completely this time a year ago.

There is too much pressure on kids to start writing before they are ready.

Magnetic drawing board, if he is not interested put it away and then get it out again next month. Ds 3 loves his now, he spends hours drawing cars, trains, people and writing his name. He rediscovered the drawing board a few months ago and it's now his favourite toy. His drawing and writing noticeably improved within a month - he gets us to photograph his favourite drawings on it! It's great for car journeys!

Search funky fingers in Pinterest for loads of ideas to build fine motor skills. Make everything about play and fun, he will be tired from the school day and pushing him too hard may lead to refusing completely.