Year 1 writing samples.

[Gekkoforprimeminister]

Hi! Is anybody willing to compare year 1 writing samples? Have attached my ds writing sample.... He can write more (maybe 2 or 3 sentences when pushed) but this is an idea of his level.
Teacher says she's happy with his progress but we're having him assessed for dyspraxia and I can't help feeling he's a fair bit behind. Also does anybody have good ideas about how I can move him on?
He's just turned 6 so not especially young in the year.

I skimmed through DS' Y1 class bear book the other night, and there is a real variety of writing styles / quality across the class.
DS has very neat handwriting compared to many, but finds writing an absolute chore and therefore it is like smashing your head against a brick wall trying to get him to do it.
We've just been recommended to explore "retained reflex" therapy - I'm still not 100% convinced, although it does seem to explain quite a bit about him the more I read into it. But I've done some searching on MN today, and there are plenty of parents who think it has made a significant positive difference for their children. Might be worth having a think about?

Off to google it now tea, thanks

Recommend reading Making Sense of Interventions for Children with Developmental Disorders a guide for parents and professionals by Bowen and Snow to avoid quackery

This is DS (6) - a couple of weeks ago when school had just started introducing joined up.

Op - looks very similar to what my 6 year old would write. I had not worried about it at all.

My DS is also in Y1 and also just 6 and also being assessed for dyspraxia (when the GP pulls their finger out).
The first list is supposed to say
Moon
Coin
Toy
Blue
I think he's actually written
Moon (but he's very bad at controlling his pen OBVIOUSLY so he's put an extra tail on the N)
Coyn (but the TA can't tell it's a Y)
Toy
Bloo
The second picture is the previous week and I think they were doing -ai and-ay but frankly all bets are off.

Frankly OP you can read most of the letters so you're streets ahead of us!

Ten sentences! My God! I'd be lucky to get ten letters out of DS!

Looks not dissimilar to my summerborn 5yr old. He's left handed, and started school late (after Feb half term last year), and before he was 4.5 refused to do anything with a pencil or crayon - no drawing or colouring or anything, so his technique is a bit behind his peers.

My son is summer-ish born and Y1. His writing varies enormously depending on his motivation. Generally his motivation and that o his male friends, is v low, whereas girls in his class seem to enjoy writing much more.

Depressed now...

My ds1 has dyspraxia. His handwriting made a great leap at the beginning of year 4. My theory was that his main area of difficulty was tension in the shoulders and that at this age he made the developmental leap from writing with his whole arm and shoulder to writing with just his hand and wrist. He did the ‘fizzy programme ‘ at school. We are now looking at touch typing as he also had dyslexia. You often find that specific learning difficulties don’t appear in isolation. Ds1 also has atypical autism.

Ds2 is year 1 but November born so one of the oldest. We viewed their work at school this week and I was pretty amazed at the level they were working at. They've been doing cursive writing from day 1 in reception and get a handwriting sheet every week so plenty of practice.

My eldest has ASD and we did retained reflex therapy for a lot of his sensory issues. It seemed to work. I've also heard it helps with handwriting so could be worth a try if you're concerned but it may just be practice that he needs to build up stamina as his letter formations and spelling seem quite good?

OP, in my opinion (EYFS/Y1 teacher), the writing is on the lower end of what is expected, but is mostly legible and okay at this stage.

Tomorrow, I have no idea about the general abilities of your DS, and granted I guess you can't go on one piece of writing evidence alone, but I am very surprised that he achieved then expected Early Learning Goal for Writing (and indeed Physical Development for fine motor control) at the end of Reception. It states that "Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible."

Googling 'EYFS exemplification materials' will give you a guide as to the expected level at the end of Reception year.

Dafydil my ds is a leftie too... He only settled on it fairly recently, until then handwriting was a massive battle, now we just need a waggon wheel. So they sound very similar.

Numbers that is seriously amazing, if I saw this without knowing I'd think it belonged to a child at least 2 years older.

Thanks everybody for responding, I'm loving seeing the samples and the wide variety of writing there is at this age.

DS1 is in yr2 and is very behind with his writing. Reading, maths etc all on track. His writing was similar to your picture this time last year. School raised concern at the end of the year- we paid for private OT/ ed psych who both said he is moderately dyspraxic. Unfortunately his confidence around writing and spelling is v low. Spelling is awful, despite everyone telling me that becuase he reads so much and so well his spelling will come...
He now has 1:1 sessions at school, sits on a textured cushion, teacher does some scribing, we are doing handwriting practice but also other activities to help hand strength. I think it will be a loooooong process, but for us improving his confidence that he can write and spell is helping slowly.
If you are worried I would raise it with school (go above class teacher if needed) asap. Good luck!

Ds6 had some typed work in his evidence last year. On a computer his sentences were legible, obviously, with most spelling correct or phonetically correct at least and full stops and capital letters.
Some adaptation was made last year by his teacher. Also he can do his writing neater if larger. The problems are coming as he is being forced to get smaller plus they want his writing to match his reading skills but they are failing to see the asynchronous nature in his development.
He was on the Sen register from half through reception too, which helped.

For SATS for ds it may well be that he needs extra time or a scribe.

My DS is early Jan (so not a youngest in the year) and does also have attention problems (also awaiting ADHD assessment).
He's doing badly apparently in SPAG because of his handwriting too. Some of it is attention (we went over the -oo and -ue at home and I know they did them in class but he doesn't always listen or retain information).
I've asked the SENCO and the class teacher about a scribe/manipulables but the message hasn't got through yet.

drspouse I hear you on the whole message not getting through thing. I find it very unfair that the children are struggling because schools refuse to take advice by professionals, like OTs, to give these children an equal opportunity to access an appropriate education.

The SENCO is clued up - just need her to nag the class teacher!

I had a conversation with somebody about this yesterday, her dd has severe dyspraxia but the school completely fail to recognise or help the problem. It's sad really, all schools are supposed to be inclusive now aren't they? But it's not a reality. When it comes to handwriting there's still an attitude that the child must simply "try harder".

That's good you've got a decent senco though, held the battle at least.