Is it normal for a child to learn nothing in reception?

[Aloha]

Because I don't think my ds has learned anything at all. He doesn't hate it. Most of the time he enjoys it. But I don't think he's learned anything.

i interviewed a handwriting specialist who bemoaned the demise of handwriting and the impact that has on the lack of fine motor skills.

Thing here on why handwriting is important you might find interesting, or not?? uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=2805

And a link to ways to help your child handwriting www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/

aloha you surprise me I could just imagine you using some beautiful old fountain pen and violet ink

It is not just about handwriting though, is it, if you become more skillful with your hands you can use scissors/tools/cutlery etc better. And this sounds like an area your DS might struggle with, so worth him getting some extra help at this stage. I wonder if you are expecting the concentration to be on his strong points - academic type stuff - rather than on the phsysical stuff he finds more difficult. In some ways DS is similar. He is academically strong, but his handwriting is not great, and he is not always good at physical activities (although I think maybe less extreme in both directions than your DS). One of things DS learned in reception was to skip! I remember skipping up and down the hall myself trying to explain to him how to do it.

DS certainly learned things in reception but then he went to school unable to read. But Y1 is definitely much more academic and may suit him better. DS has certainly thrived this year and raced along with the reading, started asking more challenging questions etc.

My Dp has a strange writing style. He's left handed but wasn't allowed to be at school and as a resuilt he can only really write in caps. It looks great, is very graffiti/street style from an arty pov but he doesn't enjoy the fact that he struggles to write "normally".

I write all the time. Lists, things to do, shopping, thank you cards, invites, journals, letters abroad, notes to my kids and DH, to the teacher.

Bozza and bundle have very good points re OT. Writing is an important skill in many ways.

I think I am in agreement with enid's 11:42 post.

dd2s nursery are completely blase about her fabulous early reading and utterly obsessed with the fact she cannot pedal a bike

I have taken it on board actually and bought her a vile disney bike to practice on

my point is that sometimes teachers see things that we don't see.

Quick hijack. I wonder if my DS has cross brain issues (can't remember the scientific name). But he never crawled as a baby, went straight to walking. Then struggled with skipping, is struggling with swimming and learning to ride a bike. I have just put it all together.

What an interesting article. Thank you.

However, I tend to disagree that you have to physically write to be creative. Scarcely a novelist working today produces a handwritten manuscript. And I think this is really relevant to ds
This squares with the researchers' original hypothesis that older students with writing disabilities probably have had early difficulty with handwriting. "Older students who have done poorly from the beginning come to think of themselves as not being writers, so they don't like writing and avoid it. As a result, their higher-level composing skills don't get developed,"
The problem seems to be that if they find writing difficult - and DON'T have another way of putting down their thoughts - they stop wanting to put down their thoughts. I think that is a really good argument for early use of a computer. I don't think at all about the process of typing, merely the process of composition. I find it much freer and creative than writing, which I find painful and awkward tbh. And I know ds does too.

aloha

stop trying to justify not learning handwriting and sport

encourage him to do it!!

I also disagree that you have to physically write to be creative. However I still think it's an important skill.

a friend made a programme about the ballpoint pen and true, it was hard to find a writer who still writes that way (Philip Pullman was the main one iirc). I love typing because I spent some time years back learning to touchtype and thoughts really do flow from my fingers. but i love the immediacy of writing, esp if i have a nice pen. dd1 loves illustrating her own little "books" and writing poems which I think is nice to look at when it's done by hand. not that there's anything wrong with computers, if that helps a child too

I've rummaged about in my file for DS2. Areas of learning for Reception included things like:

Physical: learning to manage getting changed for PE (fine motor skills for buttons etc),throwing beanbags etc accurately,developing spacial awareness, safe use of tools (scissors etc), moving to music and acting,personal hygeine and toilets

Creative: mixing colours, textures, powers of observation, drawing, imaginative/role play, music

Knowledge/understnading of the world: directional language,maps, local enviroment, using dictionaries/reference books, identifying what things are made of, historical stuff, remembering when they were small (! they still are)

Maths: learning through games mainly. patterns, relationships of numbers, nonstandard measurement units (blocks,handsetc) money,2D and 3D shapes

Also stuff about communication skills and personal devvelopment.

Very little of this is stuff you would identify as having been "learned" I think. It's not like he's learnt his 5 times table IYSWIM which is quantifiable.

Have to agree with Enid there tbh. Just cos typing is easier and a PC is available doesn't mean he shouldn't be encouraged to write. Writing is an important skill. I have a computer with me at all times but still pick up a pen at least once a day!

OY, you lot, DS has fantastic handwriting - please don't diss handwriting as an important requirement as my entire confidence in his educational achievements will crumble, leaving him only with his superior nose-picking skills to fall back on.

Aloha, DS has great fine motor skills because he spends so much time doing playmobil and lego - his teacher said that when they are 5'ish doing lego is as important for them as practising hand-writing, with the added benefit that they will concentrate on lego for far longer than they will spend practising writing. So actually afternoons spend playing lego is very much "teaching" them something.

My son's commumity paediatrian and teacher think he might be dyspraxic but he have not got a diagnosis, frankly I don't want my son labelled as dyspraxic. I hate the idea of my son been labelled at five. My son has been refered to an occupational theraphist for an asssessment.

My son does a gymnastics class and swimming. We have been recommended to get him to do horse riding. (Unfortunately the NHS aren't prepared to foot the bill..)

I think that learning to write is important. My brother is 30 years old and he cannot write legibly. There is no doult that not being able to write has been a severe handicap for him. My brother's writing is the same standard as my five year old son's writing.

(anchovy, dd1 is duffer but has beautiful handwriting I cling on to it occasionally )

Computers are incredibly important for dyspraxic, able children - it allows them say what they need and want to say, and avoids the 'low risk' scenario which says 'I'm not going to write much because it looks rubbish and everyone goes on about it. I'll just write a sentence.'

Essential for self-esteem, in my experience. If their self esteem is in good nick, then you can carry on with the looong handwriting programme. It takes a long time though for dyspraxic kids to really get to grips with handwriting, and they need to be protected in the meantime. My ds2 is dyspraxic and he uses a computer AND does handwriting exercises etc.
Same goes for sport really. Yes, do it, but remember to play to their strengths, every time. Is all about confidence and self-esteem.

I put dd1s lovely handwriting down to years of Hama beads

Ah yes Enid, but she did hama beads because she had the fine motor skills to begin with! Dyspraxic children don't have that, it takes years to build them up, and often they're excellent readers and verbally quite able, and its important they're able to express all that.

apparently chinese children have lovely fine motor skills from writing their characters and apparently knitting is good too (hoorah!)

On the writing thing, I don't think you should deny your DS a laptop to express his creativity but I think he should be encouraged to improve his handwriting ability too. I also find it easier to write things on a computer but I can also produce a beautiful handwritten poem following 7 years of calligraphy

ooh no I didnt mean it as something aloha should do

it was directed at anchovy really comparing boys lego with girls hama beads

Oh yes I see, I suppose I was just saying that they don't have nice handwriting because they played with lego/hama but because they have great fine motor skills, and that's why they played with lego/hama in the first place.

Actually, I think yours was a jokey response wasn't it? I've no idea why I'm responding so pompously! I understand