Year 1 child, just won't write

[Rudolphian]

I'm not sure what I'm expecting but just want some advice.
My daughter is going to start year 2 in September and is April born.
All throughout reception I was told she was doing OK.
I was worried about her writing but I was told some children just develop later. So I did t really push the issue or do any extra work at home. I didnt want to pressure her too much.
In her school they teach the children to write but giving each letters tails. This is to make it easier to transition to handwriting.
I hadn't been told there were any concerns or issues. She is my first child so I wasnt sure if it she was learning at the appropriate rate.
Anyway in her year 1 parents evening just before Christmas. The teacher said she was struggling with her writing. Her writing is really not legible and she wouldn't write anything unless someone sat with her and went through each word one by one.
Due to this they moved her down a group in her English. Since then I did some work on her handwriting everyday. I had to reach her how to do each letter right from the beginning. All her letters were just tails with random squiggles in the middle.
Her writing is much better. She still needs reminding about making the tall letters tall and the short letters short.
When give a writing sheet with guidelines her writing can be very neat, but sometimes she still gets careless.
Throughout the lockdown I've been trying to ensure we work on her writing and practicing writing sentences which they told me she was particularly weak at.
But she just will not write.
As soon as I give her an English task she just sits there saying ' I can't do it.'
And sometimes she will just start crying.
If I talk her through a task, she can tell me the answer and had an extensive vocabulary. It's just when it comes to writing anything down she will just sit there and say she can't do it and become very upset.
When doing maths tasks she just finishes them in a few minutes without issues.
When writing she frequently gets her 'd' and 'b' the wrong way round and some numbers also.
I'm not sure if I should continue with the English exercises. The exercises are really simple and in reality shouldn't really take her longer than 5 minutes.

Will this improve over the next year or is there something likely underlying that could be causing this. I avoid criticising her and just try to give her lots of praise but sometimes it can be difficult when she hasn't wrote a single word after 15 minutes.
I think previously she didnt like writing because she'd been told her writing was untidy, so not sure if this has affected her but her writing is much better now.
Is this likely just something that will improve over the next year?

Dyspraxia
Dyslexia

Try some hand Exercises

Like cutting with scissors playing with pegs touch typing

How is she on a bike/balancing/ is she clumsy?

When it's time to do her work. She spends her time saying she needs the bathroom. Then she'll say she needs her pencil/ rubber etc.
Sometimes she'll randomly start talking about different topics anything to stop from doing the work. So it can take up to 10 minutes sometimes before she is settled.

I'm just not sure if her reluctance to write is normal or means there is underlying issues.
I'm a bit disappointed nothing was said earlier in when she was in reception as we could have given her a lot of support with her writing and I think maybe this could have affected her progress since reception.

How are her general motor skills? Can she use cutlery properly/is she 'clumsy'? My daughter is dyspraxic, she's very resistant to doing any writing, but that's just one element of lots of very obvious traits she has. She's part of a small group at school where they do finger gym/extra writing practice, could be worth asking if your school does similar if you see no improvement? It could just be she'll catch up with some more practice?

I wouldnt worry too much she could be late developer who's now feeling the pressure to write perfectly. Personally I get my dd who doesnt like to write and sane age as yours to write in everyday life. Lists for picnics/shops/ birthdays. Instructions for recipes- in sentences. Directions on how to plant flowers etc all under the pretence that shes not doing work . I dont then go through correcting her work but might say check the d and b are correct, or people can read it. She struggles to write for no reason. Do what you can and wait for year2 teacher to have input is my advice.

She has been a very difficult child to care for since she was born. The simplest things have not been easy.
When she was born she wouldn't drink her milk. The only way to feed her was to send her to sleep and then feed her. So I would have to send her to sleep almost on an hourly basis which was difficult especially if she wasnt tired.
Then when she was weaned she wouldn't eat.
She is a very picky eater. Her weight is in the low centiles. Only now since she started school in year 1 her eating has improved. In reception we would be asked almost on a monthly basis about her eating habits and how she eats at home , because she wouldn't eat her lunch.
Everything is a struggle. It can take her up to 20 minutes to put her shoes on of we are going somewhere because she gets distracted. Her younger sister who is 2 and a half. Can put her shoes and socks on and can undress her self. She still takes an age and constant encouragement to get herself dressed. And frequently cries because she finds it difficult to put her shoes on.
When a child she wouldn't go on the switch gs or slide on a playground. Only the last year pr so she enjoys this.
We bought her a bike when 2. She wouldn't ride it. Eventually when 4 she could ride a balance bike. We got the next bike up for her but because it has peddles she wouldn't sit on it.
Only the last months she has tried to go on it, when we took the peddles of. She can balance a little.
She frequently just walks into doors. She frequently trips up.
When she was in nursery she would frequently have falls and hurt her nose and would bleed because she hadn't put her hands out when she fell.

Just read second post op. My dd is same, how is she writing for a reason and it not being corrected at all?

how is she with copying? my dd gets stressed about spelling so she tells me how she thinks it should be, talk about the sounds and I tell her the bits she doesn't know then copies what I write.

Get her some pipecleaners and beads to thread onto them.
Tracing paper helps with writing with practice books that are at the appropriate level for the stage she's at. I'd leave the writing for a week and then go back to it. Lots of praise when she's trying.

Has she ever had her eyes tested? Some children are very "clumsy" because they can't see well.

Her writing doesn't sound wildly unusual for her age - my DC2 is the same age and also very resistant to writing, mixes up b and d and writes lots of numbers the wrong way round. I am not concerned though.

I could have written your update! That's exactly what my daughter is like, she was also a very 'sensitive' baby. I wonder if it's worth you getting referred to a paediatrician so they could see what they think about dyspraxia? We haven't had a formal diagnosis yet but were offered physio sessions to help with motor skills. I feel it's worth getting ahead of the curve with these things as dyspraxic children can have a hard time as they progress through school, especially girls. Could be worth talking to the senco at school too.

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (type III) which causes a lot of symptoms you describe. It is very hard to hold a pencil/pen properly, poor spatial awareness, poor balance, find it difficult to sit still because it can be uncomfortable, fine motor skills are a challenge. Late to walk etc. Perhaps just worth looking into.

Her spelling needs a lot of work. Sp she is always asking me how each word is spelt.
She is not as bothered with copying.
Last Christmas after her parents evening I tried to give her some tasks to practice her writing e.g. theybdont you write down what we should buy for your birthday party.
I discussed it with her. E.g. cake. Balloons. Candles.
She spent 10 minutes and she had just done 3 long squiggles. She hadn't even tried to write a word. Then if I asked her to write down the word she became really upset.
It's like she just doesn't even try.
Presently she will try but just wants me to tell her what to write and how to spell each word.
I try to work on her fone motor skills. Playdough. She just makes a mess and not really any models or anything.
With lego she won't even attempt to build anything. Her favourite things to do are playing wih water and making options with glitter etc.
Even colouring books. She'll do two scribbles and then get distracted and wont do anymore.
She has had eyes tested and wears glasses.
I'm just worried that by concentrating on the English work I'm just making her dislike it more.
It really is simple work. E.g. look at this picture and write some sentences. I'd be happy with 2 sentences even.

And then I thi k should I start some work with the younger one. She is October born and seems a lot more content and easier so I'm not really expecting the same issues but you never know.

I have one of these! (year 2 though). I have to use cunning. I have literacy games loaded on my phone which I 'reluctantly' let her use and I have taken up playing games like Consequences with her before bedtime. Sometimes I let her dictate writing tasks into predictive text or make a video. Plus we do a lot of the fine motor skill stuff other people have recommended - Lego, Playdoh, painting, baking etc. Dressing and undressing dollies is another good one.

Thanks for your advice.
I think I'll give her a bit of a break. And maybe continue some low level work over the summer hols. But I need to be a bit sneakier.
Think I'll also try the pipe cleaner with beads. Only issue is of she doesnt want to do something she just won't.
When lockdown started I bought her a craft activity where you have to put coloured circular stickers on a paper to make a picture. She got bored after two stickers and wouldn't do any more.

She’s young, I’d give her tasks to do that will improve writing such as mazes, picking up small things with tweezers and sorting them, play dough, colouring etc. Then when she’s ready, she’ll have the skills to be able to do it.

It's very early for a diagnosis of dyslexia or dyspraxia but it does sound like it could be one or both of these. How is her reading?

Y1 teacher here! First thing is that there are lots of different components to writing: handwriting, spelling, composition etc. So practising handwriting won’t necessarily help a child to be able to write a story or report. Secondly, yes there could be an SEN issue but it could equally just be stubbornness which is really common at this age. If that’s the case I would back down a bit so writing isn’t a chore. I agree with PP about teaching by stealth rather than making it a formal part of the day. Thirdly, children are much better with purposeful writing - shopping lists, notes to family members etc so there could be things like that you could do, where it’s genuinely in her interest to do it.
I assume she’s not back at school then? It’s definitely one to tackle jointly with them when you can. It may be that she’s different at school. DS won’t do much writing with me at all, but at school he just gets on with it. She may respond differently to a teacher’s expectations.

Have a look at dyslexia the other traits are

Lacks focus
Memory issues
No sense of time
As well as reading writing and spelling

I could have written most of that about my DS who is also in Year 1.

School first flagged writing as "behind" at Christmas and placed him in a catch-up group. Because of class projects being shared during lockdown I have seen his classmates' writing and he is def "bottom of the class". It is illegible without 1-2-1 help sitting over him. I have realised during lockdown that he struggles with everything - forming the letters, size awareness, alignment, orientation, spacing. The pre-cursive letter shapes with the ready to start up stroke and the tail things seem to have sent his brain into meltdown, it's as though there are too many lines and direction changes to compute. Spelling is not even on the radar, he can't write all the letters let alone worry about whether they're the correct letters for standard spelling.

He is a master of ignoring, procrastinating and displacement activity when asked to write. I feel your pain. We find it hard to know where to strike the balance between seeing he really needs to practice, but knowing that pressure is counterproductive.

I think writing for a purpose and stealth learning is the way to go. Could you get her to start a correspondence with some fairies in the garden (you write the replies) or similar? Get her to help you write shopping or reminder lists?

DS is often happier writing on a whiteboard than on paper. Less scared of mistakes and perhaps less tiring too. We have a big whiteboard easel and also A4 whiteboards like they use in school. You can get them with the letters on one side to trace from the Dyslexia shop.

For context, DS doesn't seem to particularly struggle with motor skills. His pencil grip is fine and he has been good with Lego for years. His ball skills, throwing and catching are pretty poor but may be lack of interest or practice as much as anything. He had no trouble learning to ride a balance bike or pedal. There is strong family history of dyslexia and I do wonder about that... but his reading is at age appropriate level (turquoise book band) so the school aren't concerned. His vocabulary is good and he can express himself well, and do mental maths fine, it's just the writing.

Would she make sentences on a computer.This takes away the hand coordination issues.

My son (now 16) has dyspraxia, and I instantly thought of dyspraxia when I read your post and update.

His writing is still illegible most of the time. But it’s not the end of the world. At school he is allowed to use a laptop, he got a scribe for his SATS and extra time in his GCSE’s.

If you’re putting so much pressure on your child, no wonder they are crying and saying they can’t do it. Stop with the pressure.

Her reading is not too bad, she frequently adds words into sentences that aren't there and but reading and comprehension good. Spelling is poor, I think this makes her more hesitant to write. She has so many words she can think of putting on the paper but just can't spell them. Maths is ok.
She seems more comfortable filling in a missing word in a sentence but when asked to write a sentence it's almost a meltdown.
I think we'll work further on her fine motor skills. It's just every time I have tried previously she just isn't interested and I feel like I'm trying to force her to make a playdough model or play wih lego when she just doesn't want to.
And there is some good ideas about writing via stealth. I'll try and ease up on her til she goes back in September.

DS (exactly same age) has similar issues and we had a private assessment done. He is borderline dyspraxic. Giving him a sloping writing surface, easy grip pencils and a wobble cushion has helped. Also taking a lot of the pressure off and just letting him draw / scribble when he fancies, and doing lots of gross motor skills exercise.

I do get annoyed with his PE teacher though, in his school report he has excellent comments for focus and trying hard for all subjects apart from PE. That tells me he is generally a "trying hard" sort of boy, struggles with PE and sort of gives up. The PE teacher knows about the dyspraxia but clearly isn't teaching to DS's ability level.

Oh, I've just thought of a stealth thing! DD (who is quite mercenary) has developed a relationship with Mabel the tooth fairy (DH). DD has been trying to bargain up the rate per tooth. "Mabel" has been giving her a few life lessons (this is all notes under the pillow and "Mabel" types).