Angry - think teachers are making my child paranoid about handwriting

[mumsthewordyork]

My son who is 7 writes slowly. His writing is perfectly readable but he takes his time thinking what he wants to say before writing it down. I am sick and tired of seeing him upset when teachers make remarks to him about this. The last straw was when he went to see Santa at the Christmas Fair and a teacher said "Ask him for a fast pencil!". Like the kid can't even have his visit to Santa without hassle! My son is very intelligent and daydreams a bit but then I did that too, got criticised for it and ended up with fantastic exam results and a brilliant working life. What should I do? He is upset and so am I particularly after the Santa incident

Is his work suffering as a result for his slow writing?
My DD also writes very slowly and her handwriting was also very scruffy for a long time. All comments on her work were negative which ended up putting her off writing altogether.

We have overcome the scruffy handwriting by lots of practice, but the amount of work is still a problem. I find it helps to remind her of how long she has left to complete something. This is also done in the classroom so hopefully she will overcome it soon.
Maybe your son can have some encouragement from the school rather than negative insults. If he can see the clock and knows how much he has to do and how long he has to do it, might help him speed up.

i think you should mention it to the teacher, rather than feeling p##d off. you don't need to present it as a criticism in the first instance, just say that you appreciate he writes slowly and carefully, but you would prefer it if this didn't become an issue to him and joking about it seemed inappropriate.
would this help?

I am not surprised that you are angry. The teachers are pathetic rather than synpathetic.

My son who is five years old has had a lot of sucess with "Write from the Start"

www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Start-Programme-Perceptual-Handwriting/dp/1855032457

The same lady has also written a book called "Speed up" with older children in mind. I don't know what its like, but it might be worth considering,. I have been very impressed with Lois Addy's books.

www.amazon.co.uk/Speed-Up-Kinaesthetic-Programme-Handwriting/dp/1855033860/ref=pd_s imbtitle_3