Year 5 DS bad handwriting and hates writing

[Writingwrite888]

He does well in everything except this, and he’s been told by every teacher since reception that his handwriting and his reluctance to write by hand holds him back.

It gets him down a bit, and is something he dreads about school.

I have intermittently bought him handwriting books etc (where you trace over the writing) but it doesn’t work that well.

Any advice?

Take the pressure off by explaining that this is a ridiculous skill that he only ever needs to master at school. The only thing I handwrite is my shopping list. I don't blame teachers because it's on the curriculum but honestly, suggesting that a child's life is going to be blighted because their handwriting is bad is just ridiculous.

I'm a professional writer, by the way.

Honestly I had similar with my son and in the end, after discussing it with school we came up with the conclusion that until we could actually read his writing when printed there was little point in attempting handwriting. He's at university now, still can't do "joined up" writing but it's never held him back.

My DS has a masters in physics and still doesn't do joined up handwriting.
If your DS wants to improve he should do pattern making or doodling, practice circles, vertical. horizontal lines. Posture, pen size are important too. Take a look at this
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/11/how-improve-your-handwriting

At primary school my DS was doing well academically but was slow and awkward at handwriting and hated it too. He was assessed by a paediatrician for something else, and she spotted that he had hyper-flexible finger joints (interestingly not his other joints) which made holding a pen difficult and painful. No-one including me had any idea there was a physical cause. He then had OT and physio assessments and was diagnosed with Developmental Coordination Disorder (formerly called Dyspraxia). He was allowed to use a laptop at secondary & for his A levels (and still prints rather than does proper joined up writing).

So perhaps consider a physical / developmental cause.

The national handwriting association has some good guidance.
is this an issue on its own or are there more general motor skills concerns - eg throwing and catching? Should a referral to an OT be considered?
do try some bigger barrelled pens which can be easier to grasp, eg the stadler easy pen.
longer-term, aim for good keyboard skills. Start on these now in prep for ks3 where hopefully he’ll be able to use a device/ laptop to work on. Try “dance mat typing” (google it, free), or programmes such as Nessy Fingers.

Children’s handwriting seems to have deteriorated through the pandemic. I’m surprised his school are not encouraging him to type longer written work as part of his writing toolkit.

That’s very interesting! He hates handwriting so much that he sometimes will only write one sentence before he dissolves into “I can’t!”

He writes short stories for fun on an iPad though!

But, having said that, he has a whiteboard and will endlessly draw ninjas and power scores or something like that on it.

Short of a paediatrician appointment, I wonder if there’s any other way I can see if this is what’s going on? Every teacher since reception has talked about how he doesn’t like to write, his handwriting is bad, how it holds him back.

Very useful - ordering those pens now!

I haven’t noticed that throwing / catching us off. But then, I never really watch him throw or catch!

He’s always been small for his age, but that’s the only thing I can think of.

Look into pencil grips or ergonomic pens! They might help DS with writing cause it may be hes not holding his pen right.

My DS has terrible handwriting and hes so heavy with the pen, you can feel the back of the paper where he has written and its like braille. He is being assessed for dyslexia though

My year 4 DD has dysgraphia. We've plugged away with handwriting, so it is reasonably legible, but she's moving towards typing more and more. Comparing her handwritten work and typed work, you wouldn't think it was the same child. When I've looked at whether she can type in exams in the future, it looks like as long as the pupil normally types in school, they are allowed to type in exams. So a specific diagnosis isn't needed.

I'd ask to either get him to try using a computer for classwork or to speak to the class teacher and SENCO.

I was just going to suggest look up dysgraphia . My Ds was also diagnosed year 4. .. only child in the school to be diagnosed so don’t assume the teachers would have considered this