Terrible handwriting (messy and slow) in year 5 - home practice, yes or no?

[Handwritingchallenges]

My DS is in year 5 and has trouble with handwriting. It’s slow and messy and his presentation is terrible. It feel like every year the teachers comment that “it’ll get there” but in my view the gap is widening every year and no-one in school sees it as their problem because he’s only slid back a little bit each year so doesn’t stand out in their stats (he used to be a very high achiever in termly assessments, now middling to low but we can see at home his verbal answers to questions are significantly better than what he can out on paper). He is one of only three children in his class that doesn’t have a pen license, and the other two have SEN (don’t get me started on pen licenses, what a way to demotivate children by making them stand out every day). School is no support at all and don’t suspect any particular cause of the writing trouble and haven’t offered any advice other than practice at home.

We have been practicing at home for a couple of years with trying to do 10 minutes daily but it’s not helped. I’ve tried focussing this on different things (in particular, working towards an appropriate presentation because although he used to be amazing at maths, DS is now struggling and I think this is due to his writing holding him back from showing workings appropriately). We’ve tried “fun” things like games that involve writing, more traditional handwriting exercises, doing writing on topics he loves but he hates it all. We’ve done the hand strength exercises (he’s a whizz with Lego and has tolerated lots of faffing with putty squeezing under the guise of it being a toy to faff with when watching TV).

The writing practice is an argument every day, it’s always been a problem getting him DS to sit and do something he hates.

DH wants to call it quits because nothing has helped, I think our DS needs to practice and would get even further behind if we stopped.

What do we do?

Feel your pain on this one. My so sons writing is terrible and school just don’t seem bothered. I don’t think his teacher has even noticed he doesn’t form some of his letters the way he should. We don’t have pen licences. He is year 6 so I’ve bought some writing books for days. Need to get him doing the exercises regularly in the new year.

Have a look at retained primitive reflexes and their relationship to handwriting. There are exercises to do. Then a Morrells letter formation booklet. (Amazon)
https://research.aota.org/ajot/article/76/Supplement_1/7610505010p1/23577/Relationship-of-Retained-Primitive-Reflexes-and

This sounds really hard, and honestly very familiar. From what you describe, it doesn’t sound like a motivation issue at all—more like handwriting just isn’t automatic enough for him, so it’s blocking everything else (especially maths and showing his thinking). Daily practice when it’s already stressful can actually make things worse, not better.
What helped us was stopping the daily battles, reducing how much writing was required, and switching to very short, targeted practice only a couple of times a week. We used structured handwriting worksheets rather than “just write more,” which made it feel clearer and less overwhelming. Something like handwriting worksheets helped because you can focus on one small skill at a time and stop before frustration kicks in:
https://worksheetzone.org/worksheets/handwriting
I’d also push school to at least record concerns and allow alternatives (verbal answers, reduced writing). Bright kids with handwriting difficulties often get missed, but it is an access issue, not a presentation one.

Does it really matter? My ds had/has shocking writing. Primary school were useless - one teacher said “oh it’s better than mine.” Then for SATS they suddenly decided to give him a scribe. In secondary school, they pretty much immediately told him to use a laptop, which he then used in exams and the same in sixth form.

Like you, I worried about it like mad in primary but eventually realised there were ways round it. Typing rather than writing didn’t hold him back at all academically. He’s now at a top/ranking uni.

We used to do the same with two of ours, one it helped a lot, the other not. The teachers all had different takes, one told me to give him a break and she absolutely didn’t believe in pushing them so much at home.

Weirdly in secondary his writing isn’t too bad, I find it quite legible for the speed he writes at now (he’s great in school, loves history, science etc and is a studied) etc, but not easy easy to read. I will say it’s the Christmas holidays and you posted at night time so I think you need this not to be something you’re thinking of right now as it means you find it such a huge thing and so you could be putting pressure on

How bad is his handwriting? I feel your pain, as we had/still have the same thing with my son. But the teachers manage to read his writing mostly. There have been times he had to be asked. Plenty of times his numbers also look like other numbers, but once you understand this you can see it. So teachers usually figure it out. For the 11+ I had to email all the schools with an image example just in case, so they could see. He excels in school, but the one thing the primary teachers would always comment on is his handwriting needs improving. Secondary it does not seem a problem, as not one teacher has commented on it and he is going to an academic school. I do think they are doing more typing in secondary though, so that helps.

If he's hating it already and it's become a point of conflict, leave it for a bit.

I might ask for a meeting with the teacher to ask if they think it is a problem and if they do, is there anything you can do to support him. He might need an occupational health type assessment to see if grips/writing slope will help or it may be he will need to use a computer to facilitate writing at speed as he gets older - if he does, it's best that process starts sooner rather than later.

It's not just hand strength for writing - it comes from the whole body, shoulder, elbow and evening sitting position, where his feet are. Visual issues can also be part of it - has that been checked? Does he play a sport? Racquet sports might be able to build up strength in the shoulders/back to help.

Our year 6 son has very messy effortful and slow handwriting. He has other SEN needs too (visual and auditory processing) although he’s a bright boy. He did a MagicLink handwriting course which seemed to help a bit but wasn’t sustained. School hasn’t been much help with handwriting although they said they will put in place interventions. We wanted to get a private occupational therapy assessment (he doesn’t meet the threshold for school referral) but haven’t found one yet - none we’ve asked have availability. I don’t know what the answer is but it worries me for secondary school.

It’s frustrating as we can see (and past academic achievements would evidence) that he’s bright enough - by no means a genius, but wouldn’t be struggling in any subject if it wasn’t for handwriting impacting every single one!

Good luck with the workbooks!

I’ll keep looking into these, as the idea makes a lot of sense but there’s a lot to look into and digest to try to understand which is any apply. Thank you.

We had children in year 5 with terrible inconsistent handwriting fretting over the stupid pen license and I just told them that when they get to secondary school everyone writes with a pen no matter how messy their handwriting is. As they are not allowed to use a rubber and have to cross out I don't see why they insist on pencils anyway, constantly need sharpening and faffing about.

This would be the first thing I would tell him because right now he feels lesser than his classmates. I wished in a way that Ds2's writing was bad enough to need a laptop because he could type far faster than he would write. He is now at uni so everything is on a laptop.

I would focus on actual handwriting workbooks to see if they help rather than just hoping he will get better just writing. Ds definitely lost a couple of marks on his SATs in year 6 because his teacher misread his maths answers. Following this he made a conscious effort to write more neatly for exams and tests in school.

He hates handwriting worksheets, so we’ve been using maths/science workbooks that are for very early primary so the answers are so obvious it’s simply a case of putting it down on paper appropriately.

I do think part of the problem is frustration, but also concentration. A worksheet that should take a couple of minutes can take him half an hour due to him trying to avoid it. We’ve tried doing it together where I do a copy too, rewards but nothing has worked.

School are being totally unbothered by it all, even though it is starting to make getting him into school at all a battle because he struggles. All they say is that he needs to practice, but practice at home isn’t helping.

The secondary he will go to don’t allow laptops without a SEN related reason, and the primary aren’t open to any kind of discussion about adjustments (we mentioned typing once, but their reaction was “but all the other kids will want to and it’s not fair” - I’m sick of fair when my child has had to watch nearly everyone else in his class get a pen license over the last 2 years!).

If we knew it would work out it’d be easy to say it didn’t matter, but at this point there’s absolutely no evidence that there will be any solution.

I think everything has come to a head because it’s Christmas routines are out the window and bad behaviour has been blamed on unhealthy video games habits (apparently video games having been put on a pedestal by usually only being allowed after writing practice and only allowing for a fixed amount of time a day).

It is a massive pressure on all of us, DS hates school because he has to write and hates writing because he can’t do it. Vicious circle!

I don’t know how realistical these examples ( https://www.pegasusacademytrust.org/curriculum/writing-and-handwriting/handwriting ) are but his writing is less neat than the year one and would also be worse than the EYFS if that was joined (just totally inconsistent with itself). He’s also writing much less than expected, maybe 2/3 lines when most others do a page.

We’ve worked so much on numbers he can now form the numbers vaguely similar sizes so the look consistent, but again goes out the window as soon as there is any other element to think about with presentation (addition in columns etc just looks like a disaster).

It’s holding him back so much and I really worry for his future because he can’t keep up.

I'd look at a different secondary. Insisting on an SEN diagnosis to make adjustments for a problem which is a barrier to learning is a regressive and harmful policy.

We too have handwriting difficulties with our DS (y3). We found an OT assessment helpful to work out which particular parts of handwriting were difficult (it's really a complex skill - lots of things need to be right for it to be 'easy' for a child). For example shoulder instability/hyper mobile joints can make handwriting much trickier. Or particular letter shapes can be challenging, or combinations of letters etc etc.

It's so hard when their confidence gets knocked. School should be doing more - ask to speak to SENDCO if class teacher isn't being responsive?

Sorry if this is obvious and you've tried them already, but have you tried pencil grips? There are lots of different styles/shapes are if you find the one that works best for your son it could really help? Sometimes a child's pen grip might not look too bad but a different shape can still make a difference. There are ones you slot over the pen/pencil, but also specially shaped ergonomic pencils (often marketed as for dyslexia).

Younger son, now in his twenties, has always had awful handwriting. Still not great but legible. After a sporting injury in his late teens, he went to see a physiotherapist who assessed him and discovered he is hypermobile. He just can’t grip the pen or pencil sufficiently to form the letters consistently.

A slope helped DS a bit as did various grips. At secondary Ballpoint Pen - STABILO Exam Grade made a huge difference very smooth action helped with writing.

Speed Up!: a Kinaesthetic Programme to Develop Fluent Handwriting - helped a bit.

Also he need to be shown a lot how to space out maths workings.

We were constantly told how bad his maths working were - he did mathsfactor as he struggled with school maths in early years then got really good so it did feel like they just had to deal with layout but they just moaned at us.

School missed older two were forming letters incorrectly - I picked that up doing spelling work - apple and pears - and then had to correct that. Also helping with spelling and drilling puncation - and correcting when they weren't spacing or putting in punctuation.

Biggest thing that helped DS - the worst was a teacher who didn't let it slip - he'd have to rewrite things that was Y6.

I would push now as at secondary they all went downhill with writing.

However I'd also be talking to SENCO - see if there is some underlying reason he's struggling that needs looking into.

My ds writing is messier than that. But he was able to get his thoughts down with practice, so messy, but able to finish the tasks as needed for exams. In secondary, they are using the laptop a lot, so he is typing, which is so much better for. During primary the teacher said he struggled to get his thoughts onto paper, but could verbally get them out, so I suspect a writing issue for sure. We did the 11+ though so he had to get used to getting his thoughts on paper within a timeframe. Some people are able to type for exams if they get assessed (not sure exactly how it works, as we did not do this). He managed just fine in the end.

If its really holding him back, I would discuss with the school about him typing instead of writing for things. Adults always use email/laptop for work anyway, writing becomes so much less the older you get.

This was my DS too

Another vote for VERY short practices, with lots of praise and reward. Praise the effort, not the result. If you've done hand strength, got the pencil grips and tried practise, but DS is still struggling, it may be an early indicator of processing dificulties. Does he struggle in any other areas?

If his hand and fingers hurt from trying to write all day, it's not going to make them hurt less to then be forcing him to do more at home.

I'm also unconvinced by the pen licence concept, as it was no easier for kids to get it in Year 6 - and now it's expected by Year 2? Their bones aren't even anywhere near fully hardening by that point.

What he may enjoy is making things bigger - especially if you can link it to something he actually likes; LEGO. He could have access to large squared paper to create plans and diagrams, using pencils with fat grips and then adding colour and a firm outline with equally fat pens, or go for A3 drawing pads with pens. The process of creating labels or adding dimensions/notes (to avoid frustration, doing these on separate pieces of paper and then sticking them on when happy) would keep anything resembling writing practice to the minimum.

He might like using chalk to create lists of shopping/meals or just enjoying not being restricted to tiny little books with tiny little lines. But in all, at least his teachers aren't putting pressure on.

30 years ago I had to stay in at lunch to do extra handwriting practice, as well as extra homework, my mum tried all the workbooks and ‘fun’ versions like writing with a calligraphy pen. My writing is still barely legible (although at least I don’t tear the paper anymore..) but other than for exams it’s been fine since through university and workplaces as can type everything, i have a PhD so it didn’t limit me academically although it was a huge source of frustration for years at school and got me a ‘naughty’ label. I’d push for him to be able to use an electronic typewriter if that’s a possibility at all, I think for some of us neat writing is just a physical impossibility! I think for boys it may be even harder to keep the academic motivation going while struggling with something like this, I hope you and the teachers can find a way to do so