Handwriting speed

[GazeboLantern]

What is the expected speed of handwriting in Y10?

Dc's writing has been measured as 13wpm and therefore qualifying for special assistance during exams.

Do legibility, academic ability or handedness have any relationship to speed of handwriting?

My daughter can write faster than she does but it becomes illegible, so speed and legibility are to some extent linked.

I know a v. bright but dyspraxic person whose handwriting is illegible so not linked as such to academic ability.

I can imagine left handedness could make things harder.

When you say 'special assistance' presumably you mean a typewriter or extra time? this is aimed to level the playing field, so the slow writer can show what they are capable of.

I'm sure legibility and possibly handedness are related to slow speed, but why would academic ability be a factor? That sounds like you're suggesting it tends to be thick kids that write slow....

Maybe you should look at your own prejudices, titchy.

To clarify, are they looking at speed of easily legible writing, or at how many words can be written in a minute, that could be worked out with some effort from the reader? And is the illegibility of dc's writing, together with the 13wpm speed, holding them back from their potential academic achievement?

I know some lefties with graceful clear writing, and plenty of righties with a scrawl comparable to my lefty dc's.

You're the one that asked whether speed was related to academic ability

Obviously it isn't. They look at speed to produce writing which is reasonably legible to someone marking it.

If your child's writing is so slow that it affects what they can get down in an exam then they should use alternatives such as a keyboard or a scribe.

(One of my dcs had slow/illegible writing that needed special arrangements btw.)

It will potentially hold them back. For example, English exams require you to write essays. If you can only produce a couple of pages in the time then you'll limit your marks (as a rough rule)

Could you request that DC learns touch typing and uses that instead?

there are several factors that can affect speed of handwriting. Who assessed her - what feedback did she have? If she has been allocated extra time, then she will have at least 2 below average/low average scores in speed of working (the rules for extra time have changed this year). The SENCO should be able to give you some information.

There are lots of factors that can impact handwriting speed. If I was assessing handwriting speed using the DASH scoring would consider if a word was legible outside the context of the sentence.

@titchy

I'm sure legibility and possibly handedness are related to slow speed, but why would academic ability be a factor? That sounds like you're suggesting it tends to be thick kids that write slow....

The OP didn’t refer to kids with low academic ability as thick that lovely comparison was all you.

And of course learning disabilities/academic ability will impact handwriting speed

One of my DC (yr 10) is very academic and severely dyspraxic and dysgraphic. He basically writes like a five year old and has been having assistance since primary school. He can’t form letters properly and is incredibly slow so uses a laptop and has a scribe. Without this help, he would never be able to achieve his potential (which was very frustrating for him until one teacher at junior school scribed for him and was shocked at his actual language ability in comparison with what he could get down on paper).

And of course learning disabilities/academic ability will impact handwriting speed
How does academic ability impact writing speed? There is no correlation between the two at all.

My mistake CAN affect handwriting speed not always though

Tons of research online. Feel free to google

Aha. I have finally found some of the info I was seeking on an Ed Psych's website:

Age WPM
9 10
10 12
11 14
12 16
13 18
14 20
15 22
16 24
Adult 25

So 13 wpm is nearly half the expected speed. No wonder dc never finishes an essay-based or long answer paper.

Just chipping in as we had a meeting on access arrangements very recently and slow handwriting speed alone is no longer "enough" to qualify for access arrangements. They will need to score below average in at least one other category also now to qualify.

Curious. I wonder who sets the criteria. Dc has a diagnosed neurodivergency. I wonder whether that counts as a second issue.

@GazeboLantern

Curious. I wonder who sets the criteria. Dc has a diagnosed neurodivergency. I wonder whether that counts as a second issue.

Hopefully I'm accurately reflecting what was said in the meeting but if the neurodiversity counts under the medical or disability category (which I believe ASD and ADHD do) then I believe that changes it and the medical diagnosis takes the place of the test scores.

Hopefully I have not misunderstood or misrepresented any information!

How do you go about getting DC's handwriting assessed? Do you ask the SENCO?

I used to assess for exam access arrangements. I used two separate tests for handwriting speed, one was just timed free-writing, the other had 3 sub-tests: copy fast, copy best, and timed writing the alphabet. In all of the tests, illegible words were deducted from the word count so fast but illegible might qualify for access arrangements as well as slow writing.

The criteria are set by the JCQ:

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/

@winterrabbit

How do you go about getting DC's handwriting assessed? Do you ask the SENCO?

The school invited dc to be assessed. We had to give permission: the invitation was automatic because dc is on the SEN register, but not the assessment.

Though I don't see why you couldn't ask for any child to be assessed if you have concerns. TBH it wouldn't have occurred to us to ask as we had no idea dc's writing was so slow that it was affecting his marks.

We saw an amazing (private) occupational therapist who specialises in handwriting and one session (90 minutes) made a massive difference to my son. He was assessed as borderline for needing to be able to use a laptop in exams because of his handwriting speed but is now comfortably finishing essays in time. I was amazed at the amount of different tips and tricks there were! Might be worth looking into.

[quote HeddaGarbled]I used to assess for exam access arrangements. I used two separate tests for handwriting speed, one was just timed free-writing, the other had 3 sub-tests: copy fast, copy best, and timed writing the alphabet. In all of the tests, illegible words were deducted from the word count so fast but illegible might qualify for access arrangements as well as slow writing.

The criteria are set by the JCQ:

www.jcq.org.uk/exams-office/access-arrangements-and-special-consideration/[/quote]
The trouble with that test is that it doesn't take into consideration the interplay between thinking and writing, imo. DD2 aces that test because she's told 'write as much as you can in 10 minutes' and the subject is something she's very familiar with. She's in a lot of pain while she's doing it, but she would never complain to a teacher (14, ASD). When she has to write about a less familiar subject, she's becomes really slow because she has coordinate thinking and writing.

Fortunately, she's now been allowed a laptop and she's getting her notes down so much better in class.

My DS(13) has very poor handwriting.

If he produced the same task in both handwritten and typed form the work would look like it was written but two different children. DSs handwritten work is illegible and short. It hurts him to write and the sheer effort writing takes means he tires really easily, he also has to put so much thought into forming his letters that he loses the flow of what he wants to write. When he types it’s faster and the words flow from him better, you can also see his extensive vocabulary.

Criteria for dysgraphia can be assessed through the use of a DASH test (Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting).

My DS (11) was assessed by an Ed Psych using the DASH test and as he met the criteria for dysgraphia is now able to use a laptop and have 25% more time in assessments.