Handwriting for teens

[tostaky]

Hi, i hope you dont mind me posting in the teenagers group.

My DS is adamant he doesnt want a laptop for school. Teacher has said you have two weeks to improve handwriting or it is a laptop. (The conversation was nicer this quick summary)

He has dyspraxia.

What works better cursive or print? Also any recommendations for a handwriting book that is not too baby-ish?

Many thanks

Print.

If he just 'doesn't want to be different' I would advise getting over it, as if he is faster and legible using laptop it will help for essay based gcses.

(Both mine have dyspraxia, one used laptop, other it hindered more than helped).

Both my boys have dyspraxia and laptop all the way. It’s the writing speed and legibility really. Mine lost confidence when they couldn’t keep up with their classmates but gained it back with the laptop.

I think if handwriting is still an issue in teenage years then practice is unlikely to improve it much, especially when you add in exam pressure. My handwriting is near illegible and I got fairly mediocre grades largely because of it (in a pre-laptop era), despite multiple teachers giving me extra handwriting practice and feedback. Along came laptops and I have a masters with distinction, a phd and published papers, and have noticed that many of my colleagues have terrible handwriting too. I’d encourage him to use the laptop!

Cursive is a bloody nightmare.

Print is easier.

Write from the start is a good series.

He is very unlikely to improve in two weeks though. Laptop could mean the difference between a pass or not.

My son, 16, has dyspraxia and uses a laptop for all written work in school. For any exams and in-class assessments, he has a scribe as he struggles to type quickly enough under those conditions.

I can understand why your son may be hesitant to use a laptop as it makes them different and at that age, that's a big problem. I had to some convincing with my son but he's glad he seen sense as it makes life a lot easier. Short term pain for long term gain.

English teacher and examiner here.

Ditch the cursive and give the laptop a go.

Ex-teacher here, who battled against horrible, illegible handwriting for years: cursive is technically quicker and clearer, because the pen stays on the paper and it's fluent. He's more likely to achieve the necessary (eye-watering) speeds he needs for GCSE and A-level. He won't do that in two weeks.

It's very difficult to improve handwriting at this stage. If all the strategies worked, he would already have developed better handwriting by now. As a teenager it's really advisable to listen to his teacher who will understand what he needs to focus on -content and speed!

It's 16 wpm for GCSE, 18 wpm for A-level. That's to get enough stuff on paper to pass.

My DS has dyspraxia. He began typing all exams and school work from year 7. It was a very good thing for him. Apart from making work legible, it was also much more comfortable for him, dyspraxics can get very uncomfortable writing for long periods in exams.

His sixth form college - rated 10th in the UK - went over to all coursework and classwork being typed for all students 3 years ago. This does seem the way ahead.

He’s at uni and some people do take notes in lectures on A4 but many use laptops or tablets.

It is difficult to embrace difference when you are a teenager but it really is useful if people help you by offering things like typing school work and exams

If you want to try a handwriting programme, try Write From the Start. It's a kinesthetic approach and it's designed to improve fluency.

Theres a high chance his letter formation is also poor (it's really common among all kids with handwriting difficulties). He may also have a not very functional pen grip especially if he has a degree of hyper mobility but that is really hard to change after the age of about 7.

Thank you all
For your advice and suggestions.
He just had a meltdown about the suggestion of using a laptop... maybe DP will have more luck in encouraging DS to use a laptop...

What is the laptop issue? Lots of my students would be delighted to be allowed to type!