Helping with Writing Skills

My son is in K as well, and his teacher has said his hand strength is weak, making writing and other fine motor activities more challenging for him. She offered some suggestions on hand strengthening activities. Playing with play-dough, putting several coins in his hand and having him "push" them out with his thumb, using tweezers to pick up objects like beads, paperclips, cotton balls, etc. Some of these can also incorporate counting, sorting, etc.
But as others have said, it takes time and practice. Although my 10yo son had similar issues in K and now in 5th grade his handwriting is still terrible! Oh well. He gets really good grades despite his poor penmanship :)

I would not push this and am sad to see a child this age gets a "needs improvement" grade in writing. He's too young for so much emphasis to be placed on this issue.

HI P.,
Handwriting can be improved by strengthening the hand and making sure that he has correct pencil grip. Also make sure that he is sitting in a chair that provides support and that he has his feet on the floor. All of this will influence the quality of his handwriting. And, though it may not be anything to worry about now, it is important to be sure that good habits are being formed because they can be very hard to change later. If he develops poor pencil grip now, the writing that he will be required to do in the higher grades will be hard for him because it's more work and makes his hand tired. Tired hands = frustration, and that equals falling behind on work.

Do not use chunky pencils or large markers. They are too big for little hands. Small golf pencils are ideal. Skinny markers.

This doesn't mean that you have to sit down with him and make sure that he's writing in abundance every day. Here are some idea that can be fun and will also encourage correct form and hand strengthening. Find an old tennis ball and cut about a 2 inch slit along the seam. Draw a little face on it so that when you squeeze the ball the "mouth" opens. Have him squeeze with one hand and "feed" the ball small objects like beads or uncooked pasta shells. Color with crayons and chalk, but break them into smaller prices so that he has to use pencil grip to use them. Get an empty spice jar and push pipe cleaners through the holes in the top. Label clothes pins according to color and hide/pin them around the house. Have him find them and pin them to a corresponding color on posterboard. Get a pair of tongs or strawberry hullers and have him transfer and sort things (like cotton balls) from one bowl to another. Let him play in the bath or shower with shaving cream, tracing, writing on the walls of the shower and then cleaning it off. Pop plastic packing material. Practice pouring different mediums from one place to another; sand, water, birdseed. cornmeal. Also tracing in these materials is beneficial. Beading.

There are also big muscle activities that promote fine motor skill development. Wheelbarrow walking, bear walk, crab, walk. Hanging on money bars, climbing using bilateral movement (think rock walls, rather than stairs.) Play catch. Pull friends in a wagon.

Some good games... Light Bright; Don't Spill the Beans; Hi Ho Cheerio; Tinkertoys; Kerplunk; Straws and Connectors; Magnetic Mosaics for Kids.

Your son is not unusual. The demands of children starting school these days is not in proportion to their bodies developmentally. There are lots of kids that are just not ready for the works that standardization of our schools demands.

Sorry for the length... hope it helps :)

My daughter had fine motor delays, and writing was a huge challenge for her. Here are a few things that might help:

1. Buddha board. They are boards on which you can paint with water. The water dries, the picture/writing disappears, and you can create something new. We use these both for writing practice and just for fun.

2. Sidewalk chalk. Sometimes it can be fun to practice letter shapes on a large scale and off the paper.

3. Does he like clay? Making clay balls and squeezing them to squish them is an excellent hand exercise. After squeezing, make something.

4. Does he like paper crafts? Cutting and folding is also good practice for hands, as long as the project isn't so complex that he ends up frustrated.

5. You can get specially adapted soft pencil grips that slide onto a normal sized pencil and help teach his fingers where to go. The rubbery gripper also seems to help keep one from gripping too tightly and getting sore hands.

6. Lacing cards or super easy sewing kits, if he enjoys that sort of thing. I found a puppet kit that had pre-punched holes in cut felt pieces that my daughter could stitch together with a darning needle and embroidery thread. She loved doing this, and it was great practice for her hands.

7. Handwriting Without Tears is a fantastic handwriting curriculum developed by a pair of OTs. It is quite effective, and my kids actually LIKE the practices.

8. Helping me cook. Learning to stir, mix, knead, and crack eggs was a fun way to get better at using her hands while also learning skills she'll use for the rest of her life.

Please don't worry. This is only kindergarten. I have no suggestions for improving his handwriting, but I can tell you from experience that this is nothing to worry about. One thing I've learned after raising three kids is that the first few years of school should be FUN, and we parents shouldn't obsess over the academics.

Remember that this is a time to light the fire of learning, not worry about the particulars. Practice handwriting with him if you wish, but keep it fun, and don't let him know that you think there is anything wrong with his performance.

Okay, MANY if not all, Kindergarten kids.... DO NOT WRITE WELL or neatly.
In time, as their fine motor skills develops, they will get better at it.
This is very COMMON.
Don't worry!

Also, boys tend to be messier at writing.
COMMON.
Don't worry!

Just have him, do coloring books, color inside the lines, and write for FUN.

I wouldn't worry.
Kids at this age, do NOT write all uniform and neat and perfect. NORMAL.

I have 2 kids, boy and girl. My son and most boys, per the Teacher, write less well..... and is VERY COMMON.
My son is now in 1st grade... and his writing has NATURALLY improved.
BUT his Teacher says, that kids this age, are not experts at it yet. Especially the boys.

DO NOT WORRY!
Really.
This is very very very, common.
Kids in Kindergarten... are NOT "mastered" at these things yet. Not at all. They are learning, it.
No kid, will be perfect. All kids need improvement in something. And penmanship is something that is very not-neat in Kindergarten.

MOSTLY don't "compare" him to others. Or he will get a hang up about it.

Take it with a grain of salt.
ALL throughout their school years, there will ALWAYS be something that a child "needs improvement" on. ALWAYS.
While we wish our child was "perfect" in all areas.... this is not normal.
And it can stress out a kid.
Just because a child needs "improvement" in an area, it does not mean they are doomed. It just means, they need improvement. ALL kids do.

You could teach him how to use the computer - specifically the mouse. That may help with the fine motor skills while he's playing computer games.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Boys tend to have sloppy writing and very intelligent people also. Their brains work much faster than they can write so it is always sloppy.

I completely agree - NO WORRIES! Funny, I still can't read my 49-year old brother's writing - but unfortunately my parents now think he should have been left-handed, and back then they saw it as almost like a disability (can you believe that?)! So they forced things in his right hand - so sad!

I do the writing thing back and forth with my daughters. (Still do and my oldest is 23). My 11-year old doesn't have the best printing but she gets straight A's so I don't worry about that in the least. Besides, our kids will be using the computer for everything anyway. Eventually they won't even teach cursive. My sister's a teacher and they don't have the time to teach writing skills like when we were in school!

Obviously you want your child's printing to be legible, but I agree that it shouldn't even be a "thing" on their "report card" in Kinder! Don't push it, as long as he has the basics down: holds the pencil correctly; writes from left to right; and isn't transposing his letters or writing the actual word backwards. Maybe he'll be a doctor - HA!! Good luck and try not to worry! You should be very proud of him for all his other marks! Sounds like you have a very bright young man there . . .

Not everyone has great hand writing even in adult hood. Give him a pencil or pen and some post it notes and ask him to leave you notes around the house. If you cant read something ask him to tell you what is says and/or rewrite it.

You could also try a journal type notebook and he can write what ever he wants in it.

My sks both got poor marks for penmanship all through elementary school In MS, SS was asked to type some of his homework because it was such scratch. So do work with him, but know it's not the end of the world.

For SD, it was in part b/c she doesn't slow down, so we focused on her biggest errors that made the teacher think she wrote the wrong letter or number because those affected her grades.

Aside from the Ipad or a game, is there anyone who might correspond with him? Or he could practice writing stories or make up things like menus for dinner or whatever that might be fun.

I have been told that our local school no longer teaches cursive and no longer works with kids on penmanship at all. No more practice sheets. So we'll be doing things like I suggested above. With my DD, I encourage her to do things that are fun for her and oh, why don't you write that down for me? You are such a big help!

My little girl didn't have challenges in the teachers view, but I thought her hand writing was a bit um, tense looking last year. We are now in the middle of first grade and she has very nice handwriting. It takes time.

I always felt as long as you can read it, it is fine. There are so many other things to worry about. I just point out that we have to be careful because sometimes our scribble means something else, so do your best.

Just get him working with his hands more. Snapping legos, coloring, Even keyboarding.

I think it is still early for him. Take a look at some of the other kids handwriting. I bet she marked a handful of kids with "Needs Improvement" in that area.

When my son was in PreK/Kindergarten, I was mortified at his handwriting and coloring skills. However, thankfully, a friend of mine said to be sure and check out all of the kid's works - not just his. When I looked at all of their work (it was hung on the wall for all to see), my son was right in line with the other boys. The girls were definitely better at handwriting and coloring.

My son is in 4th grade now and his handwriting still isn't great. If he takes his time, it is very neat. But, he rushes. Personally, I am not really worried about it because I know in the long run, he will be using computers and typing. But, all of his work, in general, looks better now.

My daughter is 4 and in PreK and her work is much nicer than his was at this same age. (Just an FYI, about the difference between boys and girls).

However, I definitely agree wiht the others about strengthening his hands and working on fine motor skills. My son actually ended up with occupational therapy for fine motor skills. Some of the activities that they did were:
1. Drawing +'s and circles. I don't know why this was important, but they practiced that a lot.
2. Stringing beads on string. If your son is not coordinated enough to string beads on strings, you can use pipe cleaners (bigger beads, not the teeny tiny ones).
3. Another mom suggested shaving cream in the shower. They also offer crayons for the shower. My son went to TOWN with the crayons in the shower.

Good luck!
L.

I wouldn't be overly concerned. It takes practice and most children even out by 2nd grade.

That said, as a long term substitute teacher mainly in K-3 we have certain things we do practice with the children...

A daily handwiring sheet that will focus on 1 letter of the alphabet. There are a few upper and lower case letters dotted out so that the children can trace it to see how it works. Then they practice the letters on the lines and then there is usually a funny sentence at the end where they fill in the blanks with the letter of the day. THEN, we have the children circle what they think is their best lower and upper case letter. THEN, we come around with a colorful fun pen and see if we agree and we circle our favorite as well. It makes it sort of like a game.

Every child has a journal where they write almost daily. Sometimes we give a topic on the board for them to write... at least 4 complete sentences then draw a picture at the bottom. Sometimes we give them free write where they choose their own topic.

Language Arts classes involve spelling words which are also written repeatedly for practice.

When I assist with children who need more help with writing, we use a highlighter to write and the children trace our highlighter lines.

Maybe some of this will help but again, I would not stress out over it... Just practice at home and make it a game.

I wouldn't use anything electronic, because that really doesn't reinforce proper writing skills, and a stylus is not the same as a pencil.

First, make sure he has chunky pencils...if you can't find them, check an office supply store. They are better for little hands.

Second, go on Amazon and look up "Handwriting Without Tears" and buy him a workbook that's at his grade level. This handwriting program is THE BEST, in my opinion, and my daughter who has used it (and is still using it in second grade, although I think that's overkill) has beautiful handwriting.

I absolutely loved the way the books were structured and the way it taught letter formation. It reinforces proper formation of letters, which in turn reinforces neatness. If you can, splurge for the teacher's guide...you'll only need it once, as it's pretty much a repeat for grade after grade. It has lots of ideas for fun games, etc.

(Side note...I do not like the way they do numbers in this program, so I didn't use it for numbers, only letters.)

Doesn't sound too concerning to me but perhaps you could work on other fine motor skills that will ultimately improve his handwriting. (Google games for improving fine motor skills).

My son's handwriting was pretty illegible last year. We were very concerned. His teacher assured us it was normal, but we still worried, because it was obvious that his handwriting was the worst in the class. Instead of "writing" practice, she encourage us to strengthen his muscles and grip with fine motor activities. We did playdough, legos. Picking up and moving small objects with tweezers. We also did some embroidery. Beading and perler beads were fun too. Last year, in kindergarten, there was some improvement, but not a lot.

When we started off first grade, I talked with his teacher about my concerns. We had been journaling over the summer to practice writing skills. Silly stories my son wrote, mostly. It was a little better, but not much. His teacher assured me that he was on track. That practice was always good, but not to overdue it. Keep it fun and keep working on fine motor skills. Flash forward to this week, and his handwriting has improved DRASTICALLY. It's neat, it's legible, it's wonderful. It was such a relief today at the party, when I realized that he was no longer struggling.

So keep it fun and give him time mama!

As a teacher, much 'bad' handwriting is simply because the children hurry through their writing in order to get it complete.