Handwriting?

[CarolineJ]

My son has atrocious handwriting. He can't manage to put gaps between words either and his handwriting is more like a scrawl. It's really hard to read. His teacher is unsure how to help him, as are we. Bim does have an appointment with occupational therapy coming up, so I wonder if it's something they can help with? Bim is 7.

 

Does anybody have any experience with this?

[KarenT]

I was told to give J dot to dot puzzles to help with accuracy in handwriting. His dot to dots are coming on great but his handwriting is still a bit dodgy!

 

Karen

x

[CarolineJ]

Bim is obsessed with puzzle books. He loves Sudoku, dot to dot, mazes, wordsearches.... I keep them in my bag for when we go to appointments. They keep him well occupied!

 

Karen, I was in your neck of the woods yesterday. I braved Ikea LOL

[justamum]

It was adivsed that my son use an alphasmart or a laptop to write by his OT, of course the school said it was only a suggestion and not a directive so it never happened. He hardly does hand writting in home ed and when he does it's a lot neater as there is no pressure to conform.

 

Beside who will use pens or pencils when they are grown up?

 

Oh and his teacher WILL know lots of things to help if they really put their 'mind' to it, there are courses for children available through schools..but that costs the school money!

[zaman]

My son's teacher used a system called 'handies and dandies' that I think we a series of exercises to improve fine motor control.

[baddad]

Hi CarolineJ

This is one that comes up quite often, so i've copied/pasted one of my previous posts below:

 

My son had (still has, but improving dramatically) very poor handwriting as a direct result of his poor coordination/fine motor skills, grip etc etc. He wanted to improve it (which has got to be the major consideration whatever interventions you try), and once we'd done everything we could to overcome any physical barriers (i.e. by using pencil grips, slanted writing board, making sure seat/table height was as suitable as poss) the only way that could happen was by him actually practising.

 

On a structured basis (he would do it every 'school' night and be given extra privileges/ rewards for doing so) he would write a five word sentence of his own choice five times as neatly as he could manage.

The sentence would usually be something like 'I love sonic the hedgehog', or 'Ben is the coolest - true', and I would write it out for him once with the pencil at full pressure as a 'looking guide' then repeat it 3 times lightly as a 'tracing over' exercise... Only the last two goes were entirely his own freehand.

(BTW - My own 'lazy scrawl' was upgraded to cursive script in line with school guidelines for the process, which probably helped me too! )

Advances were very rapid, and the change in his confidence about writing was amazing. The biggest problem was getting the school to work to OUR strategy - because he was always under pressure to produce quality AND quantity there, but taking in examples of what he could do (compared to the spider-scribble in his school books) and pushing for scribe support on longer pieces helped to reinforce all of that.

 

Two more 'tips'

1 - Proper angled boards cost a fortune. I made one from the top of a fold-up table I bought for about a fiver from a 'round a pound' shop. Once i'd taken the folding legs off it already had a 'runner' front and back, and I just raised one of them slightly with a couple of rubber pads. The other 'runner' hooks on the front of the kitchen table to stop the board moving while he works! Brilliant!

2 - Be very careful about timings... I realised in the middle of doing this stuff with my son that I was actually 'undermining' his bigger co-ordination problems by doing this stuff in the weeks leading up to an appointment with his physio. Improvements in this one specific area didn't solve all of his other problems, but would improve his performance on the very generalised tests. Could have found him debarred from very much needed support because of it - a case of foot, gun, bullet!

 

The rest of the thread is here:

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...;hl=handwriting

 

Hope that's helpful

 

L&P

 

BD

[BusyLizzie100]

Handwriting - aagghh.

 

DS1 is 10 now and can barely read his own writing. He can just about manage it if he reads it back soon after he's written it, but if it's the next day he can't, ie he reads it from memory.

 

School has done nothing to help. He's even had IEPs since he was six with handwriting as a target, but nothing specific is ever done.

 

We have done various things, some of which may or may not help your son. His OT has been the most helpful. From early on she suggested using a 'hand gym' for a few minutes each day - basically a shoe box filled with fiddly things such as pegs to clip round the edge of a plastic beaker, matchsticks (not matches!) to stick in Play-doh... Also ideas on rolling, pulling and shaping Play-doh to strengthen fine motor.

 

We (and school) were given advice about triangular pens and pencils, writing boards, making sure chair and table are appropriate (DS1 is a big lad and in reception the chairs were far too small for him - but school did nothing.)

 

We were also given the Teodorescu handwriting book programme - a series of exercises involving, for example, drawing large and small circles, to develop fine motor. I think this is a great tool; however DS1 would refuse to do it - too much like homework.

 

Later the OT did a more specific programme with him called Speed Up, which is a mixture of physical exercises and writing, done best in a small group. That worked quite well, but DS1 just wants to be able to do things NOW and hasn't got much patience for working at something to improve.

 

By Y4 the OT recommended an Alphasmart, which is like a portable word processor which can be plugged in to a printer to print work out. She recommended he learn touchtyping in order for it to be effective, or it could end up being more laborious than handwriting! School provided an Alphasmart but just don't know how to use it for his benefit. Sometimes he's told to do work on it, but resents that as he feels he's being singled out.

 

When I noticed that his typing was improving on the PC, I began to see that his spelling and language construction seemed all over the place and began to worry that he had dyslexia. I hadnt considered it before because his reading is so good.

 

On the recommendation of a friend I took him to a private tutor (I've no idea where I get the money for these things - stop eating for a week, I think!). In her opinion DS1 wasn't dyslexic, but just hadn't learnt to write properly. He was missing some of the fundamental elements of handwriting and was amazed to hear that he was supposed to begin writing each letter with his pen ON THE LINE each time - it made a huge difference! Basically she took him back to what school should have taught him and, after just a few sessions, his handwriting is picking up. His confidence and self-esteem have rocketed.

 

Don't get me wrong, his handwriting is still appalling, but it IS better! He still needs a lot of practice with the basics (just 5-10 minutes a day is enough). He's still liable to rush his writing (which is why his spelling is awful) just to get his fantastic ideas out and still has difficulty reading it, but it's amazing to know that just a little bit of the right kind of input from the right person can make a difference.

 

If only school had done something earlier, instead of rushing ahead with curriculum and SATs and all! My son needed extra time and to have the ideas presented in a way that HE could understand.

 

Our OT was great, and really tried her best with DS1, but it would have worked much better if school had co-operated. My advice, I suppose, is to try to get school on board as much as possible.

 

When DS1 was in Y2, with handwriting as an IEP target, I asked his teacher what strategies were to be used to reach the targets. She replied: 'With SATs and the National Curriculum, we just don't have time to do any of these extra things. I'm very sorry.' Foolishly I let that go, although It was very upsetting. But now, I would react very differently. If the teacher admits that she hasn't the time, but the need has been identified, then school should make every effort to seek extra resources and support. Fair enough, the teacher couldn't do anything, but she should have found a way to help him, not just shrug her shoulders. Grrrrr! HAving spent just a few sessions with the tutor, going over really basic things, shows how easy it could have been. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

so, CarolineJ, my advice is keep at it. We were told don't worry, he'll develop. And your son may, but don't let people tell you to wait and see. There's always something that can be started to prevent your child falling further behind, in this case in his handwriting.

 

My son had to wait three years or more to get just the basics right. He may eventually have to use the Alphasmart at secondary and for exams, which is fine in this computer age. but denying him those basics at such an early age has been so detrimental to his self-esteem.

 

good luck with your visit to the OT. Let us know how you get on.

 

Lizzie

[harmony]

My son has atrocious handwriting. He can't manage to put gaps between words either and his handwriting is more like a scrawl. It's really hard to read. His teacher is unsure how to help him, as are we. Bim does have an appointment with occupational therapy coming up, so I wonder if it's something they can help with? Bim is 7.

 

Does anybody have any experience with this?

 

My Daughter has always had dreadful handwriting she is now 12, has AS ADHD and dyspraxia. I noticed from around 2 yrs old she could not colour in, and hold a pencil the same as other children. Age 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 she had physio, OT, and one to one help. we have tried writing programes, special chairs, pens, padded seats, special excercise books. You name it we have done it. It seems to work for a short time if I sit with her when she writes anything, but honestly I have given up. She now has her own lap top and does everything she can on it. If a piece of prep involves writing, she just doesn't do it. Yes she gets in trouble, but she is embarrased about the way her work looks so she would rather get told off. I do feel very sorry for her as I too had/have handwritting issues, I remember writing things 100's of times over when I was at school, as the teachers thought I had untidy writing deliberatly, I remember being hit over the knuckels with a ruler, many times as a punishment. The brutel honesty is now I am an adult of increasing years! my writing is still terrible. Did I suffer as a result. Well 13 o'levels, 3 A'levels and I now own and run a successful bussiness. We survive, we have to, we cope, we have no choice, yes it's tough but life isn't fair. your son will get by, honestly, the road will be bumpy, but it is only handwriting the more you stress about it the more inadequete he will feel, I have the T shirt, but I think I wear it rather well.

with love

harmony

[CarolineJ]

Thanks everyone! I'll have a good read through later, with my husband

[dooday24]

reeces handwriting is also very bad cannot read most of it which is very frustrating to reece i was told he could do his homework on the computer if he wanted to..........

(not that hes done any since last sept as he gets in such a state over it))

 

love donnaxxxx sorry no help at allxxxx

[hedders]

Just doing dome research on handwriting.

I have noticed that dd doesn't write on her own and prefers coping from books.

So i did some tasks with her at home, i believe i have found out that hs is unable to write sentences, her letters, words are all jumbled even if i ask her to write what i'm saying the way she wrote were the same. And she became really distraught and told me she been tying to copy children work in class but can never get it right. So im glad she told me as i think she has been bottling up these feelings for a while as she doesnt talk about school.

However as she likes or is trying to teach herself by copying from books her handwriting is excellent. (Much better than mine)

So there is a huge difference between writing on her own to copying from books.

But saying this she hasn't a clue what she is copying if that makes sense.

 

So i still havent work out why ?? the huge difference between the two

[chris54]

Just a bit about hand writing.

 

My son has just started to do the Teodorescu Programme at school. It is ten minutes a day, we have to do it at home at weekend. His teacher has said that some of it we may find seems a bit silly, just colouring dots or something but to stick with it.

 

Apparently it originated in Romania and has been found to help other areas of fine motor activities and concentration.

 

It will be interesting to see if it works. My son has always got a pen in his hand but no one even himself can actually read what he writes.

[CEJesson]

I used to have dot to dot, and I made use of a line guide during primary school.

[Kazzen161]

So there is a huge difference between writing on her own to copying from books.

But saying this she hasn't a clue what she is copying if that makes sense.

 

So i still havent work out why ?? the huge difference between the two

 

Copying is just handwriting (with a bit of visual processing) - writing from scratch involves understanding the topic, having enough ideas, organising those ideas into a sensible order, spelling, lots of remembering (the word you are writing, the sentence you are writing, the paragraph you are writing, the story you are writing), etc. Problems with any of these means writing is hard - problems with two or three of these things makes it almost impossible.

 

If you imagine deciding to write " a cat sat on the mat" - but you can only spell a and on - you have to think: how do I write "cat"? - work it out, try and write it down (letters round the right way and the right size, and in the right order with a gap after the word), then try to remember the sentence you were writing - oh yes - "sat" next - how do you spell it? (often they will not recognise that it is similar to cat) - work it out - write it down, and so on. When you get to more complex sentences, it is no wonder they lose their train of thought.

 

I can kick a ball, but no one would want me in their football team!

 

You can help eg: use of word lists/key words, a planning sheet, lots of talking/research before starting, etc.

 

My son's handwriting improved a lot as a result of his spelling improving.

[hedders]

Any explantion yet ???

 

 

Poor handwriting unaided

Excellant handwriting copying

 

Is is mimicing ????

 

 

 

[CEJesson]

Any explantion yet ???

 

 

Poor handwriting unaided

Excellant handwriting copying

 

Is is mimicing ????

I'm not totally sure. It could be reflected to general motivation, is dd good at this or not?

 

I'm sure you will receive some more replies about this but it will take time

Edited January 15, 2009 by CEJesson

[hedders]

UM dont know.

 

I used to be obssessed with how letters and words were written and would try and mimic the same

 

EVENTUALLY when i wrote i would make sure i did this all the time.

 

Might be a connection.

 

 

I suppose dd is only really motivated copying rescipes ??

I i think this started when i got her to write one and i commented on how beautiful she wrote. She is quite literal so prehaps i got her into an obsession as this tends to be the case.

[jo4themo]

N is now 10 and her handwriting is still messy - no gaps between words, scrawly etc. It has improved over the last 2 years - she used to write really big letters, now they are normal size.

Ironically, she has no probs drawing - her pictures are very detailed and she likes to draw in biro and hardly ever makes mistakes.

Sorry I can't give you any advice though as everything we have tried at home hasn't really worked as she hates writing!

[ian stuart-hamilton]

Poor handwriting unaided

Excellant handwriting copying

 

Is is mimicing ????

 

Speaking from personal experience, I had the same problem (and still do). In my case, I think it's because when I was writing 'freestyle' my hand couldn't keep up with the ideas coming out. In copying, there isn't this problem. My wife and kids find this hard to believe but I used to be good at calligraphy and at one stage did all the signs for the school library. In the week I finished this task I got my end of term report, containing the verdict 'will do well in his A Levels if anyone can read his writing').

[Canopus]

Help with handwriting

 

http://www.aspergersupport.org.uk/handwriting.html

[sesley]

My son has atrocious handwriting. He can't manage to put gaps between words either and his handwriting is more like a scrawl. It's really hard to read. His teacher is unsure how to help him, as are we. Bim does have an appointment with occupational therapy coming up, so I wonder if it's something they can help with? Bim is 7.

 

Does anybody have any experience with this?

 

 

 

 

my son loves writing and then rubbing out until its perfect and the teachers get fed up with him and tell him he can only have the rubber for a set number of times and then he gets and and until he refuses to complete whatever and he end up in a distress and in time out zone he even trys to rub out or throw in the bin teachers handwriting because it doesn't look right to him.

[puffin]

My son has atrocious handwriting. He can't manage to put gaps between words either and his handwriting is more like a scrawl. It's really hard to read. His teacher is unsure how to help him, as are we. Bim does have an appointment with occupational therapy coming up, so I wonder if it's something they can help with? Bim is 7.

 

Does anybody have any experience with this?

 

My DD had exactly the same problem - at 11 her handwriting was totally illegible - yet I dont think that the teachers really put that much effort into it.

 

However when she moved to the SEN unit the staff got some input from occupational therapy and started doing a variety of different exercises and within 8 weeks her handwriting was improved. The school also arranged for her to do an additional craft lesson each week with her own class to improve her dexterity by doing woodwork/needliwork etc

 

The OT also recommended that we did things at home to work on dexterity - such as cutting out and sticking, baking crafts etc - they also recommended getting her to colour in Mandalas - these are intricate colouring in patterns that help train motors skills and precision - they are often used in schools in Scandinavia for older prescholers (aged 5 and 6) to train pen grip and motor skills as a pre writing activity you can download some from this site

http://www.free-mandala.com/en/start.html

 

 

 

[Squirrel]

I once taught a kid with poor handwriting, a bright kid who just couldn't seem to get the mechanics of writing formation ...

 

One day I fleetingly mentioned to him the 'rule of thirds'

You put two faint pencil lines within each printed line on the paper, to divide each gap into thirds

The tall letters takes up the lower two thirds of each space, short letters the lowest third, and the upper third is left empty to take any 'tails' from words in the line space above ....

 

I hope this makes sense, it's a very visual explanation.

 

Anyway - it worked overnight with this particular child!

 

The more fluent the handwriting, the more likely it is to be able to keep up with the speed of his thoughts ...

 

Sometimes it seems to be a matter of finding an explanation, or even a 'rule', that makes sense to your particular child.

I would probably tackle this by working on the formation of each individual letter, the joins, and the 'rule of thirds'

I would try to make some fun and satisfaction out of the practice sessions - for instance by copying out some chunks of text that your child really wants to have around, whether facts from an information book or a 'really cool' bit of fiction, insirational quotes (at University I had a noticeboard full of these, rather like the 'sign off' quotes on our forum threads) or even jokes if these appeal.

 

Hope that's helpful!

Helen

[Squirrel]

Excellent handwriting copying v poor handwriting freestyle

 

The amount of mental effort that it takes to form sentences gets in the way of the handwriting?

Not having to think about word choice makes handwriting concentration more possible?

 

Helen

[sandyn]

My son has dyspraxia and the whole business of writing has plagued him since reception (he is now in yr 4). I have been fighting for nearly 4 years to get him help with his writing. His teachers have all said he only writes when its a topic that interests him. Its a lot of rubbish!! He hates writing. He finds the whole thing really difficult. Its not just writing - there are very few spaces between his words (dyspraxics have poor spacial awareness)

 

His mock sats last week said it all. maths 4c, reading 4c. Writing not sure ???? last mock was 2c He refused to do the writing test - only writing a couple of lines. Luckily his teacher spoke to the head who then spoke to R the following day, and told him unless he completed the test he would have no playtime for the day!!! Oh what a surprise !!! He did it! Not sure what his result is, but he did it.

 

 

[loblob]

I'm sorry, due to ADHD I've not read all the answers so if I'm writing something you've heard sorry!

 

My handwriting as a child was terrible. scrawley, smudgy, different sized letters, some reversed, above and under the lines, capitals haphazerdly placed, illogical spellings and weird word order.

 

I found writing very hard work and my improvement has been a slow and steady process. Becoming teaching assistant has really helped and I easily break down all the processes in my head now and can really concentrate. I believe my problems were due to concentration issues trouble with left and right and also a dificulty absorbing writing rules and spellings.

 

 

As a teaching assistant, here are some tricks I have learned/developed for helping myself and children.

 

 

 

Space Monsters! These are my favourite!

I encourage the children to design their own little space monster the same size as a letter o with well sharpened coloured pencils.

We copy a short sentence and put a little space monster between each word.

Then we turn the space monster invisible and have a go at copying the sentence invisible space monsters.

It can help to make a laminated book mark copy of the space monster to act as a reminder when they are doing other writings.

 

 

Vacume cleaner (can't remember how to spell vaccume today!!!)

I put a tiny dot at the motom of the page and say that it is a tiny buit super powerfull vacume cleaner pulling the letters down. The lines stop the letters getting down but the thin decenders 'tails'(qypgj)manage to get past the line.

 

 

Make sure his pencil doesn't have to be held too tight to make a mark, concentrating on letter form can loosen the grip and similarly pushing too hard can make it hard to manipulate the pencil.

 

You could have some fun writing pens at home so that he may experience some joy writing. Make sure they don't smudge easily.

 

 

Make sure he knows how to sit well to writer and that his teacher knows to keep checking and remind him. Chair tucked in and back upright, page fixed with spare hand.

 

If he is a fidgeter, the are wedge shaped rubber cushions thast can help some children called wobble cushions.

 

Don't make too much of an issue of it as concentrating too much actually made my writing worse!

 

 

 

For my own boy, who with speach and writing forgets that other people have to work out what you have said/written and that they do not know what he is thinking I used to help him write lists.

The lists also helped him cope with a day out but were ultimately for his writing.

If we were going out, I would ask him to make a list of things he wanted to do while out and things he wanted to buy. Sometimes he wasn't in the mood for this and I never forced him.

Sometimes he would do it pictorally but found that somethings were actually easier to write.

Any way, once out, because his memory is not so good, he would forget what he had written and have to read his list but couldn't allways do it as he has not taken care to make his letters clearly defined.

I am sure this has helped him to see where his own writing can be improved for next time.

 

 

Ok now I have to go and put a nit comb through my son's hair before he escapes from the bath!!

 

[loblob]

Oh, and pecil grippers are great and if you havent got any some chioldren prefer a blob of blue tack w3raped around the pencil where the fingers go (less embarassing too).