Hedgeclipper Handwriting

[Miss Tick]

I need advice or commiseration.

 

My sweet, 6th grade ds has handwriting that resembles a putting green.  It is dense with all letters equally spaced (no regular distinction between words) and it looks like someone went along with hedgeclippers and trimmed off all the ascenders. All letters are basically the same height, so for the uninitiated a "d" looks like an "a".

 

Sigh. We have worked on handwriting in various ways for 6 years now. We started by learning proper letter formation in K and 1st. We've done WWE 1-4 and all the copywork and dictation have been times we have discussed handwriting, word spacing, legibility, etc. Last year we spent some time using a Getty-Dubay workbook to see if some kind of re-learning and specific practice would help. I asked him to focus on "l", "t" and spacing. I never saw much application outside of the workbook and a few weeks into this school year I'm not sure what to do with this putting-green writing assignment I received yesterday.

 

In the past I have tried modelling, requesting re-writes (this works but takes a long time and becomes spirit-crushing if I go overboard), cajoling, demanding, yelling (not proud of this, and it didn't do anything productive), specific letter practice, constant coaching (nit-picking), specific focus (a few weeks where my only request was a space between the words), etc.

 

I am going to try to shift to typing this year.  It is tricky to implement due to twins, computer locations and my own difficulty incorporating electronics into the school day, but clearly it has to happen.

 

WHAT do I do to improve his handwriting??? I can't completely let it go, even if we use typing for his writing assignments. I bet Grandma struggles to read thank-you cards and birthday notes, grammar, history, math - those all require short bits of writing, sometimes he has to turn in various written things to outsiders and I don't know that others can decode his writing. Gah!

 

If he didn't have a twin with nice handwriting I would really feel like a failure.

 

He is a decent writer if you can get past the handwriting. He uses varied sentences, stays on topic, a little unclear on when to use paragraphs but all seem age-appropriate to me.

 

Any ideas about how to approach this? I will gladly entertain any thoughts or reassuring pats on the back.

 

 

[EKS]

When I had to retrain my older son--who was 9 at the time--I used HWT.  The key wasn't the program, though; it was watching him like a hawk every time he wrote anything so he couldn't write improperly in the first place.  Which is a pain, but in our case, it worked.

 

I have had less (read: no) success with improving my younger son's handwriting.

[Miss Tick]

When I had to retrain my older son--who was 9 at the time--I used HWT. The key wasn't the program, though; it was watching him like a hawk every time he wrote anything so he couldn't write improperly in the first place. Which is a pain, but in our case, it worked.

 

I have had less (read: no) success with improving my younger son's handwriting.

Maybe I will try your "watch like a hawk" approach and focus on, say, two things to try to avoid the ball-of-tension freeze-up.

[domestic_engineer]

Here's a hug and a reassuring pat on the back for ya!!!   :)

You're a good mama, and you'll figure this one out.

You've done a great job thus far not letting his handwriting stop his progress in creating and organizing original thought.  And I think that typing will give you both a good break from banging your head against the wall.

 

Some ideas ...

Have you tried cursive yet?  You'd be introducing something "new," but the general principles of letter height and spacing would still apply.

Have everyone, including yourself, work on Spencerian or calligraphy for a few minutes each day?  Oooh, calligraphy!  Or French cursive?

What about using the handwriting paper where it's colored yellow on the bottom half?

 

Hugs!

 

Edited August 20, 2016 by domestic_engineer

[Miss Tick]

Here's a hug and a reassuring pat on the back for ya!!! :)

You're a good mama, and you'll figure this one out.

You've done a great job thus far not letting his handwriting stop his progress in creating and organizing original thought. And I think that typing will give you both a good break from banging your head against the wall.

 

Some ideas ...

Have you tried cursive yet? You'd be introducing something "new," but the general principles of letter height and spacing would still apply.

Have everyone, including yourself, work on Spencerian or calligraphy for a few minutes each day? Oooh, calligraphy! Or French cursive?

What about using the handwriting paper where it's colored yellow on the bottom half?

 

Hugs!

Aww, thanks. Shucks, made me a bit teary!

 

You know, the workbook he started does cursive, we just never got there. I think I'll get that back out and see what happens.

 

Dd has a Spencerian set she was working on but I don't think I can get him to try it. I mean, I could "tell" him to do it, and he would, but without the self-interest i imagine that it is a doomed effort.

 

I'm intrigued by the paper you linked. I'll check it out on a larger screen. I wonder if I could use that for a specific purpose like spelling.

 

He WANTS to be legible (and please me) but we can't seem to get it to sink in. Or, more accurately, come back out.

[domestic_engineer]

True, true - Spencerian may be a hard sell to a boy.  :)

But maybe the same train of thought - using art to cure - bubblewriting or maybe lettering a technical drawing?  

 

Are you ok with letting him write in all caps and letting truly capitalized letters be taller, like an engraver might create?  Then you wouldn't be battling "d"s and "a"s  (although it offers no help for the word spacing).

[Tiramisu]

I have a 10 yo with somewhat similar writing issues. The spacing is the biggest problem and can make her writing illegible. We started cursive and it's quite a bit better. So I'd give that a try.

 

Hang in there! You're not alone. Typing will help, too.

[Farrar]

If he didn't have a twin with nice handwriting I would really feel like a failure.

 

Wait, are you raising my 11 yos? This is a familiar feeling for me too, for so many things.

 

Hugs. There are other fancy hands that aren't Spencerian. What I did for my kid with poor handwriting was to correct him on it relentlessly (with his permission) for dictation for a couple of months. He groused, but he wanted it to get better. And it did get more legible. And then we kept doing it for certain things, like the letter height thing, for awhile. And then, I also taught him to type. And he's really fast now. So... I'm thinking it evens out. I hope. Not every kid has to have great handwriting.

[Miss Tick]

True, true - Spencerian may be a hard sell to a boy. :)

But maybe the same train of thought - using art to cure - bubblewriting or maybe lettering a technical drawing?

 

Are you ok with letting him write in all caps and letting truly capitalized letters be taller, like an engraver might create? Then you wouldn't be battling "d"s and "a"s (although it offers no help for the word spacing).

You know, at this point if he wanted to do anything and it was legible I would be onboard. I had dreams of producing children with lettering like a handwriting text, comic book, or architectural drawings, I don't know why I thought this was possible when my own handwriting was poor until I started teaching children and realized I wanted to set a better example. Oh, how those glorious plans have fallen.

 

He and I will have a discussion about what would help legibility and pick one thing that he will focus on, and then he will pick up his pencil and it is like we haven't talked. Even if I remind him just prior to writing a word, most of the time, he will need to be corrected. Crazy-making! Also upsetting for him.

 

All the same, I'm going to show him examples of your suggestions and see if anything inspires passion.

[Miss Tick]

Wait, are you raising my 11 yos? This is a familiar feeling for me too, for so many things.

 

Hugs. There are other fancy hands that aren't Spencerian. What I did for my kid with poor handwriting was to correct him on it relentlessly (with his permission) for dictation for a couple of months. He groused, but he wanted it to get better. And it did get more legible. And then we kept doing it for certain things, like the letter height thing, for awhile. And then, I also taught him to type. And he's really fast now. So... I'm thinking it evens out. I hope. Not every kid has to have great handwriting.

Thanks. I think we will try this approach and hope for similar results.

[sbgrace]

One of mine (age 12), has the spacing issue. It's difficult to dicipher, and I too find it discouraging. I've done much of what you did without improvement.

 

I did emphasize touch (not looking/not hunt and peck) keyboarding skills--we hit that hard last year. I did Getty Dubay cursive. He could still space between words more, but it's at least readable compared to his print. This year we're focusing on cursive practice, with emphasis on paying attention to spacing between words, 15 minutes a day. Other than that he types now when I need to read something, but that seems to hurt his output for some reason. Like your son, his actual ability to compose is good. He still tends to want to print for things like short answer and note taking. The print is still run together. I'm hoping he will begin to favor cursive for all his writing, hence my 15 minutes a day practice routine now. 

 

Anyway, you aren't alone.

Edited August 22, 2016 by sbgrace

[Miss Tick]

 

Anyway, you aren't alone.

Thanks!

 

I got his Getty Dubay book out again this morning. Interesting that your ds' output went down typing. I wonder if it will come back as his typing gets more fluid.

[Miss Tick]

Word spacing - I made ds use graph paper for a while. That really helped, as he had to leave a square between words.

Ooh, this would be very easy to do!

[freelylearned]

Word spacing - I made ds use graph paper for a while. That really helped, as he had to leave a square between words.

 

It's good to know that helps. I just threw my hands up in frustration a while ago and implemented the same strategy. 

[Grover]

if he wants to, but can't, have you considered soe underlying deficit - fine motor, or vision perhaps?

[LMD]

I think I use the same getty dubay book lol.

After we started with cursive, I had them do a sentence or two in calligraphy. Turning a small amount of handwriting practice into a fine art allowed me to be nitpicky for a finite amount of time and it was something fun/different so it got their full focus.