2nd grader handwriting like kindergartener. . .

[Guest Barb B]

Or as his science teacher said (he is in a homeschool science class) more like pre K). To me it is like kindergarten. Anyway, today I think I will go get handwriting without tears. Also, I have a list of fine motor activities to add back into his day (cutting, mostessori toothpick punching, legos, sorting things using tweezers. . . ). Any other ideas? I saw the book Draw, Write Now - anyone use this.

 

She seems to think he has trouble with "proprioception". A new word for me. I looked it up and dysfunction in this also has symptoms of clumsiness which he is not. I hate when people try to label kids anyway. This is difficult because this teacher is a close friend of mine. I am taking her advice with a smile, and not arguing for now. I honestly think ds is a "typical boy" when is comes to handwriting.

 

Any suggestions, thoughts are appreciated. Anyone turn around dc poor handwriting quickly?

 

Barb

[daybreaking]

I've "been there, done that," with feeling the pressure from others. From my hindsight (and learning from many mistakes), may I share with you that trying to "turn around dc poor handwriting quickly" is going to cause unnecessary stress for both you and your little boy? The best thing you could do, as hard as it is, is to let your friends comments go in one ear and out the other and then gently and patiently work on your son's handwriting at home. Have you used a handwriting program in the past? I have noticed that children who use the workbooks tend to have neater handwriting than those who are taught the formation of letters and then moved quickly to copywork or just daily work (i.e., other subjects). Boys, especially, tend to need a lot of practice, and having each letter formed correctly, right in front of them as they are practicing (as is done in handwriting workbooks), makes a huge difference. We loved the Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbooks. They are short, sweet and very effective, and I love how my ds doesn't feel overwhelmed with all the work but actually enjoys the workbooks. We used K, 1 & 2M, so yes, my ds did three years of manuscript practice, but it only takes him about 10 minutes a day and the end result has been very neat handwriting. We're now onto 3 (cursive) with the same results.

Edited December 29, 2010 by daybreaking

[laurad1125]

I've "been there, done that," with feeling the pressure from others. From my hindsight (and learning from many mistakes), may I share with you that trying to "turn around dc poor handwriting quickly" is going to cause unnecessary stress for both you and your little boy? The best thing you could do, as hard as it is, is to let your friends comments go in one ear and out the other and then gently and patiently work on your son's handwriting at home.

 

 

What she said.

 

DS12 was there a long time ago. We just kept chugging along and he writes well enough now. I used HWT for him for the longest time. He didn't like the cursive, though, and we switched to italic for that this year. His handwriting is legible now, if not pretty.

[mom2boys030507]

I to would recommend taking some time to step back and develop a plan. Things are not going to change overnight and you may not need to do everything at once.

 

We do use the Draw Write Now books. I like the fact that it gives simple copy work formed correctly. My boys start writing one sentence working up to all four. I also love the drawing portion and so do my boys. I feel like that is just as important to thier handwriting skills. They get to practice drawing pictures step by step.

[pjssully]

i have had similiar issues with two of my kids. Handwritng, poor spelling, "clumsiness" and a few other symptoms-someone on this board recommended getting eyes checked and indeed and both had convergence insufficiently-basically the eyes don't track well together, making writing difficult. we did vision therapy for a few months with the first and will start with the second soon--it has made a world of difference. My other two kids are fine and have no problems so......just something to think about.

[truebluexf]

My DS's handwriting is still horrible. He is just in too much of a rush to even care. My k'er has much nicer handwriting lol! HOWEVER, he LOVES cursive and is doing much better with that. Just something to think about. :)

[justamouse]

I've "been there, done that," with feeling the pressure from others. From my hindsight (and learning from many mistakes), may I share with you that trying to "turn around dc poor handwriting quickly" is going to cause unnecessary stress for both you and your little boy? The best thing you could do, as hard as it is, is to let your friends comments go in one ear and out the other and then gently and patiently work on your son's handwriting at home.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

Just let it go, I totally agree. When my now 12 yo was in 2nd his handwriting was *wretched*. Slow and steady wins the race. Just copywork, every day will make it better. Not a paragraph, but one sentence, as neatly as he can. It's habit forming. My guy's handwriting is beautiful now, and he's a lefty!

[LisaKinVA]

We practice handwriting for 15 min. day. My boys have both had fine motor delays (my younger son was much more significant). With my younger boy (now 7), he is still much more comfortable using the fat pencils. We practice for perfection for 15 min./day. All other work simply must be legible. This year we started correcting flipped letters/numbers and making sure capitals were capitals in all daily work (other than rough drafts). Baby steps.

 

His daily handwriting today, looks like his "perfect" penmanship from a year ago. His "perfect" penmanship today, on some days is near "model-perfect." We will start cursive next year.

[abbeyej]

Well, on the one hand, I *would* take your friend's observations seriously, but yes, let go of the idea of "quickly". Slow, steady, consistent, *will* get you there. Eventually.

 

I think you're absolutely on the right track with bringing in several fine-motor skills activities daily. The fact that you say he is not clumsy in general is actually a very good sign -- if he has strong gross-motor skills (lots of running and climbing, swinging, ball-playing, etc), you'll have a lot less work to do than if he were a little delayed in that way as well.

 

Good fine-motor activities might include... Lego, LiteBrite, sewing cards (make your own by punching holes in heavy cardstock and "sewing" with a shoe lace), play dough (particularly really making things, and also digging out small toys like marbles or pennies or tiny plastic dinosaurs, etc, that you bury in balls of dough), sorting dry beans with fingers (use a $1 bag of mixed beans and a muffin tin for sorting), Tricky Fingers, stringing beads (various sizes and materials -- from stringing macaraoni on yarn or the larger plastic "pony beads" on drinking straws to the tiny seed beads on fishing line), simple crocheting or knitting, making pictures with perler beads, origami projects, chalk on the sidewalk, building models with mini marshmallows and toothpicks, moving craft pompoms or mini marshmallows using pincher-type tongs (or these kids' chopsticks -- they can also be made with a pair of disposable chopsticks, a rubber band, and a folded piece of paper)...

 

I would try to make sure he had 15-30 minutes of doing some fine motor activities (like these or others you think of) twice a day. Try to make it "play" and "fun" as much as possible, but if you need to write it into your school day in order to make sure it happens, then do that.

 

Whatever handwriting program you use (HWT or something else), two things need to happen: you need to use it daily (a bare minimum of five days a week), and you need to sit next to him and do it *with* him. Absolutely no giving him a work sheet and wandering off to fold the laundry. Sit next to him, on the side of his dominant hand, and correct his pencil grip and his direction (make sure he's starting in the right spot and moving in the right direction with each letter) every time. Gently, without blame, offering plenty of encouragement. But sit and work with him.

 

... Most of these handwriting programs will only take 5-10 minutes *tops* each day anyway. Don't be tempted to double up on lessons in one block. 30 minutes at a time of handwriting really won't help him progress a lot more than 10 minutes at a time, and 5-7 minutes twice a day might be the best you can do. Small, brief lessons. But focused and consistent.

 

So now you're up to 30-60 minutes per day of fine motor play (and do keep it *play* as much as you are able), and 10-15 minutes a day (up to ten minutes if you do it once a day, up to 15 if you break it into two blocks) of focused handwriting practice per day.

 

The only other thing I'd consider adding in is Callirobics. It will take another 2-5 minutes per day.

 

Do absolutely take your friends' observations seriously. It sounds like she has experience and your son's best interest on her side, even if what she says is a little painful to hear.

 

That said, you will fix this more completely and permanently if you go into it planning to work consistently over the long term than trying to fix it all in the next month. That said, I think you'll see significant improvement by summer break if you can work consistently, both with a daily handwriting program *and* with encouraging fine motor play...

[Ellie]

Have you worked systematically and consistently with his penmanship? If not, that could be the whole problem, not a bigger issue such as a learning disability.

[PeterPan]

Ok, I'm joining in on this late, but could I suggest that anyone who KNOWS what proprioception and takes the time to mention to you that your dc appears to have an issue with it MIGHT be doing you a favor? Is this a teacher, as in someone who has experience with this? Handwriting issues plus proprioception issues are signs your dc might benefit from an OT evaluation. It's not about labels. It's about finding solutions to the problem. And no, these problems don't just go away. Slow and steady does NOT win the race, not if you have an actual problem that needs to be fixed.

 

My dd was that way at that age, and I thought she was within the realm of normal based on board advice, stories, etc. I listened to the people who told me to try harder, work on handwriting, that it was all my fault, blah blah. By 5th grade (last year) it was totally obvious trying harder WASN'T going to get us there. Got an eye evaluation by a developmental optometrist and she had eye problems the regular eye doc had totally missed. Did 6 months of VT and her handwriting is MUCH better. Now we've done an OT evaluation to understand the rest of the issues (that proprioception your friend mentioned, why her hand hurts when she writes, etc.) and to work on the rest.

 

Please don't wait that long. Your friend is trying to do you a favor by cluing you in. An evaluation will cost you very little in the scheme of things and may show you a TON. I wish someone had done that for me, rather than making it look like it was all my fault or telling me if I tried harder or got the perfect curriculum it would all happen eventually. On some kids it WON'T. Get his eyes evaluated. The developmental optometrist will refer you to an OT if they see issues beyond that. No need to wait. http://www.covd.org Look for a doc on their lists, a Fellow if you can.

[SonshineLearner]

I ordered the 3rd grade book... teacher guide, too... for HWOT. IT's great! He's done well, and I like starting them with cursive first. I had tried the SWR cursive... but it was too difficult. Within a week or two, his handwriting had improved. I did the "pencil flip" and then literally just made him do the letter correctly, with me standing there.... Stickers help too :) I let him pick out a package to use on his "best" letters... :)