Remdial handwriting-printing 4th grade

[ThreeBlessings]

Ds is 9 and in 4th grade. His handwriting has always been poor. Last year we worked on it during copywork and he also learned cursive, which looks poor as well. I know he rushes a lot. When he takes the time to slow down it is somewhat better. When I am hovering over his shoulder like in WWE it is a somewhat better. I really think he would benefit from some type of remedial printing as he isn't forming all of the letters properly. For example his a is not a ball and stick, he makes a line first, then brings a curve down around from the top that doesn't always even reach the bottom line. Most of his letters are formed properly. I have shown him numerous times how to do this correctly. I'm not sure what to do to help him now. He also runs his words together a lot. Sohiswrittensentence might looklike this. Ack. I've corrected this I don't know how many times. If we are doing WWE I can spend that short amount of time correcting him as he begins to make the mistakes, but I do not have the time to hang over his shoulder and do that for every assignment. I told him today that he will need to begin rewriting assignments if I cannot read them easily. Any suggestions?

[GingerPoppy]

Here are some things I would try:

 

- Allow him to write with a very smooth, high-quality ink pen--the kind that has thin marker style ink and a little ball. The reasons are twofold. First, it can reduce muscle fatigue and feel so pleasant that the quality increases. Second, you might be able to make a deal with him--"As long as you are writing carefully and leaving spaces between words, I think you're grown up enough to use a pen now." The novelty and responsibility can help. :)

 

- When practicing letter or words alone (ie. cursive practice, not other assignments), let him use things other than paper. White board, salt tray (my dd LOVES this), shaving foam with food colour on a tray. The last two are so enjoyable, plus the form of the letter enters the brain through at least three senses: sight, touch, smell.

 

- I have a Scholastic e-book called "Cursive Writing Made Easy and Fun", and it has lots of great ideas. For example, there's a "handwriting hospital" section where kids work on diagnosing problems that poorly written words and letters have. There is a mini book to make that contains the very best sample of your child's handwriting for each letter (cuter than it sounds here!) They also teach the letters in groups that make sense, such as the "mountain climbers" for letters that start with an upswing. Very visual, hand-on, fun!

 

Good luck. :)

[MerryAtHope]

I would incorporate daily, fully supervised, writing lessons to work on any of the letters that are not formed correctly, as well as word-spacing issues. I let my dd do a lot of handwriting unsupervised when she was younger, and lived to regret it! I spent a lot of her 4th grade year working on handwriting. Even just 5-10 minutes per day can help though. You can use the WWE assignments to work on word-spacing with him. My dd really liked using a whiteboard, and we have one with lines--so that helped for working on letter formation. Merry :-)

[Dolphin]

When I brought my son home last year (3rd grade) his handwriting was horrible. So, I switched to Italic and started at the beginning. We did Getty Dubay A, then went straight to C. We are starting cursive tomorrow. It felt bad starting him at the beginning at a time when most kids were transitioning to cursive, but it was SO worth it. His handwriting is so much better (and faster). I am really glad we did it. Best of luck.

Nicole

[Guest]

I hear your pain. My second son (almost 13) has the worst handwriting I have ever seen. This is a child who has gone through HWT twice, Italics once, a UK Italics book, and my own handwriting lessons. Nothing. Helped. If anything, it was getting worse. What I did is have him write everything in manuscript CAPITAL letters. Odd as this sounds, it works.

The other suggestion is HWT regular or narrow paper. The two lines do make a difference.

Other things are LOTS and LOTS of tracing the letters. Not dashed lines or dots but either hollow or light grey letters.

I would also consider choosing either print or cursive to work on. Frankly, most communication is asked for in print. Teach him to sign his name in cursive but work on the print.

The idea of going back to either Italics or HWT is a great one. I may just do that myself.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Guest

[Love_to_Read]

also google dysgraphia to see if the description sheds some light on his issues

 

for dd who has that, we are eligible for occupational therapy, and they use HWT. They recommend cursive. HWT also puts out a new remedial printing book for 5th grade--"Can Do" is the title.

 

We're looking at Peterson Directed as another option.