Help with writing skills

[haylie92]

I am in need of some help... I have a 6th grader that writes at about a 1st grade level. He writes very big, not on the lines, and all over. Any ideas or advice to help him out?

[Kiara.I]

So you're talking specifically his ability to form letters, not his ability to compose sentences?

 

How is his physical ability overall?  Is he athletic?  Does he run and climb normally?  Does he sit well? Is his pencil grip a normal type one or does he grasp his pencil oddly?

 

I think I'd probably check him for retained reflexes, just on principle.  Because of his age, I'd involve him in the process, but it sounds like he may be struggling in some areas of physical muscle integration.  I might try getting him evaluated if it seems to affect more than just writing.  There are probably a number of physical exercises he could do that would help.  Finger and hand strength might be some of it, but so might core strength.  Or ability to cross the midline.  Or various other options.  Occupational therapy with a good therapist would be an option.  You can do a bunch of it at home, too, if you can find the right resources to target his specific needs--which is why it might be a good idea to have an evaluation and then occasional consults to help tweak things.

[tdbates78]

My 7 year old daughter writes like that often. Sometimes her letters are very large and unevenly spaced out within a sentence. We just had an OT eval and found out that she has low muscle tone in her right hand. We meet with the OT this afternoon to further discuss, but at her initial eval we were suggested Handwriting Without Tears and pencil grips. Now give your son's age those may not work, but I wanted to share the low muscle tone. Has your son been evaluated?

[MomatHWTK]

Research exercises for fine motor skills. Also, consider pencil grip, etc. I like the methods taught by HWT.