Advice re General Framework for Learning Handwriting

[Wobwe]

Hello all!  Thank you so much in advance for any insight!

I started teaching reading to my DS3 (nearly 4) when he was 2, and thanks to his interest and the power of incremental progress over long time spans, he's become quite a proficient reader for his age.  He can pick up most K-2 kids literature (e.g. Frog and Toad) anew and read it aloud almost without error, for lack of better way to relay where he's at on his reading journey. 

I, however, made the probably regrettable decision not to work with him on handwriting at the same time as his reading, and I'm increasingly nervous about where his handwriting will end up.  Part of my anxiety probably stems from my own experience: despite constant remediation throughout school, chiding from instructors, and endless hand exercises, my handwriting never came to look better than a struggling first grader's.  But I've also just found myself casting around in uncertainty about how to handle his handwriting at this juncture (very young but far behind his reading skills), bouncing between materials and approaches as I've started working with him on it--trying then dropping pencil grips, using materials that had different stroke orders, bouncing between being vigilant and lax with respect to grip, trying and then dropping hand-over-hand, focusing on one letter at a time to simply writing whatever came up, etc.  I'm worried that in my over-concern for trying to make sure he's on the right trajectory and doesn't end up where I ended up, I'm loading him into the same sort of confused and frustrated spiral that paralyzed my handwriting progress.  His handwriting is now legible, but it's far from neat, I still feel like he's drawing mental images of the letters rather than fluidly writing, and I see him do things like switch up grips and stroke orders. 

So what I'd like to do now is come up with an overarching long-term plan and course of action for his handwriting that I can stick to, and to that end, I'd love to hear any of your thoughts or your experiences with successfully getting a child to be a fluid and clear handwriter.  Should I be letting him freely explore and develop his dexterity until older ages (when?)?  Should I focus on one letter a week?  How insistent should I be on proper grip?  How long does the journey to final form take, and when should I be concerned about his progress?  And so on!

Sorry, I know this is open ended and probably feels a bit silly to be so concerned at this age, but I'd really like to get this right and already feel like I'm getting it wrong.  Thanks so much for any help!

Edited February 27 by Wobwe

[Rosie_0801]

It is very, very common for handwriting skills to be behind reading skills. They are on different developmental trajectories. If he's not complaining, you can keep doing whatever you're doing. If his handwriting ends up that bad, despite your attention, it's going to be dysgraphia and there's only so much one can do about that. At this point, though, neat handwriting is unrealistic. He's only 3.

The best thing you can do really at this age is motor skill work. Fine motor skills are reliant on core muscles, so all the gross motor skills like running about like a feral at the playground and climbing the clothesline are important. This is all the behind the scenes, foundational work for handwriting and a lot more fun for both of you than correcting handwriting.

As for grip, that should develop on it's own but in some places kids are taught to write using fountain pens, so the pen can correct their grip instead of the adult nagging. There are pens made for kids, but I forget the brand we used.

[HomeAgain]

Rosie has a lot of good advice. 🙂  I can tell you how it was for my youngest, age by age:

3 - lots of play with things like playdough, paints, small toys to develop grasp like a marble run.  Lots of play on the playground and the equipment

4 - some new skills added in - woodworking(okay, the Little Builders kits from Home Depot or whatever it was), weaving, scissor play, small cuisenaire rods to play with, training chopsticks, tweezers... we also worked on LARGE movements: learning counterclockwise circles to wash the table, playing with a giant spirograph meant for chalk, doing dot art with bingo daubers Also, lots of play at the playground and the equipment there.

5. Everything got a bit smaller and more organized.  The chalk play became regular classroom chalk on a lined chalkboard to slow down movement.  The bingo daubers were changed to q-tips and blobs of paint.  I began to teach letters, but not in order.  I worked in stroke order:

l, then i, then t.  The same stroke all 3 times, just changed a little bit.  By the second he could practice the word 'ill', and by the third he could practice: ill, till, it, lit

c, a, d, e - again, same stroke (c) combined with the previous one (l) and cross from the t.

And so on, and so on, each letter working within a group.  We worked a lot on formation and talking out where to start, where it goes, and where it stops.  I'll say this isn't enough for some kids, so I also have clock paper I have made, where they learn the letters by the numbers on the clock: 'start at 2, around to 4", tracing with their finger before moving to a blank lined paper.  I always stop after each letter in the beginning and have them critique: where did it start?  What do you think is good about it? Then we move on to making 3 of the same, and having the kid pick the best one in the "beauty contest".  Only when they're comfortable do we go on to words.

Also, a LOT OF TIME AT THE PLAYGROUND.  There is so much in handwriting that starts with a strong core and developed shoulder/arm muscles.  We can't rush that out of them.

 

DS14 can write beautifully.  DS14 chooses not to write beautifully because he's, well, a teen and more interested in just getting it done rather than taking his time. But I still have his work from the early years when he cared.  If you could figure out a way to make a teen boy interested in written communication again, I'm all ears. 😄

[Clarita]

I found golf pencils to be really good at teaching grip. The regular pencils are too long I think making it uncomfortable for little hands.

But ditto everything @Rosie_0801and @HomeAgainis saying. For most children they will just get the hang of it after lots of play (seemingly unrelated to handwriting) and lots of scribbling and coloring (if they enjoy this it comes quicker, if they don't they'll still be able to write). 

I have one who liked to draw and one who doesn't. DS7 who doesn't like to draw he got legible handwriting at around 5. Google what children's writing looks like. There you can see the progression because at 5 and under you are still expecting them not to always write from left to right, top to bottom (especially if they are doing it on their own).

[countrymum]

@HomeAgain 

Amen to teen/preteen boys handwriting....lovely cursive age 8ish.....down to scrawl now at age 12+....;)

 

Yes to plenty of play outside, coloring, chalk, scissor play, art projects, handwriting practice once 4 or 5 with whatever book for 5-10 min at a time. Quality over quantity here.

[Clarita]

6 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

DS14 can write beautifully.  DS14 chooses not to write beautifully because he's, well, a teen and more interested in just getting it done rather than taking his time. But I still have his work from the early years when he cared.  If you could figure out a way to make a teen boy interested in written communication again, I'm all ears. 😄

Well my MIL has given up now that her son is over 40... .

[Penderwink]

I agree it‘s normal that handwriting is behind, especially if the kid doesn‘t naturally enjoy coloring. I just posted on the first grade planning thread without specifying levels, but it‘s the handwriting aspect which would be (hopefully) K level come fall, while the other areas are more solid.

We didn‘t start handwriting books until he had a good pencil grip. (Maze books, scissor crafts, bath crayons, outdoor chalk, and encouraging drawing through Kids Art Hub on Youtube before this, plus playing lots). We‘re working through HWOT and all the bits like chalk and wood pieces and playdoh and not too many letter repeats are working for us.

[Wobwe]

I am so appreciative of all of your responses, with a special thanks to @Rosie_0801 and @HomeAgain for providing such detailed roadmaps for me to consider.  It is tremendously relieving to get the sense that it is worthwhile to invest significantly in play-based, pre-writing strength and skills building, as well as to get the sense that the journey to final form is likely to be a long and circuitous one where I can spend a lot of time sitting in patience before hitting the panic button.  I'm also glad to hear that having handwriting lag reading is not a red flag!

Thank you, again, everyone, for the wonderful advice and concrete ideas.  All of this is going to enormously influence what I do going forward.  This community is great!