Mother Talkers

Hand Wringing Over Handwriting

by Elisa

Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:25:27 PM PDT

If today's parent didn't have enough to worry about, handwriting has been dropped from the curriculum of most teachers' colleges and is taught as little as once a week in elementary schools, according to Parents magazine. It is now up to parents to teach their children how to write and Parents offered some tips for your budding writer:

PROBLEM: Your preschooler has zero interest in writing...
Spray shaving cream on the kitchen counter or table and help your child write his name in the foam. The next day, draw letters with finger-paints. Wikki Stix, Play-Doh, and Lego blocks are toy-box favorites you can also use to shape letters...

PROBLEM: You have absolutely no idea where to begin.
It's best to start by teaching your child to print her name. But even though capital letters are easier to write than lowercase ones, don't encourage her to write her name in all caps. "It's an incredibly difficult habit for kids to break in kindergarten," says Dawn Audibert, a kindergarten teacher in Rockville, Maryland...

PROBLEM: After lots of practice, your child's letters are barely recognizable.
Get a grip...

PROBLEM: Your 4-year-old writes a lot of the letters backwards.
Don't freak out thinking that it's dyslexia! Writing letters backwards is a common problem in young children, says Jan Olsen, an occupational therapist who developed Handwriting Without Tears, a curriculum used in thousands of elementary schools...

PROBLEM: Your child's letters are larger than the top line of an eye chart.
First, make sure your child fully understands the concept of big and small by asking her to write the same letters in different sizes on a piece of colorful construction paper. Make it a game--and challenge her to fit as many letters as she can.

Amy's husband, Will, actually taught Ari how to write his name. I make sure he babysits Ari a lot.

J/K!

But I agree that despite the tuition I am paying, Ari has not learned how to write his name at school. I, too, have heard that it is uncommon for schools to teach handwriting before elementary school, and even then, instruction is rare. How did your children learn to write? Make sure you drop your tips!

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Tags: writing, Parents magazine, preschool, handwriting (all tags)

Permalink | 30 comments

  • Seriously? (0 / 0)

    Liza learned it all in daycare. she could block print her name and the alphabet by kindergarten then she learned proper letters in kidnergarten, had writing drills on that old fashioned lined paper in first grade and moved on to cursive in 2nd grand and now in 3rd grade all work is in cursive.

    but that paper with the lines is a BIG help!

    by MKatherine1966 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 03:44:48 PM PDT

    • Wow. (0 / 0)

      Very different experience for my kids, especially the younger ones.  Very little work on handwriting at all.  Practically no instruction in cursive.  No requirements about it's use in assignments, either.  I know that way back in the dinosaur age, when I was in high school, we  had to use cursive on all assignments.  Work done in print would not have been accepted.

      by tjb22 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:05:37 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • Lots of (0 / 0)

    backwards writing going on here (5 yr old) and not a good writer at all. He's suddenly really proud of recognizing many alphabet letters.

    My son still hasn't picked a dominant hand, yet, which freaks out some teachers and doesn't worry others.

    We're not worried, but we'll keep an eye on it and I think if it's still an issue by 1st or 2nd grade, we'll do something. (please feel free to weigh in on these two perspectives: to worry or not to worry)

    by tarantula on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:07:34 PM PDT

    • My son didn't seem to have (0 / 0)

      a dominant hand until he was starting first grade.  He finally starting writing with his right hand.  So, we assumed he was right handed.  I guess I really wasn't thinking or paying very close attention because a couple of years later when he was playing on a baseball league, with my husband as coach, it took us quite awhile to figure out that the child wasn't hitting or couldn't pitch because we were all telling him to do it right handed.  My husband's c-coach suggested he try it left handed, and lo and behold, he could both hit and pitch!  We started paying closer attention and saw that he did many things left handed.  He eats with his left hand.  He just writes with his right hand.  Again...I guess I wasn't thinking because two of our other children are left handed, so it would make a certain kind of sense that we would have one that's kind of down the middle.

      by tjb22 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:15:13 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • Backwards writing (0 / 0)

      at that age is extremely common and nothing to worry about.  In fact, some kids will write letters properly and then switch them around while in kindergarten.  Grant did that.  But, they all figure it out eventually.

      American Son ~ Wes Clark

      by 1plain1peanut on Sat May 17, 2008 at 06:58:37 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • Huh. (0 / 0)

    DD just came home with her first "Write your name" artwork.  Mind you, the teachers wrote her name and then she scribbled all over the page trying to copy it.  But it was there.

    We are rapidly losing out to the computers.  Oy.

    by tessajp on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:37:11 PM PDT

    • As someone who was (0 / 0)

      handwriting challenged, and has kids who are/were, too, I can't say I'm too sorry about the computer.  We are just lacking something in those particular fine motor skills.  One of my son's was even given a diagnosis, though it escapes me.  When I was a kid, they just called it "being messy".  When my son was given a keyboard device to carry around to class and do his assignments on, though, his grades came up dramatically.  From C's and D's to A's and B's.

      by tjb22 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:11:00 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • had lousy handwriting (0 / 0)

        mostly because I'm a lefty and had to learn how to write "backwards". It was so frustrating and I belive counterproductive. I had teachers in second and third grades who were real sticklers for penmanship, and I often fell behind on assignments because I was concentrating so hard on making the handwriting perfect. I used to dread handwritten classwork because it was either, finish it on time but get critiqued on handwriting, or do good handwriting and not finish tasks. Even had a few stress headaches and the like in 3rd grade because it cost me grades.

        Fourth grade was a revelation because my teacher finally noticed how hard I was struggling, particularly on book reports, and said to me "Rachel, why don't you just type them for me." I never looked back.

        Funnily enough, though, I now get compliments on my cursive writing for how easy and regular it is!

        by Rachel on Sat May 17, 2008 at 12:08:11 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        • Wow... (0 / 0)

          I really need to pick your brains when I see you. DD is left handed, and absolutely loves to write. Her favorite quiet activity is sitting down with a notebook and pen and writing. Only about a third of it is actual letters, but she's improving rapidly, even to spelling out the words that she really wants to say. She's writing shopping lists for me these days. That's all great...but when she gets stuck I have a really hard time helping her. I'm not sure if I should teach her to form the letters the way that she's "supposed" to, because it just looks wrong doing it that way with your left hand. So should she do it another way? For example, they teach to do "o" in a counter-clockwise direction...should she do it clockwise?

          And I hated handwriting too...I just didn't see the point and wanted to get on to more interesting things. I got C's all the way through elementary school. My writing only improved when I started having to keep lab notebooks in uni. My regular handwriting is still shocking...only I can read it. But I can be legible when it's necessary.

          by aussieyank on Sat May 17, 2008 at 04:56:52 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          • I'm going to have to sit and think about that one (0 / 0)

            that's a really interesting question. I just got on with it and learned to write from righties. Off the top of my head, I can't really remember otherwise. But I'll think about it and see what I can come up with... I suppose I'm going to have to think about it anyway, since Jess seems like a rightie.

            I suppose one way you could do it is sit facing her and sketch the letter in the air; that way, you'd be doing it normally and she would perceive it normally because of the reversal? It's how I learnt how to knit and crochet from my mom.

            by Rachel on Sat May 17, 2008 at 05:49:15 AM PDT

            [ Parent ]

        • That's very like what happened to my son. (0 / 0)

          We were put through the wringer, let me tell you.  The elementary school that he was attending was bound and determined that he lacked all ability to write expressively.  Many times, I told them that at home, on the computer, he composed whole stories.  He's very creative.  They pretended to give lip service, but would do NOTHING to accommodate him.  Ofcourse, they'd offer all the foolish, pat advice that served no purpose.  You know, the angled board to write on, the pencil grip thingie for pencils.  Just did no good.  Writing was so physically draining for him that he just about gave up.

          Then he went to a new jr. high school.  Right away, they called.  They listened.  They gave him an alpha-mate, which is just a small keyboard that he could carry around to do his work on.  As I said, he was a changed student.  

          Yeah.  His handwriting is still bad.  But you know, we do a good part of our work through typing on computers.

          My handwriting?  It wasn't bad by the time I became an adult.  Now its piss poor again.  So's my husband's.  He can print quite well, though...something else that wasn't allowed when we were in school.

          by tjb22 on Sat May 17, 2008 at 09:01:04 AM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          • it was awful (0 / 0)

            I tell you what, it was just terrible. And the worst was my second grade teacher. She was just a mean ol' witch. She refused to obtain a pair of lefty scissors for me, and used to sit me in the corner with two other "slow kids" and told us that when we felt like working, she would feel like teaching. Seriously! I fell behind on math something like 50 pages in my workbook (a big deal in second grade). My folks went in for a meeting with her to try and figure out how to get me back up to speed, and when my mom suggested that I do an extra couple of pages of each subject each night, the teacher told her no way, because "I know you'll just do it for her." That teacher must've enjoyed living dangerously...

            But, anyway, the fourth grade teacher at least restored my confidence and enthusiasm for writing. Math? Not until I was in grad school.

            by Rachel on Sat May 17, 2008 at 03:36:20 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

  • I'm clueless (0 / 0)

    My 3 yo and I wrote his name once and it was barely recognizable. A month or so after that he asked to sign-in at preschool.  I assumed that they were doing it at preschool but his teacher said no.  When I asked him where he'd learned it he said from me.  Weird!  He does write a backward N and it's not easy to read but recognizable. Hell, he's 3.  I'm not going to be all over him about it!

    "We've GOT to make noises in greater amounts! So, open your mouth, lad! For every voice counts!"

    by progressiveinky on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:51:54 PM PDT

  • what worked for our 5 year old boy (0 / 0)

    My son's pre-K (age 4-5, last year before Kindergarten) uses the Handwriting Without Tears mentioned in this article.   They used it all year and now my son writes his name and asks me to spell words so he can write more.   It has worked for us ... without me even knowing much about it but now I will look at this website to see why  http://www.hwtears.com/

    Another fun thing that I like was pre-printing some worksheets with his name in Caps, lower case, etc. Here's what I found online for free:
    http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

    by austin4 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 04:55:33 PM PDT

  • We just finished an OT evaluation (0 / 0)

    largely because DS6 can't write clearly.  It's apparently now referred to as a "fine motor issue" when a kid has messy writing.

    Sigh.  No IEP yet, but everyone seems to agree that he'll need one eventually.  My cynical side believes it's only an issue because he won't be able to fill in the bubbles accurately when he takes the NECAP in two years....

    by Laura on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:44:32 PM PDT

    • Yup. Been there. (0 / 0)

      I resisted for a good long while....but, to be honest, it did get my son some very helpful accommodation.  And his grades did improve.  This was not in first grade, however.  In early grades, they seemed to be convinced that they could somehow invoke quicker development.  I don't buy into that.  If we believe there is a neurological cause for the lag, then I would think the best we could do would be a very minor speeding up of the process.

      When his difficulty continued past the point of my other children's, and when I realized how much different his writing ability was when he typed on the computer, I did give in.  And he was helped by a device that let him type his work.

      And yes...I think testing is a part of the reason teachers address this and address it early.  Most testing requires a lot of written answers, at least in our state.  I've been told, over and over, by many teachers and administrators, that if those grading these tests are having a difficult time reading a child's answer, they will just automatically mark it "incorrect".  With an IEP, a student can have a scribe or use some sort of keyboard device to do these portions of the tests.

      by tjb22 on Fri May 16, 2008 at 07:08:00 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • Maybe he'll be a doctor (0 / 0)

      n/t

      Katherine

      by pat of butter in a sea of grits on Fri May 16, 2008 at 08:20:46 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • My 4 year old is a lefty (0 / 0)

    Teaching him to write has been a little complicated so far, not that he does much, but he can write most capital letters. We haven't really tried small letters yet except for G which he can't figure out how to do in capital.

    Katherine

    by pat of butter in a sea of grits on Fri May 16, 2008 at 08:21:46 PM PDT

  • my 14 yo son learned in preschool (0 / 0)

    they used the BEKA curriculum at his school, and they taught cursive before printing- to harness the scribbling motions kids make, rather than have them write straight lines and angles

    he had great handwriting, both in print and cursive until his 2nd grade teacher

    it was her first year teaching, and she was really relaxed about standards.

    i was horrified by how messy something was he had scribbled onto an assignment, and i was trying to make him do it over, but he said "no- she'll accept this!"

    his handwriting never recovered- it looks like he writes w/ a pair of mittens on.

    by thankgodforairamerica on Sat May 17, 2008 at 04:35:56 AM PDT

  • Madeline learned in preschool, (0 / 0)

    Grant didn't.  That's because he didn't go to an academic preschool.  I didn't push it, either.  During the summer before kindergarten, he asked me to teach him to write his name.  Once I did that, he was off and running writing letters all over the place.  

    Now, he's in 2nd grade and they just completed a project on an animal found in Ohio.  But guess what... they could hand write it, or type it.  I was like, "Huh?"  For a 2nd grader?  How are they supposed to learn write grammatically correct/spell correctly if Word helps them do it?  And duh... what would your kid pick?  I found that to be really surprising that typed/printed out was acceptable.  I think at this age, they should still be hand writing everything.  But we live in the digital age now, don't we?

    American Son ~ Wes Clark

    by 1plain1peanut on Sat May 17, 2008 at 07:04:03 AM PDT

    • Same page (0 / 0)

      Simone is only now getting a little bit interested, and I haven't pushed it.  She four and a fair number of kinds in her class can write their names, but I don't plan on pushing it until she's interested or until kindergarten is eminent.  When she has an interest, we run with it, and writing just hasn't been an interest of hers yet.

      It's stresses me out a little bit that she can't do it, but that's because it seems important to other people.  My own belief is, she is going to learn to read and write, probably sooner rather then later.  I don't want to push her into something she doesn't care about at this age and make her hate learning.

      by Erin on Sun May 18, 2008 at 07:24:07 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • accommodations (0 / 0)

    I just came across these nifty assistive devices for people who have difficulty with handwriting due to hypermobility in their finger joints.  After reading the post and taking a look at my own hand when I'm writing, I'm thinking about getting some!

    by mamacita on Sat May 17, 2008 at 02:59:29 PM PDT

  • I don't want this posted as "advice" (0 / 0)

    Merely a note about what happened.

    Our son learned basic printing in Preschool.  In kindergarten, his teacher said he had a "beautiful" handwriting" in 2nd grade his teacher thought his handwriting was terrible.  Now, in 4th grade, his handwriting is acceptable, and I am teaching him to type most of his work into MS Word.

    Our daughter had no interest in learning to write in preschool.  Refused to color, draw, or do anything else more than scribble.  Then we told her that to be in Kindergarten she had to learn to write, and almost overnight, she did.  But then, that is our daughter. She refused to do anything (crawl, walk, talk, write) until she decides she is ready, and then she does it instantly.  - She is doing this right now with swimming
    3 years of swim lessons got nowhere - all of a sudden this year she has decided she is ready to swim

    When I was a kid (many many MANY years ago) penmenship was the one think my mother and I fought about.  My handwriting sucked, and nothing I did could make it better.  Finally my teacher (2nd grade? 4th? - I forget) told my mom to drop it.  I was smart enough that I'd have a secretary.  Well, I never did, but I did get a computer in my first job out of college, and never worried about it again.

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    by Caldreaming on Sun May 18, 2008 at 06:12:28 PM PDT

  • How old? (0 / 0)

    When do you start working on this? I think that maybe Lily is already in school. She likes to "sign" cards and I swear the last card she signed she wrote her name. I didn't want to give it away! It was so clear- Lily right there, all big, and a bunch of other "L"s all over it. Of course if I ask her to write it she gives me this sly smile and says "No mommy. no no." so I haven't seen her duplicate it. I took a picture of the card to remember it, it looked so clear!

    Maybe I'm just a crazy momma. :)

    by lilianna28 on Mon May 19, 2008 at 07:19:27 AM PDT

  • Montessori Method (0 / 0)

    Our children attend Montessori school where they teach cursive handwriting from the get-go.  My oldest could write in block letters when he started at age 4 but only because we taught him to. His teachers had converted him to cursive by the end of his kindergarten year.  Montessori believed it was a much more natural way to write.

    by chicagomom on Mon May 19, 2008 at 11:47:36 AM PDT

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