Children these days are expected to do more in school at a younger age than ever before. Years ago, students were learning to read and write in the first grade. Nowadays, children are learning to read and write in Kindergarten.

With the increased demands of the school curriculum, it is no wonder that the subject of “handwriting” or “penmanship” has fallen by the wayside. Teachers are under pressure to have their students perform well, and though they do a great job integrating handwriting into the curriculum, sometimes it isn’t enough. At many schools, handwriting is integrated into the school curriculum while learning phonics, reading, math, and other subjects. For some students, this presents no problems. But for others, handwriting is difficult to learn and, if not learned properly, difficult to refine. These difficulties may not present an issue during the Kindergarten year, as children are just learning to write. However, as a child moves into the first and second grades, difficulty may be seen with letter formation, line placement, writing speed, legibility, and keeping up with assignments in class.

Children learn handwriting best through imitation and movement. They do not learn by copying examples off a blackboard or a worksheet. A child needs to be shown how to hold a pencil properly and position him/herself well in order to provide a good base of support for handwriting. How many children do we see out there who are leaning their head on their hand or wrapping their feet around the legs of their chairs for increased stabilization? Other children may have difficulty with visual memory or sequencing skills while writing. Still, others may have subtle fine motor difficulties that contribute to poor pencil grasp and decreased motor control, affecting both legibility and speed. Over time, these children find the task of handwriting difficult and frustrating. This filters into other subject areas of academic performance whenever handwriting is required. Children who have to concentrate so much on how to form letters properly tend to display poor written output & content because they cannot get their thoughts down on paper effectively. The inability to keep up in class and complete assignments in a legible manner can have a negative impact on a student’s academic self-esteem.

If your child is having difficulty with handwriting skills, observe exactly what they are doing. Are they sitting upright? Do they have a functional grasp on their pencil? What are they doing with their non-writing hand? Are their feet flat on the floor to stabilize their body? After taking a look at those, try to see what is affecting their written product. Are they having difficulty placing letters on the line? Are the letters too large or too small? Are the strokes smooth or choppy?

There are 8 skills that need to be developed for successful handwriting:

★ Visual memory- knowing what each letter looks like; the ability to name letters and numbers quickly from a random list, as well as being able to visualize a letter or number without actually seeing it.

★ Orientation- the ability to position letters and numbers in the correct direction; ability to print them without reversals or inversions.

★ Placement- the ability to place letters and numbers correctly on the baseline and between lines as needed.

★ Size- the ability to write in an age/grade appropriate size.

★ Start- the ability to start capital and lowercase letters (& numbers) in the correct spot; for capital letters, this should be the top. For lowercase letters, the starting point may vary based on the curriculum.

★ Sequence- the ability to “form” the letter with the parts in the correct order and direction with consistency.

★ Control- the ability to print the letter parts neatly and without gaps, overlaps, or extra tracings.

★ Spacing- the ability to keep letters in words close together while leaving appropriate space between words in sentences.

If your child is having difficulty with handwriting at school, it is important to realize that handwriting issues can be improved greatly through the proper assessment, instruction, and carryover for practice at home. Most times, this practice only needs to be about 10-15 minutes per day. If your child continues to have difficulty or is too frustrated to work on skills at home, consider seeking out an occupational therapist or handwriting specialist who can offer your child a clean slate for assessment and remediation. The specialized handwriting programs offered at Kidz Occupations provide the child with the opportunity to improve their handwriting skills through therapeutic techniques, multisensory learning, music, and movement, making handwriting fun and enjoyable, while improving the child’s overall selfconfidence for academic-related tasks. Students rotate through a variety of “stations” that utilize different types of equipment and multi-sensory tasks to work on such things as letter recognition, letter formation, sizing, & spacing as well as posture, fine motor control, and pencil grasp. Skills can be immediately generalized into the child’s classroom environment and academic tasks. All children can be helped to improve their handwriting with the right tools. This can lead your child to improved success at school as well as improved self-esteem during academic tasks. 1. Olsen, J. 2008 Handwriting Without Tears.