Best way to increase writing speed

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  • June 12, 2017 at 11:16 am
    Tracey Long
    Participant

    Hello.  I have a bright 9 year old boy whose writing skills (mechanics of writing) seem to be lagging behind the rest of his skills.  He forms his letters and words legibly, but he is slow and dislikes copywork.  I give him short copywork assignments because he’ll shut down if it looks too long to him, sentences I think he can complete it in 5-10 minutes, but he’ll take longer or not finish.  Is there another approach I can take to increase his speed and comfort with writing, or do I just need to let this area mature naturally?

    Thanks!

    June 12, 2017 at 5:49 pm
    HollyS
    Participant

    We go by time and not amount (quality over quantity).  After 5 minutes they are done, no matter if they have just one word left.  I saw great improvements between ages 10 and 11 for my DS, so I would guess he just needs more time.

    We switched over to fountain pens (just for writing lessons) to make it a bit more fun, maybe this would help with enthusiasm?

    June 12, 2017 at 9:43 pm
    totheskydear
    Participant

    Would letting him pick what he writes help?

    June 13, 2017 at 8:05 am
    Tracey Long
    Participant

    Sometimes I’ll let him chose between copying something from his history lesson or the Bible,and he seems to like that.  I’ll try it more often, or give him more options to choose from.

    Thanks!

    June 13, 2017 at 8:08 am
    Tracey Long
    Participant

    That makes sense.  My 11 year old son has made big improvements this year.  I know sometimes they just need time and I love being able to give it to them.

    Fountain pens sound like a fun idea.  Of course, then he can’t erase.  But I think we’ll try it.

    Thanks so much!

    June 13, 2017 at 8:20 pm
    Karen
    Participant

    Andrew Pudewa advocates using pens for that very reason. If a mistake is made, draw a single line thru it and rewrite the word, then keep on going.

    June 14, 2017 at 5:52 am
    2Corin57
    Participant

    Boys and writing often don’t mix. So it’s probably just a matter of needing more time. My son however has fine motor issues that have really contributed – his writing is very slow.

     

    Does your son complain about pain (my hand is tired/sore), or is it more that he gets visually overwhelmed by the work in front of him?

    June 14, 2017 at 9:45 am
    Tracey Long
    Participant

    My son doesn’t complain about pain, and sometimes he is more overwhelmed that others.  Two days ago I gave him a very long passage (so he can work on tracking- he sometimes skips entire lines).  He started to complain about how long it was, and when I told him he only had to work on it for ten minutes he was fine.  He got right to it and did good work.  He was the same about math, actually.  He gets overwhelmed by all the problems, but when we say, “Ok, give me 20 good minutes,” and set a timer he does fine.

    My older son had issues when he was in early elementary with writing and his hand did get tired and sore.  We realized he was gripping the pencil tightly and pressing very hard, so we switched him to a mechanical pencil.  Then when he pressed too hard the lead snapped.  It was a reminder to him to not press so hard.  It helped a lot.

     

     

    June 14, 2017 at 9:46 am
    Tracey Long
    Participant

    Karen and Holly,  the more I think of it the more I like the idea of special pens, or colored ones or something like that.  It’ll be fun.  I’ll let you know.

    Thanks again.

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