Handwriting help

Two ideas come to mind. I guess one is a question, really.

1. How is her writing on a chalkboard or whiteboard hanging on a wall or on an easel? People usually hold the chalk or marker differently if writing on something vertical than writing on paper flat on the table. Does that style of writing hurt her?

2. A related idea is that if she is getting frustrated, you might want to start her on typing lessons, so she’ll have a way to communicate “on paper” without the frustration while you figure out the best solution for her handwriting. 

If he knows how to type, I don’t see the harm in letting him type his dictation exercise. Two of my daughters prefer typing it. 

I think that as long as his handwriting is legible, he also needs to know how to type and let him do whichever he is most comfortable with. My opinion, anyway.

His writing isn’t that legible really, but he’s so tired of the workbooks we’ve done over the years (Italic and Italic cursive).  I was hoping that writing out the dictation exercises could take the place of the writing workbooks so we could both have a little relief from them, but he complains of his hand hurting even on the short paragraphs.  I’m ok with him typing his dictation and other lessons, but I’m not sure how to help him (or even if I need to) with his handwriting.  I’m wondering if this is one of those things that will work itself out and I just need to relax about it.

I’m going to be the odd-man-out here and say that I think learning to print legibly is very important, be they male or female. We are supposed to be preparing our children for adulthood and with our world being so unpredictable, having basic skills, not just contemporary ones, will be an asset. Typing portably requires an expensive piece of electronics, whereas we know how cheap pen and paper is and how mobile. People have to fill out employment forms (a big complaint among companies who can’t read potential employees’ writing-a strike against them), gov’t forms, many other “official” forms where you would want to have your information read correctly; maybe we won’t always have these electronic check cards, as we assume, since the dollar is going down, not to mention the condition of many banks. My point is, I personnally want to give my child as many valuable, esp. basic skills, as possible to use in their adulthood with then they choose to build up on them or move in a different direction; in a challenging marketplace, our future adults need as many skills on their side as possible. I do think typing is valuable, too, however not at the expense or in place of basic print.

Their hands are hurting for a reason; holding a pencil wrong. I’d hate writing too if I hurt. But I don’t think giving them a different type of writing is going to make them like it more. Concentrate on that one thing, the holding of the pencil, in small chunks of time and slowly correct it. So it’ll be tough and require a “new habit”; but I think they will thank you later. My dd had problems in this area when we adopted her so she needed an occupational therapist and I had to spend a specific time period teaching her to hold a pencil. I am thankful for Handwrting without Tears as it was designed by an occupational therapist. Although it’s not the most lovely style out there, it does the trick under these circumstances. I would practice with her for one letter at a time until it became comfortable before moving on. I would highly recommend you check that out. I think you’re just going to have to start from scratch. The way they teach the ‘pincher grip’ is easy and you can do it today. Get a short piece of chalk, maybe 3-4 inches high and have them practice on a chalkboard. I would suggest taking a look at their site. They will be sore, like new muscles getting a workout that haven’t been used, but in this case, things will get better, just keep reminding them that it’s a means to an end. I thought the Stamp and See Screen was especially useful in teaching the pencil grip.

http://shopping.hwtears.com/product/Stamp_and_See_Screen/readiness

I know it seems juvenile and perhaps you can call the company and ask which book to start with, but it won’t be forever and I’m sure at her age, she will get through it quickly and then you can skip books and get her up to her “grade” level soon. Just 5-10 minutes a day, or 2x a day, will slowly begin making improvements. I’d nix the copywork or dictation for awhile and just focus solely on letter formation and proper hand movements. As for any possible resistance, my child must always know I have their best interest at heart, whatever I’m having them do and their role is to trust and obey me as I have been given the responsibility over them. They can be assured I have listened to their concerns and legitimate complaints and found a solution, but it requires their personal efforts to succeed.

HWT’s style is for the untrained and struggling hand, no matter the age. Then when your child has gone through this and can be rpoud of her penmanship, she can also be proud that she didn’t give up; it’s a good character traing opportunity, IMO about not giving up when something is hard; especially when it’s just a matter of retraining a “habit” as we love to talk about around here!

HTH and hope I didn’t step on any toes,

Rachel

Oh yes, it makes sense and I completely agree and understand, as I come from the perspective of adopting a dd, age 3 at the time, with wild sensory disfunction, severe emotional delays and angry outbursts and inappropriate interactions with others due to certain abuses that had been done to and around her in foster care; like I said, I had her in occupational therapy for several years, writing was just one area (and really my least concern compared to to the other stuff). She was several years “behind” in all areas, emotionally and cognitively, and Praise G-d seems to have mostly leveled out now at a very good place now, most of the time. I had to take a very simplified (might I say very CM!) approach; totally ignoring what was considered the “typical”, too, delaying instruction till she was ready.  Our expectations and approach too with her was drastically different from any we had experienced before; only through getting creative with her those first years is the only reason she’s doing as well now. I am very thankful to G-d for His creative ideas in methods and perseverance to not give up on her, HWT for helping me teach her to write and the OT for what they did; and of course my dd herself for her trust in and desire to please me that allowed her to follow through (as long as it wasn’t past 5, maybe 10 minutes ). I most certanly didn’t want to add to the frustration of a parent in this circumstance. My other child, a son, has perfectly beautiful writing, but doesn’t enjoy it; he’s extremely oral, so we do most of his stuff that way, even his LA. Funny, the one who doesn’t like writng, has the best writing and the one who struggled and still does with placement and sizes (my dd) enjoys it the most! Life is full of irony!

I meant to add that if the retraining of the grip alone perhaps combined with a different style doesn’t show improvement, to seek help externally from a therapist.

Blessings to you,

Rachel

I just saw a new post regarding pencil grip and lots of easy ideas on http://www.praticalpage.wordpress.com  I was sent to this website from this forum not too long ago because she has wonderful free downloads for art and composer study and I signed up for her email thinking I wouldn’t need much more, but her posts have been very educated and helpful in many other areas.  I am really happy I have signed up.  Her last post is about the pencil grip issue (very common it turns out) and the one before that was the importance of good posture.  Check it out.

I would not accept less for any of my children, girls or boys.  My point was that if there are extenuating cirrcumstances for poor handwriting, like physical or mental delays, compromising your standards is not a mark of a bad mother or teacher.  My comment regarding boys was only to be light and funny because I know how stressful it is dealing with a child who is not capable of most typical activities and sometimes we just need to laugh and be okay with the child we have been blessed with even if they have terrible handwriting.  No desire to place standards for boys lower from me, just thinking about the whole situation before we force a child to do something they are incapable of.  Sorry for the confusion.