Handwriting Issues

[ktwensel]

My ds (8) has struggled forever with handwriting. I have tried everything to help him become neater. He is left handed and I know spiral bound notebooks are a problem, so I give him individual sheets of paper instead.

I really don't know how to address this. When I try to slow him down so that he will write neater, he loses his concentration and focus and becomes discouraged. I don't want his handwriting to be the focus of his schooling, but I would like to see some improvement.

He does much better when he uses narrow lined paper, but I still have the issue of workbooks, etc. He doesn't erase properly - he likes to write over what is done incorrectly. I feel like I am at the point of nagging and I don't want to do that.

I have recently started teaching him cursive because it was suggested that it may improve his manuscript.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

(I'm sorry that this is disjointed, my little guy is milling around and I didn't want him to notice he was the topic of my inquiry! )

Thank you!

[Heart_Mom]

My ds (8) has struggled forever with handwriting. I have tried everything to help him become neater. He is left handed and I know spiral bound notebooks are a problem, so I give him individual sheets of paper instead.

I really don't know how to address this. When I try to slow him down so that he will write neater, he loses his concentration and focus and becomes discouraged. I don't want his handwriting to be the focus of his schooling, but I would like to see some improvement.

He does much better when he uses narrow lined paper, but I still have the issue of workbooks, etc. He doesn't erase properly - he likes to write over what is done incorrectly. I feel like I am at the point of nagging and I don't want to do that.

I have recently started teaching him cursive because it was suggested that it may improve his manuscript.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

(I'm sorry that this is disjointed, my little guy is milling around and I didn't want him to notice he was the topic of my inquiry! )

Thank you!

Hi!

I don't really have any advice for you, but I DID want to tell you you're son is not alone. My son who is 9 still struggles with handwriting and often likes to write over mistakes rather than erase.

Maybe some other ladies will chime in, but I don't think it's uncommon for 8 year old boys to struggle a bit with handwriting!

[Tansy]

Is he allowed to make the letters with upstrokes instead of down strokes? Mine ues to do this... its neater if she does it with down strokes. but upstrokes are easier. Remeber if he forms the letters like a righty does hes is using the back of the hands muscles not the inside of the hand muscles. This is very fatiguing. allowing them to make some of the strokes backwards lets them use the stronger inside muscles.

Doing Hand exercises has helped my lefty. Also the claw keeps her fingers in the right position.

If it was me I would stop nagging... take it from me... nagging only makes it sloppier I would instead say ok you will write neatly but I know you get tired, so you tell me the answer to every other question and I'll write that one for you. I would also use clay, squishy balls, tiny stroke coloring, crumpling old sheets from a phone book (only use left hand not help from any other part of the body) to strengthen the hand muscles. The stronger they are the better the handwriting.

[raceNzanesmom]

When I worked at the PS the OT used Handwriting Without Tears for her struggling writers. It's the main reason I chose it for my now 1st grader. It says it's good for lefties. I have a righty, so I can't say for sure.

Also, my now 17 y/o really struggled with handwriting when he was in PS. When he came home we spent all of 7th grade working on making his handwriting legible. I was at the point that I didn't care how he wrote as long as I could read it. He started with about 80% uppercase manuscript. Once that was good I encouraged lowercase. He's a senior now, still doesn't use cursive, but his printing is neat. He's also an excellent artist that prefers pencil to paint.

So don't be discouraged. Encourage him, work on erasing skills, make sure he has good pencils and erasers (my ds prefers mechanical pencils so they're always sharp).

If it was me I would stop nagging... take it from me... nagging only makes it sloppier I would instead say ok you will write neatly but I know you get tired, so you tell me the answer to every other question and I'll write that one for you. I would also use clay, squishy balls, tiny stroke coloring, crumpling old sheets from a phone book (only use left hand not help from any other part of the body) to strengthen the hand muscles. The stronger they are the better the handwriting.

I agree.

[jenntracy]

My son is 7yrs and lefty. He has great handwriting. I wish i had more suggestions. I will say that i let him draw the letters the way that came naturally to him. i read somewhere later that this was o.k. I mean , to me it makes sense if you are writing with a left and not right hand, that you would probably use different strokes to get the same letters.
We use individual paper too. He doesn't seem to have problem with workbooks too much. I do try to make sure that the book is tilted towards the right (instead of the left like a right-handed person would do) as well as anything else he has to write on.
We never did much formal letter handwriting. Last year for Kindergarten we used a Spiderman handwriting book from the Dollar Tree and just did one page 2x a week. Then we did copywork that was related to whatever story or science or history we reading about. I found too much writing could be stressful. Sometimes he wanted to write stuff down and would ask me to spell words.
It will get better. His evaluator was surprised to see such good handwriting from a boy his age this past summer. So I don't think you are alone.

Jenn D.

[blessedmomof4]

My son, now 18, is a lefty, and his handwriting is...ok, lol. I used HWT with him at the time, because the format is "lefty-friendly". Cheerful Cursive, which HOD offers, is spiral-bound, but along the top of the pages rather than the side, so it is also "lefty-friendly". I like Cheerful Cursive, which my daughter is finishing up because her handwriting suffered in public school for a year and a half. It's just one page a day, not too much on each page, and varied and even fun exercises, with cartoon characters that explain stroke and letter formation very simply. You can read more of the great features here: http://www.heartofdakota.com/BHFHG-handwriting.php
One thing I noticed with all my children is that too much practice in one sitting produces steadily worse writing in that sitting. It's better to have a short exercise done carefully than a long exercise which the child invariably begins to rush through to get it over with.
For what it's worth, my lefty son's handwriting was barely legible till he was at least 11. Hang in there

[ktwensel]

Thank you ladies for all of your responses. I will just relax and gently work with him. Your suggestions are great.

I am so blessed by this board!

[mrsrandolph]

Have you considered having a fine motor eval done on him? My guy has fine motor issues and is getting OT now for help with Handwriting.

[Heart_Mom]

Have you considered having a fine motor eval done on him? My guy has fine motor issues and is getting OT now for help with Handwriting.

Hi, Shannon:

May I ask you where you went to have the evaluation done?

Thanks!

[my3sons]

You may want to experiment with pencils and grippers. Ticonderoga pencils did wonders for our boys. They are thicker pencils that you just sharpen the old-fashioned way. The claw worked for one of our sons and not the other. Clicky pencils didn't work at all at first, but now they can use them and both prefer them. So, just trying out some things and asking which your ds prefers would be good to do. Plus, he can have some say-so in it then.

I think less writing done better is the goal at first, and you can tell ds that. So, alternating you writing with him writing is fine to do. He can write a sentence, and then dictate one for you to write, and you can switch back and forth. This will rest those fine motor muscles in between. Likewise, alternating writing assignments with non-writing assignments is important. Spreading the writing out throughout the day helped both of our dc become better at it. So ds doesn't also have to focus on how to spell things, writing his answers on a markerboard for him to copy on paper helps. This also gives him a model to look at as he writes. As far as cursive, here's a past post about that, that may help to know how to approach this with your ds:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7762&p=56647

Legibility is really the #1 thing to teach when it comes to handwriting. No one has perfect handwriting, and everyone's style is different. But being able to read it is a must. So, IMHO, that is the goal I'd work toward with your ds. Many, many dc (and many, many adults - with many, many of them being men ) do not have "neat" handwriting, but if it's legible, it works. Ideas are more important than perfect writing, so it's good to really encourage a child's ideas, especially a child whose writing is not so great, as they may feel there's no point in sharing their ideas in written form otherwise. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[ktwensel]

Thank you Julie!

Wonderful ideas from all of you. He has done two days of cursive. He says he hates it, but proceeds along! His "l"s and "h"s are beautiful when he takes his time!

[mrsrandolph]

We had his eval done via private insurance at Children's Healthcare Of Atlanta.

[Heart_Mom]

We had his eval done via private insurance at Children's Healthcare Of Atlanta.

Thanks! I was just curious where one would go. We've done vision therapy, and it's greatly helped my 9 year old son, but I sometimes wonder if there are other ways he could be helped... or if he just needs more practice. He really has improved leaps and bounds in the past 1 1/2 years!

[mrsrandolph]

If you have insurance, or the means to pay for it, I think an eval for OT couldn't hurt : )