Grandson's handwriting

My son has dyspraxia, I was advised to try a triangular shape pencil! It does sometimes work. I mean by the way that the pencil is not a tube shape but looks like a triangle when viewed from above. There is something about it that makes the grip easier. And keep praising him, building up confidence will do wonders, try doing Lego or building a railway with Brio. I am sure you get the idea!

Always told my DC when they said they were stupid that no one is stupid there's always something they'll be good at, it may not be writing or anything academic but they could be good at listening to others or fixing broken things we just have to find whatever that something is.

I did a short course on handwriting technique for children.
Using a liquorice lace to form the letters works a treat! They use the confectionary to shape the letter then copy the shape onto paper.
The lace is eaten as a reward.

I think this should be entitled “Problems with grandson’s self confidence”
Poor little boy.
For any child to call himself “stupid” is the saddest thing. He clearly has many talents- all children have talents- and he needs to be praised for what he is good at. To over stress what some see as a shortcoming at this stage in his development is not going to erase the feeling that he is “stupid” but reinforce it.
There are books to help with handwriting skills, I have used them with teenagers, but his teachers should be aware and doing anything necessary, perhaps he has not been properly taught. Encourage drawing and colouring, encourage word puzzles, mazes, word searches, and anything to do with language which does not depend on his handwriting.
BTW I can think of many teenagers (usually girls) who could do “pretty, pretty” handwriting, but the content was way below that of others whose writing was less “attractive”
However, the bottom line for me would be to excise that word “stupid” from his vocabulary.

My GS is a left-hander and hates writing. He cuts sentences short so that he writes less! He composes complex sentences but when he writes them down leaves out adjectives etc. I've told him the teacher can't mark what's not there and she needs to see that he knows a lot more! Sometimes I think she's done a good job deciphering what he's actually written.

He's suddenly taken to drawing quite complex images from a book called something like, 'You can draw anything' requiring good pencil control. Perhaps drawing would help to strengthen that group of hand muscles for small motor skills.

I fully sympathise. I have dyslexia and probably dyspraxsia. Letters and words pop up on their own volition. If I don't write in joined up writing my writing is much better.

When I was 15, my dad despaired of my atrocious handwriting - I was always getting marks deducted - and bought me a book about calligraphy which caught my interest immediately. I liked the ornamental aspect, but it had a huge effect on my school work. My teachers were astonished and I not longer had marks deducted.
My youngest DGS, 11, is left handed and his handwriting is dreadful. He can't be dyspraxic as he has excellent ball sense, plays rugby and tennis - has a mean backhand volley. In September he will go on to secondary school where I doubt if he will get much help. I have looked for books on handwriting for lefties but they are written to appeal to much younger children, subject matter unsuitable for adolescents.

I have a PhD, published my dissertation, and have worked as an editor. I have horrible handwriting. The condition is "dysgraphia". One of my Old Testament professors is a world's leading authority in some highly specialized areas. He also is fluent in ancient Hebrew, German, ancient Greek, and Latin. A brilliant man. Both his handwriting and his printing appear as if he's in the very early years of elementary school.
Remind your grandson that handwriting may be difficult for him, but that he excels in other areas. Our son has ADD, dyslexia, and horrible handwriting; yet he finished university and now works as an IT tech.

What do the parents think? If they are concerned, it is their job to speak to the teacher, not the OP's.

Lucy, is there any kind of therapy at school that could help GS w/ his handwriting? Could be a muscle or coordination problem, if I understand correctly. But again, his parents have to discuss this with the school if they're interested.

As a GM though, you certainly can have him play w/ playdough or plasticine at your house. And, of course, point it out whenever he does/says something smart.

I've never yet met a doctor with beautiful handwriting ! They're not stupid.

I've explained to my dgs several times that learning any new skill take a long time and not knowing how to do it doesn't mean we are stupid.

When he was 5 he didn't know how to read - he wasn't stupid then and he isn't now.

Why would grandparents need to be included in a school meeting about a 6 year old boy’s handwriting. The teacher would think you’re crazy and feel sorry for the parents.

When your grandson is with you get the play dough, plasticine out and just do what you normally do. With the best will in the he is 6 years old he is too young to be assessed unless it’s glaringly obvious and a lot can change over the next couple of years.

Is he dyslexic? I have real problems writing. My writing was always dreadful . I eventually discovered I was dyslexic.

The wrong letters sort of jump up out at me when It's not the ones I was trying to write,
It might cover dyspraxia as well.
I am very embarassed by my handwriting.

It seems to go in my family. Me, my mum had problems then my neices daughter seems to find it hard. My daughter
Has lovely teachers writing. She's not one

I was thinking the same Miepl beautiful handwriting does not necessarily make someone super clever. Many Doctors have indecipherable handwriting and I guess there are plenty of us in lowly jobs who’s handwriting is nice and neat.

Conversely, I have had people tell me all my life what beautiful handwriting I have - hasn't made me any more intelligent though!

My left handed son struggled with handwriting and the mess was compounded by the speed of his brain. He only received a diagnosis of dyspraxia when he was 14 and did all his class work and exams on a laptop - even at university. It hasn’t held him back at all. Once you leave school you rarely need to write anything beyond your signature nowadays.

He’s only 6 so I wouldn’t be concerned yet. I had bad handwriting (and still have) but just about legible, so good enough for exams. Both my parents also had bad handwriting and preferred to type, long before computers.

In my case, one of the issues has always been that my brain moves faster than hand. General co-ordination, dexterity, doing crafts etc was never a problem, only writing.

GS1 had the most awful illegible writing. He used to do a lot on the computer so it was readable. Then when he was 11 they decided that the children must learn cursive script for Sats. We were appalled because we couldn't see how he would cope. Lo and behold he started producing this beautiful, legible script (he said it was much easier than printing all the letters) Being autistic he had to have it explained to him that he should use this lovely writing in all his classes and not just the handwriting ones.

I wouldn't worry about his handwriting at 6 ,if he was 12 or 13 then I might but he's just learning and no one is perfect at everything right away .He'll get there in his own time .

I was an infant teacher befor I retired. Lots of children who had poor handwriting had poor muscle development. I used to suggest they played with plasticine, if the parents could get it- playdough is too soft and doesn’t allow much resistance, so the hand muscles aren’t having to work as hard. Playing with Lego also helps, and bead threading, sewing and tracing. We used to have clay out for the children to play with too, and do lots of action rhymes.

Boys, especially, often need to reinforce learning how to form the shape of letters by using large movements.

So, for example, get him to 'write' in the air using his whole arm or use a stick in sand or his finger in flour on the table or use a paintbrush or trace over a large letter shape with his finger. Make sure he is forming each letter properly with the correct starting and end point. All the letters other than 't, f, i and j ( sometimes 'k', depending on the preferred school style) should be written in one movement without taking 'the pen or whatever' off the paper and some letters need the same line going over in an up and down movement to form the letter correctly. There are cheap practice books you can buy.

If the school is insisting on adding entry strokes to the letter formation to aid future 'joined up 'writing, then often a child's writing will look a total mess till they master it so maybe go back to basics of writing each letter separately for a while.

That's interesting Alima DGS is also good at reading and number work. And a good idea to help writing lists or notes.

He isn’t stupid bless him. He just needs time. Could be his age. DGD is now year 3. Her handwriting has improved ten fold this last few months. DGS (year 2) is brilliant at reading and number work. His handwriting is awful but we can see the glimmer of improvement lurking. We ask for his help in writing lists or notes, anything that will get him practicing without knowing it.

DGS is the same. He is now getting fine motor skills sessions once a week at school...cutting etc. So perhaps craft work might help. We went down the route of buying him special pencils because he holds the pencil in such a funny way but because they were so thick you couldn’t see any improvement. He seems to write better with biro. He is almost 8 by the way. He also has problems with general coordination. Couldn’t hop etc naturally but recreational gym classes outside school twice a week have helped.
Certainly talk to school about it.

Before you try a tutor there is lots of on-line stuff that can help
www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/how-to-teach-handwriting.html

Thanks jura2 Let's hope the teacher can help. Can't be the first time.