Handwriting

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Any Ideas on how to improve daughters handwriting, she is in 3rd grade.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Practice...which likely she will balk at.

We homeschool and our practice consists of lots of copy work and complaining to go with it.

By lots...copying a sentence or two daily is sufficient. At the younger ages, I would remind them to make it pretty and not messy and now that oldest is in 5th, I stress neatness or she has to do it over. But we are finally seeing the fruits. Her sister, is 2nd grade and her handwriting will be much better.

As far as what to copy?

A famous quote from a famous person...
A line from a favorite song...
A line or two from a story...

The possibilities are endless.

The additional fruit of this labor is that it will reinforce grammar and punctuation if you choose selections wisely.

I liken it to my dd's ballet. The students find the repetitive nature of it to be quite tedious and boring, but over time--the fruits are realized with proper posture and clean lines in their dance.

Handwriting is the same. The child is strengthening many muscles in their hand to develop their form and repetitive practice is what helps. At least you can vary what they are practicing with...kind of like changing the music in dance class.

Rainbow Resource also sells handwriting products if you want a more formal practice. I usually limit my kids to a page (front or back) or two (both sides) a day as more is not better. A little bit of quality work done daily will go a long way. (Barnes and Noble *might* have practice books in their education section--but I am not sure. Make sure the format you choose matches what they are teaching. I.e. If D'Naelian...make sure the workbook is D'Naelian).

Google copy work for suggestions as well.

Good luck!

 

[Lisa_M]

First make sure she is using an appropriate grasp, has her paper tilted appropriately and is using her other hand to stabilize the paper consistently. Once these are a go, look at her letter formation, letter by letter. Is she always starting her letters at the top? If not, focus on re-training her mind to use correct letter formation always starting at the top. It will lend itself to more legible and fluent writing.

Then practice, practice practice...

 

[belle&beast]

My DS is a lefty and is first grade and HATES writing. I found this website that has been helpful.
http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/handwriting/index.aspx?id=4296

 

[Christine]

I think it has to come from within.

I had pretty bad cursive writing. Then in 6th grade I sat next to this girl that had beautiful cursive and I was so envious of it. It motivated me to practice and practice and improve my writing. I ended up having quite nice handwriting!

 

[Minnie824]

Just wanted to say, although this may not be helpful...it may not improve. My handwriting as an adult is horrible. I have a 3rd grade DD as well, and hers is way better than mine. I know what my issue is though...I rush. if I take my time, I can sortof write neat, but I never do. So, advice is, have your DD take her time and practice.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

According to DW, you need a pad of double lined paper, a good writing desk and posture, a 12 inch wooden ruler, and a nun to monitor the progress.

 

[Cdn Gal]

Like the other poster make sure that she has the proper grip of the pencil. Pencil grips (available at most teacher's stores) work best. Try turning her page to the left (if she is right handed) so it is more natural for her to write. (instead of vertical paper go horizontal) As well, put her work on a binder so it is titled at an angle. This way she can actually see what she is writing. All of these tips came from an amazing OT that I worked with a few years back.

 

[bicker]

I think it has to come from within.

THIS.

 

[NHdisneylover]

How bad is it? Messy or truly problematic? How hard does she try? Is she just not interested in improving or is she really trying hard and getting frustrated to see no results? Has it improved over time or pretty much stayed the same after initially getting the letters down?

If it is simply messy and lack of caring and has gotten better then practice and maybe just strengthening the fine muscles involved in other 9more fun) ways, like beading, playdough, etc will be plenty.

If there is more to it, look into getting her some O/T and possibly having some more testing done.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I agree with the practice bit, but instead of copying lines, could you have her keep a "public" diary or a daily log? Maybe something you could do together, where you'd have one and your DD would have one.

Take 10-15 minutes each day and write 2-3 things that you thought were good (or bad) about the day. Trade your book, and read each other's aloud.

If you do it with her, it might not seem like a chore.

Maybe you'll start to notice words that she consistantly struggles with. Then you could go from there.

Good luck!

 

[laughinplace199]

According to DW, you need a pad of double lined paper, a good writing desk and posture, a 12 inch wooden ruler, and a nun to monitor the progress.

 

[laughinplace199]

Practice was the key for DS9. His printing was very messy, so each day after his homework was done, I had him write 5 sentences. They could be sentences about anything - the sillier and crazier the better. He ended up loving this practice because he's a pretty random kid and the sentences he came up with were hysterical.

His printing is still not perfect, but both his teachers and I have seen an improvement. Oddly enough, his cursive is pretty good - way better than his printing.

 

[Robinrs]

My son went to occupational therapy. His handwriting was totally illegible and only became legible in the 6th grade. He still has to concentrate on it and he's in the 11th grade.

 

[MrsPete]

My youngest had age-appropriate handwriting as a young child . . . then she had a fourth grade teacher who was just horrible in numerous ways (looking back, I wish I'd pulled her out of that class). One of the things that happened in that class was that my daughter's handwriting went downhill. She started writing as fast as possible, ignoring the lines, purposefully blotting her ink and making big messes -- it was illegible. Conscious or unconscious, she did it because SHE KNEW it made her teacher mad. It was a passive-aggressive thing.

In fifth grade, her handwriting didn't improve -- lots of things didn't improve in fifth grade -- although she had a teacher who was nothing short of an angel. My daughter'd developed the HABIT of writing poorly, and she didn't want to stop.

Her fifth grade teacher and I conspired against her: At home, anything that wasn't written neatly had to be copied over (or typed). Anything that was written poorly in school was sent home to be copied over. She fought us, she complained, she cried . . . but faced with a united front between me and the teacher, she got tired of spending extra time and effort, and she started slowing down and writing neatly again.

Keep in mind that we fought the battle this way because she was perfectly CAPABLE of good writing, knew how to hold the pen, and was just being stubborn.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

It is not terrible.

Though I would not call it good.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Practice was the key for DS9. His printing was very messy, so each day after his homework was done, I had him write 5 sentences. They could be sentences about anything - the sillier and crazier the better. He ended up loving this practice because he's a pretty random kid and the sentences he came up with were hysterical.

His printing is still not perfect, but both his teachers and I have seen an improvement. Oddly enough, his cursive is pretty good - way better than his printing.

I actually haven't found that odd at all, in DS or my (sub) students! The two reasons I give the most credit to are:
1) that kids just take more time with cursive, and
2) that some kids are not ready for printing as early as we start it in school, so they develop it badly. By the time we get to cursive, they are ready, so it's like a giant do-over for them, and they do great.

P.S. - I love your silly sentences idea!

 

[dismom2]

My DD had really sloppy, messy writing and we used to always tell her to try to write neater. DH would sometimes have her rewrite a homework assignment if it was especially sloppy. I think she just outgrew the bad writing because it just got better one year--not sure exactly what did the trick.

I talked to her teacher about it one time and was really surprised when the teacher said she felt my DD's writing was pretty good compared to other kids in the class. Maybe it's normal for a lot of kids to have bad writing in the beginning

I have trouble printing really neatly myself, and I think its because I write too fast, and mostly because of the way I hold my pencil or pen. I can't seem to get used to holding them a different way, though I try. I find it much easier to write in cursive--it's much nicer looking. I also write much better when I slow down. When I write fast, I get stuck on some letters. I don't know if that makes sense.