Help w/DS6 Handwriting

[mrsmom]

My ds now almost 10 has had trouble with handwritting since starting school. By 3rd grade we decided to have him tested and they said his muscles in his hands weren't strong , so we are doing Ocupational therapy 1X a week to help with this handwritting , and the OT at school is doing the Handwritting without tears and its working!! good luck,
Kim

 

[cybrkitn]

Let him use his left hand since that is what he predominantly uses. His teacher should not be telling him to use his right hand and IMO stepped over the line. There is nothing wrong with a child who writes with their left hand.

DH and I were wondering what hand our DS4 would write with since DH is left-handed. DS4 just happens to be a righty. But we would have no problem if he was a lefty and I wouldn't allow his teachers to tell him that it was wrong.

 

[maraki527]

I did not know that teachers were able to do that. I hold my fork with my left hand and do everything except write mostly with my left hand. My mother seems to think that I was supposed to be left handed but my father kept taking everything out of my left and putting it in my right hand. Your son will be fine.I think he will find out which way he is comfortable as long as he is doing his work in school the teacher should not focus on that. I would have to have a talk with her.

 

[heatherlynn444]

I used to work at a tutoring center and I worked with two little boys, one was five and one was six, who had AWFUL handwriting and we just practiced paracited practiced! I made tons of copies of the blank writing lines with the dots in the middle, and we would do one letter at a time, then small words, etc. it took about 3weeks to a month to see improvement (he camein 2-3 times a week) but it got SO much better. just one of those things you have to do over and over again I guess. we concentrated on taking our time and touching the letters form teh top to the bottom of the lines etc. etc. and they really started to get the hang of it. good luck!

 

[brmom]

Try checking with the school office and see if they have names of someone who tutors handwriting. Also, check with your pediatrician for the names of occupational therapists that work with children. Here, there are several occupational therapists that have daycamps to help the kids with handwriting issues. My kids attend a school where handwriting is a BIG issue and we have done both the private tutoring and the summer camp. It helped a lot. If the iproblem is bad enough, check with the pediatrician and your health insurance may help with the cost. You need to say that the school is saying that the child has fine motor issues and may need occupational therapy. Nita

 

[fivefordisney]

You might want to try Handwriting Without Tears with your son at home. My son had dexterity problems when he was younger and HWT was very helpful.

Here's the link:

http://www.hwtears.com/

Yes, HWT is an excellent program! So many of the occupational therapists with whom I consult use this program in their practices.

Good luck!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I don't know if this would work for your DS, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

Last year in second grade, his very seasoned teacher suggested my DS try to do his writing on the computer. She was never able to identify exactly what the problem was with my son's writing (? writing itself vs. writing composition - probably not explaining it right.) But she said that some kids who have trouble writing do really well using the keyboard. A year later, he's improved a lot (without actually using the keyboard) but I recently bought him a keyboarding tutorial CD and he seems to be enjoying it. It's not something I normally would have thought of - kids that age using a keyboard for their writing. But since she mentioned it I've had it on my radar screen and it seems like a good idea. Naturally, they have to know how to write. But keyboarding could potentially help someone who's struggling with writing. Maybe worth a try.

Good luck.

 

[DawnCt1]

The discussion so far seemed to be focused on "handedness" although he seems comfortable with his right hand. I am predominately left handed but write with my right hand. That may be a red herring however. DS#3 had a great deal of difficulty with handwriting. To quote the first grade teacher, "I have never seen a kid work so hard to produce so little". He was not just writing with his hand but his forearm and upper arm. It was a struggle. I asked for a special ed eval. The teacher that saw him had "no idea" what to do. That was all I needed. I requested a 504 and then made my own appointment with a script from the pediatrician for an Occupational therapy eval. She found that his fine motor coordination was an issue as well as hand strength. She gave us a variety of exercises to do that I presented to the 504. The school then coordinated her treatment plan and implimented the procedures. His hand writing improved dramatically. Some of those exercises included flipping pennies on a flat surface, turning heads to tails, etc. filling deep bowl with uncooked rice and putting pennies, marbles, etc in the mix and having him find them, writing on a chalk board with a piece of chalk. The finger grip has to be the same as holding a pencil and it strengthens those fingers. Same with writing with a very short pencil. Get the problem diagnosed. Don't let them tell you it is "just an age thing". It might be, but get help for it early. Your son will feel better and you will too.

 

[emdav]

Just want to say that I love Handwriting without Tears. It is the best! My son has terrible fine motor issues and he is learning to write with this program and it is one of the best investments I have made for him.

 

[bengalbelle]

A similar thing happened to my DS. He was definitely left handed, but in daycare/preschool (when he was 2) the teachers put the crayon in his right hand. They weren't trying to get him to write with his right hand over his left, they just weren't observant about which was his dominant hand. We didn't realize it was an issue until it was too late.

DS ended up in OT and the therapist spent about 4 months working with him before she forced him to establish a dominant hand. He writes with his right hand because at that point he was more comfortable that way. We tried unsuccessfully to switch him back to his left hand before that, but he would continue to switch hands and write with both.

His OT used the Handwriting without Tears program, and I bought it for home use as well. As others have mentioned, it's fairly inexpensive and is an excellent program.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I've read this thread with interest. My DS6 seems to prefer his right hand for some things, and his left for others. He didn't seem terribly comfortable writing with either hand, so his preschool did not discourage one over the other.

He entered kindergarten still undecided, and his handwriting was very rough with his right hand, but he seemed to tend toward the right. His teacher suggested we work on his fine motor skills (as someone above posted) to improve his handwriting, which was very hard to read. He is now in first grade, and his handwriting has become legible, and we are working on sizing the letters proportionally, spacing, and punctuation.

I'll be taking a look at the hwtears website as well. Thank you!

 

[bengalbelle]

I've read this thread with interest. My DS6 seems to prefer his right hand for some things, and his left for others. He didn't seem terribly comfortable writing with either hand, so his preschool did not discourage one over the other.

He entered kindergarten still undecided, and his handwriting was very rough with his right hand, but he seemed to tend toward the right. His teacher suggested we work on his fine motor skills (as someone above posted) to improve his handwriting, which was very hard to read. He is now in first grade, and his handwriting has become legible, and we are working on sizing the letters proportionally, spacing, and punctuation.

I'll be taking a look at the hwtears website as well. Thank you!

My son switched back and forth too and during his OT they determined it was because his hands were getting tired.

 

[left210]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. Just to clarify, his current kindergarten teacher is not forcing him to write with his right hand. He came into her class using his right hand because he had been pushed to use the right in preschool. As someone else had mentioned, at this point he is more comfortable with his right over the left but I think just because that is what he has been using for the last few years. Looking back, he has always enjoyed doing the workbook activities but never enjoyed coloring and doing the writing assignments in those. I am definitely going to check into HWT and the occupational therapy. Our insurance is pretty good so it would probably cover it if I get a referral from his dr.

It is so ironic because I posted this yesterday and when I picked my son up from school yesterday he showed me his handwriting assignment he did yesterday and was so proud of it. He really worked hard on it and it is the best work he has done to date. Not perfect but great for him. Last night when he was practicing we had him try his right and left and also I stopped and got some of the pencil grippers to see if that will help him have better control. I couldnt really tell much last night with them because he spent way to much time playing with them than using it. My main focus is to have him practice and improve with his right hand but I am going to have him practice left and right at home to see if I see any improvement with his left. As someone else said it is like starting all over with his left so it is hard to tell if he would be better at it with his left. If I see steady improvement with his right hand then I will just go with it and not push the left hand anymore.

 

[EthansMom]

DS's school uses HWT and it does seem to be a good program.

For home, I purchased a small dry-erase board that is blank on one side and has the dotted lines on the other side. (Got it at Walmart in the school supplies/office supplies area -- by the flashcards & workbooks.) About once a week, I would have DS practice writing the letters/numbers that seemed to be giving him problems. DS and I would sit down and I would write the letter, showing him which strokes to make. Then DS would fill the rest of the line with the letter. DS's handwriting isn't perfect, but it's pretty decent compared to other kids in his Kindergarten.

Now, the Kindergarten has DS writing one sentence a week in a journal. With that, I remind DS that the first letter of the sentence starts with a capital, I help coach him on spelling words (sound them out slowly), and I have him erase and fix anything that I know he can do much better. I even have him put the date on the journal entry. He's learning so much and in a practical way.

Good Luck!

 

[elizke]

My DS 10 has had a similar history, only of his own choice.

He eats and "mouses" on the computer left handed. And mouses quite precisley too, drawing pictures, etc. So when he was young I encouraged him to use his left hand to write. He would try but then just put the pencil back in his right hand. I really tried, because I really thought he should be left handed, but he just refused.

So he still eats and mouses with the left, and writes and draws with the right. He draws very very well too. His writing is the worst!! And I think it's just because he just has no interest in it and no patience for it. His print has always been extremely bad.

His cursive is much better though. It's partly because he has to slow down to write that way. And we've been using HWWT too, just to make sure the cursive doesn't slack off once he's more used to it.

And one last thought, don't worry too much. Every class I've ever seen has at least a few terrible writers in it! Most of them with no "handedness" issues.

 

[left210]

And one last thought, don't worry too much. Every class I've ever seen has at least a few terrible writers in it! Most of them with no "handedness" issues.

Yeah that is the thing - I dont know if he just has bad handwriting due to age, maturity, etc or if it is related to the left/right hand issue. I have heard that boys have more trouble with this than girls. Thanks again for everyones support.

 

[Ciao Mickey]

Well for a little background info - my DS6 seemed to be left handed prior to entering preschool. We kept telling them he favored his left side, his Dad was left handed, he bats left handed, etc. Well they continued to push his right side telling him he was holding his pencil in the wrong hand at preschool, etc. Fast forward - he is now in Kindergarten and struggling with his handwriting. Any suggestions on helping him overcome this obstacle? During all of this time we work with him and have tried to get him to use his left hand but he would tell me that is not the way his teacher told him to do it. Now he is more comfortable holding his pencil with his right hand but doesnt have good control and his handwriting is horrible. Letters big and small and all over the place. The teacher told us to get some modeling clay to help him improve his motor skills. I am going to try this but dont see how that will help his handwriting and control of his pencil. Any other suggestions?

OMG I still have nightmares sometimes when I remember all the struggles my son had in school. He had many neurological problems so he was tested by the CST when he got to school. One of the first problems he had was with his fine motor control. It would take him an hour to write a simple sentence or two. He would struggle so hard and become so frustrated that he would cry each time he had to write something on paper. My son used to use a special pencil that was really fat so he could grip it better. Ask the teacher if she has one that your child can use.

We found out that even though my son uses his right hand for everything, and we have never ever pushed him to use either hand, he is left-brain (or is it right-brained, I forget) dominate. Which means he should be a lefty.

Even to this day my son cannot/will not write in cursive. He prints everything.

 

[CharityLynn]

My son is getting occupational therapy for his handwritng and small motor skills, he has a lot of problems with his writing (he's in 1st grade)

My daughter is left handed I hope they don't confuse her with all that stuff when she starts school in the fall.

 

[Mono~rail]

I totally agree with all the OT advice/suggestions. Your pediatrician can make the referral/write the prescription for an OT evaluation. One thing I've learned with therapy is that parents must advocate for their children when they need help.

One of my twins has been in therapy (OT, ST, & PT) since before she was discharged from the NICU. I met so many moms at therapy who had their kids there for OT to help their hand-writing.

I must say that I find the posts about teachers not letting kids use their left hand disturbing. My dd who gets therapy shows significant left hand tendencies. Her therapists have commented on it many times that they think she is a lefty because her fine motor skills are so much better with her left hand. The last thing she is going to need is a teacher who discourages her to use that hand.

 

[bengalbelle]

OMG I still have nightmares sometimes when I remember all the struggles my son had in school. He had many neurological problems so he was tested by the CST when he got to school. One of the first problems he had was with his fine motor control. It would take him an hour to write a simple sentence or two. He would struggle so hard and become so frustrated that he would cry each time he had to write something on paper. My son used to use a special pencil that was really fat so he could grip it better. Ask the teacher if she has one that your child can use.

We found out that even though my son uses his right hand for everything, and we have never ever pushed him to use either hand, he is left-brain (or is it right-brained, I forget) dominate. Which means he should be a lefty.

Even to this day my son cannot/will not write in cursive. He prints everything.

I don't know how old your son is now, but my OT discouraged the use of fat pencils and crayons (my DS was in Pre-K and K at the time, I don't know if that made a difference).

Also, for children who have a bad pencil hold, she recommended using pencils and crayons that are about an inch long. It forces them to hold the pencil with a proper grip. There are also pencil grippers with indentations that help them with the correct hold. I'm working with my DS on this now. I attended a workshop at his school and they said children who continue into first and second grade with terrible holds are almost always unable to break the habit.