Need help with handwriting for DS5 what program to try?

[ilovejack02]

Ds's handwriting is AWFUL. What programs do you use with your kiddies to help them?

 

[tchrrx]

Is he in school yet? The first thing I would do is see whether the school teaches d'nealian or zaner-bloser. Then, rather than making him to handwriting, do other activities to build his fine motor skills. Play with play-dough, bang out letters on an old typewriter, use a Lite-Brite, make necklaces with beads, etc....

Good luck! DD7 had terrible handwriting for the last 2 years. Now that she's beginning cursive, it's all of a sudden better. I think it's b/c she feels more grown-up now.

 

[The Disney Bunch]

I second the motor skills thing - my girls have issues with writing but it is a delay in their motor skills - play with playdoh, stress balls, string beads together.

It also depends upon what handwriting method is offered in school. Our pre-k taught one thing & the kindergarten taught another.

 

[ilovejack02]

He is in school, started last week. I am going to talk to teacher tomorrow, she has sent home a cpl of notes to please work with him at home. Well i do and did all summer.. not helping. He does play with playdoh and types on the computer alot. He just got better with the scissors. Ill work on the stringing of beads more.
Im just glad he can read really well.. its almost scary lol.

 

[LoriMomx5]

I am an occupational Therapist and have a son in 1st grade where they are using the Handwriting Without Tears method which OTs have been using for a while to improve fine motor skills and handwriting in therapy with children. Some school systems are using this method. Even if they don't it works while when transferring skills to other methods that may be used. Hope this is helpful. Lori

 

[tweedlemom]

My DS 5 gets OT and they used the Handwriting Without Tears program in his Preschool Disabled class and it has worked wonders!

 

[ilovejack02]

I am an occupational Therapist and have a son in 1st grade where they are using the Handwriting Without Tears method which OTs have been using for a while to improve fine motor skills and handwriting in therapy with children. Some school systems are using this method. Even if they don't it works while when transferring skills to other methods that may be used. Hope this is helpful. Lori

I was wondering about that one. I think I will try that one.

 

[PudgetteD]

DS8 also has horrible handwriting. 2nd grade teacher also recommended strengthening fine motor skills by squeezing stress balls or tennis balls and picking up small objects, like grains of rice, neither of which worked for DH. DH and I are very frustrated because school doesn't seem too anxious to help. Does anyone know where I could get info on Handwriting Without Tears? I'm a nurse and work closely with OTs so I'm sure I could get one to order it for me if I knew where to look for it. Does anyone know the approximate cost? Thanks.

 

[PudgetteD]

I just found it! http://shopping.hwtears.com/ I looked at the second grade program and the items seemed very reasonably priced.

 

[ilovejack02]

DS8 also has horrible handwriting. 2nd grade teacher also recommended strengthening fine motor skills by squeezing stress balls or tennis balls and picking up small objects, like grains of rice, neither of which worked for DH. DH and I are very frustrated because school doesn't seem too anxious to help. Does anyone know where I could get info on Handwriting Without Tears? I'm a nurse and work closely with OTs so I'm sure I could get one to order it for me if I knew where to look for it. Does anyone know the approximate cost? Thanks.

http://www.hwtears.com/

 

[TheDizMom]

I went to Lakeshore Learning and bought several handwriting books geared towards those who are learning to write. My kids have both loved using them . We also bought 2 white boards with the capitol letters and the lower case letters on them that they use the dry erase markers for. They were designed like the books but just had the letters instead of words too, and then there was an empty line on the bottom to practice things like their names. My kids liked using the dry erase markers and then be able to erase and start over . I don't know if they still make them or not or if you have a store near you, but I'm sure you could go on line. I know there is a catalog too. My DS loves to practice his writing at home in a notebook, and writes in a journal a lot . He is in 5th grade though, and his writing is better then most of the men in the family so there is hope . In kindergarten they will have them start writing sentences and stories in their primative way at school and that will help. Encourage him to write sentences at home and make and sign birthday cards for friends and family. I would usually write the words down on a piece of paper and put it next to my DD like the name and Happy Birthday, and then she would copy it onto the card, now we will spell them out as she writes them. When you go to a restaurant bring a small notepad (my DD loves little notebooks at 6) and a pencil and practice writing words while you wait for your food and drinks. Better yet bring little flash cards with the kindergarten sight words on them and have him practice writing them and while he's at it he'll learn how to read them too . Take crayons to the Doctor and keep him busy, during that inevitable wait we all have to endure, by having him write on the paper covering the exam table. All these methods will be fun for him and he'll eventually improve his writing. Good luck. As they say this too shall pass .

 

[PudgetteD]

http://www.hwtears.com/

Thanks. We must have been posting at the same time.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

He is in school, started last week. I am going to talk to teacher tomorrow, she has sent home a cpl of notes to please work with him at home. Well i do and did all summer.. not helping. He does play with playdoh and types on the computer alot. He just got better with the scissors. Ill work on the stringing of beads more.
Im just glad he can read really well.. its almost scary lol.

This sounds like my DS 8. He was reading chapter books in Kind but had some fine motor skill issues. It wasn't a huge issue and he improved a lot in K. Same thing in first. We had a great teacher and as long as his writing was legible, she was okay with it. He was writing these long, wonderful stories. Last year, in second - different story. She was so picky about his HW. He stopped writing much at all, and all of his stories were bare minimum. I saw his self confidence in writing go down! I know I am off topic, but I just wanted to share so you know to keep working with him so this doesn't happen to your son. Good luck!

 

[ilovejack02]

This sounds like my DS 8. He was reading chapter books in Kind but had some fine motor skill issues. It wasn't a huge issue and he improved a lot in K. Same thing in first. We had a great teacher and as long as his writing was legible, she was okay with it. He was writing these long, wonderful stories. Last year, in second - different story. She was so picky about his HW. He stopped writing much at all, and all of his stories were bare minimum. I saw his self confidence in writing go down! I know I am off topic, but I just wanted to share so you know to keep working with him so this doesn't happen to your son. Good luck!

I just figure heck he can read so well lol... who needs to write, he can be a Dr. when he grows up
I do want to get it fixed.. his teacher seems concerned so ill step up helping. I know she has limited time to work with him, its a half day kindergarten and even though there are only 12 kids in the class, you can only get so much done during the day I would imagine. I really havent had a chance to sit and talk with her yet, a close family member died this week and so i have been so busy dealing with all that.

 

[tegansmom]

My son is a leftie and has problems with his handwriting since starting school. He's now in the second grade. His teachers recommended that he do the hand strenghening exercises also, but he's not really into that. I found a couple of websites that you can create your own "tracing guides" that I print out and have him work on. Just one a night to help and it seems to help. His handwriting greatly improved last year in the first grade. Here's the websites (oh, and they are all *free*):

http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/manuscript/alphabets/

http://www.kidzone.ws/tracers/farm/index.asp

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/

And handwriting paper you can print out here:

http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/paper.htm

I love these sites because you can create your own tracer pages. Specific to the letters he needs to work on.

Hope this helps!
Cara

 

[mommylicious]

I'm so glad I saw this! My DS is having a bear of a time with handwriting too. He just started kindergarten and is getting really frustrated. He broke his wrist towards the end of pre-k last year while they were learning to write so he was behind despite me trying to work with him over the summer. his teacher just recommended OT so we are in the process of getting that started but I think I will order the Handwriting without Tears program too...that is if I can get confirmation that it will not be a huge problem since that program doesn't appear to teach D'Nealian style. I know my older son's teacher last year said that they encouraged D'Nealian but that it wasn't a must. If a child had trouble with it but did better with Zaner-Bloser than it wasn't a problem for them to use what works for them.

 

[Cruz91]

I try REALLY hard not to compare my kids, but I really got a little worried about my DS and the whole writing / letters thing. He's only 3, but by the time my DD (now 5 and a big Kindergartener) was 3, she not only knew all of her letters, but she was writing them all and could count to 100. Well - DS has NO interest in the alphabet (most every letter is "X", because "X" marks the spot on the treasure map). He's getting better (thanks to wife making fun games to help), but she also pointed out a very interesting thing that I didn't notice before. When we took DD to Kindergarten for the 1st day, they had all the kids' write their names. Her class is pretty close to a 50-50 mix boy to girl. Of the ~8 girls, you could read every name. Most girls even used a capital at the beginning and lower case for the rest. Of the ~9 boys, you could only read 4 or 5, and then only 1 knew the proper use of cap / lwr case.

To make my long story longer - it's a fine motor skills issue with boys. They develop slower in that area. Doing the things on this thread to help develop that skill will certainly help - but so will time. Just chalk this up to another "guys mature so slow" thing!

 

[Disneymoon]

I teach special education preschool for a public school system and SWEAR by Handwriting Without Tears. It is a wonderful wonderful wonderful multi-sensory program that makes practicing early fine motor skills and writing FUN for kids. Please do not drill your child over and over again with worksheets. You are just going to frustrate him and make him resent learning to write, sorry just my two cents

I would highly recommend trying Handwriting Without Tears. Also please talk to your child's teacher about potentially getting an occupational therapy evaluation for your child. There are plenty of bright kids that have issues with fine motor development an OT may be a way to help your child.

Good luck

 

[Disneymoon]

Also you want to make sure your child has the pre-requisite skills to be forming letters...

The order of development for kids is from easiest/first to hardest/last

-vertical line
-horizontal line
-cross
-circle
-slant lines/diagonals

Other suggestions...

-try using thick writing tools, fat pencils, thick crayons, sidewalk chalk etc.
-all the crayons and pencils in my classroom are broken in half. It is much easier for a child to maintain the correct grasp on a writing tool if it is shorter (center of gravity). Just try it!
-have your child practice his/her writing on a variety of surfaces... chalk on the sidewalk, writing on an easel, writing at a table. By writing with different tools, on different surfaces, and at different inclines your child practices different skills. Further, many students have an easier time writing on a vertical service... easel or paper taped to a wall than writing on a flat surface such as a desk or table.
-have your child practice writing their letters on the side of your house with water and small sponge

Ways to Strengthen Your Child's Fine Motor Skills

-rolling, pinching, squishing playdough
-stringing beads
-lacing cards
-using tongs or strawberry hullers to pick up small objects and place soda bottle
-twisting on and off jar lids, soda caps etc
-lite brite
-placing pegs into peg boards

Sorry this got so long... this is one of my passions... so I tend to go on and on about it

 

[disneymom3]

I love reading all of these posts about OT's and special ed teachers using HWOT. I wish everyone did. It is just so much easier for kids to learn to write capital letters first with their nice straight lines. My kids all can read and yet the middle one is still working on learning to write lowercase letters and the youngest hasn't even started with them yet. So, the whole they need to learn lowercase to learn to read, does not hold any water for me.

I homeschool and both of my boys use HWOT. I wish wish wish I had used it with DD but I didn't and her writing is atrocious to this day. I am having DS7 evaluated by the school because his writing is still really bad and I think there is something else going on there. But HWOT has helped it to at least resemble the correct letter.