7-year-old boy struggling with handwriting/stories - what can I do?

[Bishberro]

Sorry for the long and waffling post, I just wanted to get a bit of advice. My son has always struggled with writing - he didn't hold his pen properly until year one and his writing has always been pretty illegible. I've never worried about it because his reading and maths have always been fine and he seems to have picked them up easily. I could see him progressing and I assumed that one day it would just 'click' as he's still only young. It has come to a head now in Year 2 partly as his teacher is totally not on the ball (just seems to give out work sheets and lets the kids get on with it) and he has now been placed in a special group of children who have been deemed 'behind' in literacy. His main issues are speed (he takes ages to write a sentence), spelling (even common words are continually spelt wrong) and everything is still very phonetic. Letter formation is getting better but 'ds' and 'bs' are still often the wrong way round and 'th' is written as 'f' etc. He also presses down very hard when he's writing and punctuation and capital letters are all over the place. We've tried special pencils, pens etc to make things easier for him. He struggles to write a whole story

I've asked the school for advice in the past but have just been told to practice his fine motor skills which we have done. He loves Lego which he's good at, loves drawing which he does really nicely and concentrates on. He just seems to have a mental block with handwriting. We have tried getting him to write at home, making it fun etc but it's like getting blood out of a stone. He will spend ages doing a picture but not writing.

He has a very vivid imagination and his speech/vocabulary has always been brilliant but he just can't seem to get his thoughts down on paper even as a basic story. I'm not a tiger mum, he goes to a state school so I'm not trying to hot house him for grammar school, I just want to help increase his confidence and don't want him to slip further and further behind. Is there such a thing as a handwriting tutor as when I ask him to do any writing at home (even when we try and make it 'fun') he makes every effort not to do it?

I'm also unsure if/what to correct when I do manage to get him to write a few sentences as he now has literacy homework because of this special group. I don't want to destroy his confidence further by picking apart his spelling, letter formation etc. But if I don't correct them will he keep on making the same mistakes?

Any help gratefully appreciated!

[EDmummy]

I could have written this a few years ago. My son was diagnosed with dyslexia and we already knew he had very hypermobile fingers - my son struggles with writing with only little issues with maths and reading. I would advise asking to speak to the inclusion manager and ask for a full dyslexia assessment (not the computer based one). Do his fingers bend beyond what you would think normal? If so, you may be able to get a referral to an OT but if not I would suggest lots of exercise that strengthen his hands (my son did gymnastics). I hope you get the support.

[Bishberro]

Thanks for the reply EDMummy. No he has no hyper mobility. I didn't think dyslexia was the problem because he has no issues with maths and reading at all - he can track sentences, read the letters ok etc. Can you still be dyslexic and just have writing issues?

[Jessie]

My son is an avid reader, is good at maths and can spell but has been diagonosed with dyslexia (and dyspraxia). Dyslexia can come in different manifestations. I recommend an assessment with an ed psych if you can get one.

[Bishberro]

Thanks for the advice. Would the school be able to provide an assessment with an educational psychologist or would we have to find one privately? Can anyone recommend one?

[Jessie]

My son's school arranged this for us (Goose Green). Not sure if other schools do the same.

[Cora]

Would ask for him to be referred to sunshine house for OT assessment - our son very similar....turned out it was due to hypermobility in his hands...

[EmilyPie]

May also be worth exploring dysgraphia http://dsf.net.au/what-is-dysgraphia/ I don't have personal experience but it is something a friend is exploring and sounds like it describes a lot of what you are experiencing

[treehugger]

Hi Bishberro, you have described pretty accurately my son at the same age. He was diagnosed with dyslexia and learned to touch type which made the presentation of his work much better. It also meant that he could look at the board and type at the same time, which meant he was able to work much faster. Apart from anything, touch typing is an incredible skill to have He recently graduated with a 2.1 from a Russell Group university and now has a decent job.

Don't panic too much, handwriting is disappearing, and I have absolutely no doubt, that by the time he is doing his A levels will be a thing of the past).

Do get the diagnosis as soon as you can. He can then get the help he needs. Good luck!

[minder]

Hi Bishberro, is your son left handed by any chance? Some left-handers have trouble holding a pen properly and so it can affect their writing? Just a thought.

Also at age 7 he's still quite young so try not to worry.

treehugger, I really hope handwriting doesn't disappear!

[Mellors]

I could have written exactly the same post. I have tried for years to get some proper help with my son's handwriting. School don't think he is dyslexic due to good reading/maths.

He went to Sunshine House for OT assessment (school suggested referral by GP as quickest way to do it). They said he is off the scale (bad) for fine motor skills/hypermobility. Unfortunately other than the usual "play with Lego" etc. they haven't really given us any other advice. Does anyone have any?! Or words of hope? Its so difficult as he loves school in other ways, but is so frustrated as he just cannot seem to write.

I am definitely onto the touchtyping thing soon (he is now 8), but am concerned as soon as he discovers a whole world of not needing to handwrite he will never do it again and will fail to gain basic life skills?

[Mellors]

I thought this looked like a good touch typing course for children - Saturdays and Summer hold - does anyone know of any others?

http://www.yes-tuitionandtraining.co.uk/index.html

[Queenie23]

My son is now in year 5 - again I have struggled for years with this. He was assessed by Lewisham services and finally we were told he suffers from hypermobility and discharged. At the start of the school year they were putting pressure on him to do joined up writing and it seemed any progress he had made had gone out of the window - confidence etc. They agreed to let him carry on without the joined up and he also started re-learning how to write some of his letters which caused him problems. Finally there is progress and I really believe that in a couple of years he will be writing to a similar level to his peers.

I have to say I did hesitate about the touch typing. Whilst I appreciate that the need for handwriting is declining I do feel it was necessary for him to be able to write. He was tested but not diagnosed for dyspraxia and is not dyslexic so I felt that he would never be able to get a statement for his handwriting and to try and persevere. Im glad I did.

[espelli]

I would agree with others and suggest you talk to the school about a dyslexia assessment. Touch typing is an excellent way of speeding up a child's writing and there are a number of apps and programs that you can download. Two that I have used with children are tux type (free download) and nessy fingers which there is a fee for.

Often when children have physical difficulties with pen grip and control it can be helpful to look at their gross motor control too. Strength and stability in the shoulders is essential for writing as is the ability to cross the midline with control. Activities such as dance and gymnastics can be really helpful as well as Lego etc. Lefthandedness should not cause the difficulties you describe although sadly many left handers struggle because they are not taught good habits with their pen grip and there can be lower expectations of what left handers are able to achieve in terms of neat handwriting.

[Cora]

I think there is a potential research study in all this - boys with messy handwriting and under diagnosed hypermobility etc..

My son's problems really came to a fore when they started joined up writing. Another sign was writing that gets smaller and smaller across a page as they try to keep control of the pencil.

I think touch typing is really important to prepare them for longer work at secondary school. The OT we saw at Sunshine house showed me how much effort my son was putting in just to write a sentence...it affected his whole posture and explained why, although enthusiastic, he was exhausted after a couple of sentences. He now has a posture pack and cushion that he uses at school as well as a yuk-e ball to squeeze on throughout the day. We have sourced extra big pencil grips (pm me if you want details I'll look them up) and he does lots of exercise to strengthen his core strength.

He is not obviously hypermobile anywhere else so quite subtle and easily overlooked. Feel very relieved we caught it in time to be able to support him.

[anchortutors]

Hi,

I run a small local tutoring business. I have an excellent tutor currently tutoring a boy in handwriting. I have had very positive feedback from the boy's mother and would highly recommend this tutor if you would like some 1 to 1 support for your son.

He is a fully qualified, experienced teacher and is also working on creative writing with the boy who is at primary school.

Please call me for more information and a chat as I believe we can help.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Fran

07966 844067

[m bond]

Hi i have just seen your post if you need to go privately (the school may not think there is enough of a problem to refer for an ed psych) there is a lovely local clinical psychologist who assessed my nephew for dyslexia. she did an excellent assessment and was really lovely with him. she used to work at great ormond street and her name is Monique Cloherty www.clinicalneuropsychologist.co.uk. good luck!

[Tinkerbell.]

Colouring,drawing is a good way to exercise hand. My son made an amazing progress since we've started it as a quiet time activity every day before dinner. Re:writing we had the books where he had to copy lots of all shapes of lines. I blame the schools for the bad handwriting,they are rushed to quickly to write letters,long before the hands are fully developed to do that,it's hard to correct them after couple of years of messing the letters up...in some countries children start school at the age of 7 and don't need to write more than few lines till they are 9,here they are sitting exams at the age of 7...I am sure he is brilliant at something else! I only did the extra staff as I was getting fed up at seeing 9!books in year 1!full of awful writing and I couldn't believe that they have to write so much without learning how to write letters properly first:(.

[damzel]

Same story here - the areas of concern you mention are exactly the same as my daughter who is now 7 in Y2 and was diagnosed dyslexic last Sept.

Through Y1 we suspected an issue and the school were recommended by Sunshine House to test for dyslexia (this is a school responsibility apparently) however the school said that they didn't test until year 3 or 4 which we felt was much too late, especially considering our daughter was fast losing confidence and was struggling to understand why she couldn't perform the same as her peers.

We decided to get a private assessment which was expensive but worth every penny. Fortunately, the school accepted the assessment and my daughter now gets specific assistance with the dyslexia and (importantly) understanding and support in the classroom. I say "fortunately" because I found out afterwards that schools do not always accept independant assessments as they can be manipulated by parents who want additional support for their children who may not actually warrant it. However, the lady that we used is well known to Sunshine House and the school system so they were happy with it and actually pleased to have such thorough information to work with.

I am still keen for her to learn to write so am holding off on the typing side for the moment (you can't type greeting cards can you) but as the work gets harder and the content more important, we will move to typing.

Good luck Bishberro, it's extremely stressful not knowing what and if there is a specific issue. I have heard that some children are just late starters and it all starts to slip into place at around age 7. We are seeing a bit of that now ourselves thank goodness. I hate our educational system that has such high expectations of young kids - all this will do is create unconfident, insecure and perhaps rebelliousness from those children who arent ready at such a young age.