HELP with writing letters and numbers

First, back of a bit. Five-to-six year olds are not always very coordinated and these kinds of problems with writing are within the normal range. Pressure to do it now is not going to help. Slow down, start from the beginning, and he should get there.
I speak from experience; my gifted-but-dysgraphic daughter couldn’t write anything readable until Grade 2, and I myself was a lost cause until Grade 3. Yes, it can be taught, and yes, it takes time.

Second, throw out (I mean this literally) all the yellow pencils and wax crayons. Don’t have him even try to form letters with something that requires pressure. Get lots of markers of various sorts and either a big whiteboard or lots and lots of *big* white paper (sold for classrooms, presentations, art classes, etc.). And never, never the backs of garbage please.

Don’t start with letter forms. Leave those alone for a while. First have him make sweeping lines, one smooth swoop, less than a second, across the page left to right. NOT little tight stuff with his eye an inch from the point of the pencil and his weight forced on his hand and little jerky forced moves. Work on moving consistently left to right. Then lots of large swooping lines top to bottom. Then patterns of zigzags, down-up-down-up, moving quickly and smoothly across the paper, *always* left to right and *always* top to bottom. Big and loose, maybe two to four inches high.
Important — you are trying to retrain the kinesthetic sense as well as the visual, and help him develop a light and free writing. Small, tight, pressured stuff with the eye right on top of the pencil is not only inefficient and exhausting, it also doesn’t have enough motion to get a message of the correct motion/direction back to the brain.
After a day or two when he’s smooth with these, intoduce rounded valleys, like making a whole bunch of cursive i’s or u’s all connected, again in strict direction and order; and mountains or hills, like making an infinitely continued cursive m.
When he is moving fairly smoothly with those, work on *counterclockwise* circles; make a big circle two to four inches in diameter, and going over and over it *lightly* and *quickly* (a second or two, max). Practice doing this can lead to near-perfect circles — that’s how you know you have a good free motion.
Then work on loops, like cursive l’s connected; then breaking waves, like a bunch of cursive c’s connected. Again, large, quick, and smooth.
He should find all these exercises fun to master.

Once he is working well and smoothly, reintroduce letter shapes *one at a time* and connected by formation patterns.
Do them with NO pressure on the hand with markers; and do them LARGE and smooth and quick, not tiny and tight. It’s the pencil and tiny and tight that has failed you so far, so try something different.

Consistent letter formations are vitally important. These develop a rhythm in writing that makes it possible to work quickly and smoothly; you want writing to be semi-automatic so that you can keep most of your mind on the content and very little attention on the physical act, so the less variation and judgement required for the physical action, the better. Also, the purpose of writing is to be read, whether by yourself or others, and smooth consistent formation allows for quick writing that is still readable.

Consistent letter formations can be outlined in four simple policies:
1. Make the left side of the letter first and the right after; this prevents backtracking all over yourself and smearing, and it will allow cursive later.
2. Always make the main lines of the letter top to bottom. This creates a rhythm and also allows for a relaxed pen grip (pushing up hard is fatiguing).
3. Letters that open with a circle — all circle letters except b and p — are made counterclockwise; this agrees with 1., making the left side of the circle first and exiting on the right.
4. As far as possible, make letters without pen lifts. This allows smoothness and speed. The only necessary pen lifts are in f, k, t, x, and the dots on i and j.

First the straight letters, i, l, t, and the numbers 1 and 7 and 4 (and teach the two-piece 4, down and across and pick up and down again — the effort to make a one piece always turns into a y or a mess) — and make absolutely sure he’s doing them top to botttom and crossing the t left to right. Stop and correct him if he reverses. Hey, if a t can be made in either direction, why not a 3 or a 7? So correct.

You’re doing one at a time, maybe a day or more on each; don’t rush! The goal is to get the whole system right in two to four months, which you *can* succed in at the rate of one or less per day. On the other hand, you can rush through it all in two weeks and try to remediate for the next several years; not a profit.

Then the zigzags, v and w which are done without pen lifts down-up, and x which is made with two *downwards* strokes, and z which is made moving *forwards* (left to right) and the numbers 2 and 3 which also move *forwards*

Then the valley and bump letters, m, n, h, r, u, j and the semi-cursive y (made like a u with a tail like a g — neater and easier than the cross y which always turns into an x) ; again watch top to bottom and left to right, absolute. If he starts the m or n at the bottom and makes two bumps without the leading stroke, or if he starts at the bottom and scribbles up and down and up and down (I have students who do all of these, not inventions) or other such breaks in the pattern, stop him and start again.

Then the circle-start letters, o, c, e, a, d, g, q, and the number 9, (made like a q only higher, or like a high a extended down), and s which starts the same, and 8 which is like an s but closed back upwards; noting that all of them open with a *counterclockwise* circle. Be especially forceful about the d, which is NOT formed the same as the b — that’s the problem you’re trying to get at, so don’t let errors become habits any more.

Then the harder to classify letters; b which is like an h but closed in a clockwise circle underneath; f which starts at the *top* curved sort of like the circle letters, and ends with the crossing going forward, left to right; k which is made *downwards* as a bar and then a little arrow in and out (please, not a v with a crutch — ugly and awkward), p which goes below the line first then back up and around the ball clockwise, 5 which is made down and around and pick up the pen and finish moving forwards, and 6 which is made down and around the ball.

Doing one letter a day, you practice that letter alone many many times over, and then you combine it with previously done letters to make lots and lots of words.

This slow but sure approach generrally gets there in the end. Take it one step at a time and get each step right, and you’ll get there.

You need to have him evaluated for a vision problem by a developmental optometrist.

Look for one that requires alot of homework (that is what it takes) and addresses issues like directionality, visual processing, and motor coordination.

All developmental optometrists are not created equal. IMHO

where is it written that a 5 yo should be printing, maybe your son is not ready,

slow down and let him set the pace instead of you,

dave

Hi Victoria, I spend most of my time on the ReadNow board, but am so glad I came here tonight, as your post was so informational. We all learn from each other; thanks for the insight.
Sincerely, Leslie in S. CA.

I work with a 6 y/o child with severe fine motor and gross motor problems. His occupational therapist suggested handwriting without tears. It works really well. Buy the teacher’s manual. The rest of the materials can be made to cut down on costs.