? for Victoria-spatial problems when writing.

I definitely do not go with the popsicle stick or finger between words to measure, definitely slow and clunky and an interference to fluency in writing, self-defeating in the long run.

I actually *encourage* students to write large at first.
Large, clear, fluent writing is so much more *useful* than small cramped all-wrong and reversed writing!

One of my students in Grade 3 still writes very large and although he can form cursive he still prefers a loose print. What the heck, he is writing on or above grade level for content, in his second language with good grammar yet, when a year ago in Grade 2 he couldn’t write “it”. This is fantastic progress and needs to be seen as such.

If things are as bad as you say, definitely look into vision therapy. No guarantees but always worth investigation.

If he is getting teased by other students, he can hand in his stuff inside duotang folders.
And/or he can learn some snappy answers appropriate to the age group — you know, like “So what if my writing is sloppy, at least I can … (add in the hundreds, play the saxophone, find my way in the woods, dive off the high board … whatever skill he has that the other kids in his group don’t)

If I were working with him, I would *for the moment* completely ignore the physical appearance of his writing. And as far as they will cooperate, I would ask his teachers to let it be for a limited period of time; tell them you are taking six months to try to re-train his writing habits and unfortunately things often get a little messy before you finish the spring cleaning.
Then I would work on getting him to make smooth and free hand and arm motions, yes large at first. Uneven and inconsistent spacing is a sign he is forcing, working against himself.

This may sound silly, but have him practice letter forms and later words with his eyes closed; first in the air and then on a whiteboard or with soft chalk on a blackboard, again quite large. After a little practice you can write quite readable words — I’ve written more than one telephone message in the dark. (Try it yourself) Once he gets the idea that writing is a *physical* action, and he doesn’t need to worry so much about looking at it, oddly enough the looks tend to improve, because good-looking writing comes from a smooth rhythm, not a tight concentration on details.

After he gets a freer arm and hand motion, have him practice each individual letter many times over, first large and then medium small — I would still use a kindergarten writing pad with the large double lines for height guidelines until he has the relative positions straight — and then on normal lined paper, watching that the relative positions (tall, short, and tails) stay consistent. The idea is to overlearn each letter form so he is not focusing on the letter forms as he writes words.
Go step by step from one letter to short words to longer words to sentences. Word spacing is done simply by picking up the pen and jumping a letter-sized space; again the eyes closed can actually get a feel for this.
You can use something like the Avko spelling lists to get lots of related words to practice.

The best rule is to make haste slowly, tne or fifteen minutes a day only, playing a little with large shapes on the whiteboard, until he is working comfortably.

Thanks so much Victoria. We have tried vision therapy…for six months and no progress. My son really wants to learn cursive. Should I insist that he learn to print legibly first? What do you think about the Handwriting without Tears method in combination with the white-board/air/eyes-closed writing strategies that you suggest? Or would I be wasting my time?

Kell,

My son moved from the dysfunctional category with writing to low average doing Interactive Metronome. Before doing IM, he couldn’t write a paragraph no matter what. Afterwards, he was able to. It was as though he had absorbed the instruction but was hampered by his motor skills.

My son can do wonderful cursive for practice but cannot do it and think. He also cannot write a final copy in ink. This is one battle I refused to let him fight. He does not have to write in cursive for school and anything needing to be in final form can be typed.

Beth

If he wants to learn cursive, go for it.
Cursive was invented to be smooth and flowing and fast, and if it is taught functionally it will become easier than print — takes a year or so of work to automatize, but it does get there.
Cursive is clearer on directionality than print and can be a help in some cases.

Use a good pen with a smooth flow to make the cursive really cursive. Don’t worry a bout the mess at first; it will clear up in time.

One thing with cursive that may sound silly and nitpicking but is actually fundamental — those “extra” lines in a cursive leter, the add-ons more than a printed letter, are CONNECTING lines. Not decoration, not part of the meaning, but simply lines that flow from one letter to the next. The best, most functional way to do cursive is to start andf finish each letter halfway between the bottom and middle lines, the height of the middle of a small o or i. Then the letters line up and snap together like Legos.
In an attempt to make writing “elegant”, many teachers show kids that they absolutely *must* make all cursive letters starting from the base line; well, if you do this in words like “on” or “both” or “bat” or “fall” or many others, you get a weird extra shape in between the letters that makes the word unreadable, and you also get terrible confusion between n and m. Avoid this start from the bottom rule and avoid books that use it.

You can also use a more print-like closed b and p and a print-like r, which make the cursive more readable anyhow and only the most finicking teachers will argue with it.
You can use print-like and-or simplified capital letters as well, more readable and simpler to learn. My daughter never did learn the official cursive capitals.

I have not used Handwriting Without Tears myself but someone (des?) posted samples and the general approach seems to be well-planned. I don’t care for the cutesiness of the explanations but you can apparently do the practices without that.

Thanks Beth and Victoria,
Victoria—I will absolutely use your suggestions. You’ve hit on a problem that has been tormenting my son! His teacher kept insisting he start at the baseline—and we know that does NOT work for the letters you mentioned. That’s why I like the Handwriting w/out Tears method. I think this will work well if I use the air writing and other methods you describe.

So about a year, with daily practice and we should see improvement? My goal is to get him fluently handwriting by middle school (6th grade here in Los Angeles)which is 2 years from now. I think ten or fifteen minutes a day of practice is doable. Do you think it’s ok to introduce keyboarding at this time too? I don’t want to throw too much new stuff at him at once?
Any particular pen brands that you prefer?

Victoria’s suggestions definitely work very nicely with HWT, they actually complement each other. The suggestions re: use of pens, erasing, etc. go along nicely with HWTs concepts of “good” practice vs practicing a lot and that sort of thing. They are also not so keen on grips, there are exceptions I got an idea from them with a child with more of a CP type grasp and it worked very well. I think Victoria would like the “wet/dry/try” technique.

—des

I am iffy about keyboarding. These days of course you need it and of course he will have to learn it. Question is when, where, and how.
Problems that crop up: (a) The ” yippee, now we don’t have to teach the hard stuff” philosophy — too many people including teachers who should know better assume that once he starts keyboarding he can forget handwriting forever, which is just not true (we see the same thing with calculators and teachers who just stop teaching arithmetic). I would tend to try to keep him writing by hand as long as he can keep up with the class, and improve handwriting as you are already doing.
(b) Time that should be spent on learning content spent instead on mechanical process of keyboarding practice.
(c) For some of us, definitely including myself and daughter, the handwriting issue isone of general fine coordination and physical maturity; keyboarding is *harder* for us to learn than writing, not that writing was easy. The “Keyboarding will solve all problems” people refuse to listen to this and can cause even more pain and frustration.
My personal choice, all other things being equal, would be a summer keyboarding-specific class, where you check out to make sure it isn’t hig-pressure, and then type major projects and assignments but still handwrite little stuff day to day.

Pens: Mrs. Ross (bless her) made us, us being a group of 35 third-graders, use dip pens and inkwells. Her idea was that if you made a mistake, you’d know it — the Montessori approach of self-correcting media. Messy for a month or so and then we had a lifetime skill — that’s why I bless her regularly. My daughter took a calligraphy class at around age 11 with the same pens, and it did her good too.
My personal preference, used ever since Grade 4 as long as I can find a supply for them, is the Scheaffer refillable cartridge fountain pen fine point: absolutely no pressure on the hand, nice hand feel, cheap enough to carry a few in my jeans pocket and not throw a fit if lost, *really* cool appearance of finished writing (especially with turquoise, purple, or green inks), and since you refill the ink (replacing cartridge supply is the only hangup), in the long run costs less for a year than ballpoints or yellow pencils. Scheaffer calligraphy sets are also fun.
For ordinary disposable use, rolling writers and/or gel pens (love the sparkly ones) — just test a few brands to find those that flow well — or super-fine point markers — both available in many varieties at office supply stores. Make sure to throw them out when they get dry and difficult.

My 11yo son also has Dysgraphia. He is working on Handwriting in school, however over the summer we bought him Knowledge Adventures Jump Start Typing. This is a typing program in a game format that appeals to this age group. The games are snowboarding, rock climbing, skateboarding etc. They also have to take “lessons” because they are trying to win the “Keyboarding Olympics”. He was very resistent at first, but after only a couple of days into it (we require 30 min. per day) he loves it. They get short term goal awards based on accuracy, and speed is what they need to “unlock the coach”. It adjusts itself to the speed of the student.

Again, this is just something we are working on over the summer. During the school year, he will do his assignments on a keyboard, while working with the SPED teacher (and hopefully the OT) on his handwriting skills.

Just be aware that this type of program doesn’t necessarily teach touch typing. He may improve his “hunt and peck” speed. To ensure that he is learning not to monitor his finger position, tape a piece of paper over his hands so that he truly has his vision occluded.
I’ve tried this program with students and haven’t been impressed with the results when students haven’t been monitored to make sure they are looking only at the monitor.

Kell, I sent you a PM. Jan