Handwriting help please

mamabird73

Wed, Nov 04 2020, 8:38 pm

A multi-sensory approach might help. You can print and laminate some abc playdough mats to give him a better sense of word formation. Also practicing writing with different sensory material I.e. sand, rice, shaving cream can help solidify the correct way to form words. Make sure that he is holding his pen or use a thin marker instead correctly before he starts, and try and encourage him to alway start his letters and numbers from the top of the line (with my preschoolers, we sing that phrase with a little tune to remind them every time they write). Hope this helps! Feel free to pm for more ideas. Good luck with your new little wordsmith Smile

amother

Brunette

Wed, Nov 04 2020, 8:42 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My 5 year old is just starting to learn to write and it is terrible. His grip is wrong even though I showed him how to hold his marker or whatever he is using, and his letter formation is very poor. Any suggestions on how I can help him at home?

He just started learning how to write, give him time! It's normal for the writing to be terrible in the beginning, it takes lot's of practice to get a nice handwriting. You can't expect perfection yet. If you're really concerned, talk to his teacher to get an idea of what's normal and what you can expect from him at this point.

amother

Lawngreen

Mon, Nov 09 2020, 8:48 pm

I am an OT (relatively new to the field though). What I can tell you, the fact that you are noticing this and reaching out for help is amazing. If you can reach out to an OT, that's the best. Schools in some areas have OT's in the school, and your son could possibly be approved to receive services in school. This is not available everywhere though unfortunately. Without seeing the child, it's hard to say where the issue comes from exactly. In terms of grasp- this is often based in a weak core, shoulder girdle which you can strengthen by doing activities like playing games laying on his stomach, animal walks (you can look up videos or pictures to show you some), parachute games (lifting and lowering arms) etc. To work on fine motor skills, again hard to say without seeing him, putty and playdoh are great for strengthening if you think the grasp has to do with weakness in his hand. You can hide beads in putty (best is theraputty which comes in different strengths- you can order off amazon. I have green color for my 4 year old) and have him use his fingers to find. Activities using tongs are great to encourage using the three fingers you need for a good grasp. He would use the tongs to pick up and transfer small objects such as pom poms into a container and have his middle and pointer finger on one side and thumb on the other. Ring and pinky stay tucked into palm- you can put a cotton ball or pom pom there to help him remember to keep those fingers down. It is good to use smaller writing utensils as that will encourage the proper grip- so broken crayons, golf pencils etc. because the child won't be able to fit all of their fingers around something that size. There are also grips which can help. I know for my son, I like the handi-writer- google it. You can hack your own with a rubber band or ponytail but it can be annoying in terms of erasing etc. In terms of forming the letters- as a previous poster mentioned, multisensory is the way to go! Have your child use his body to form letters, use his finger/arm to draw letters in the air. He can use different mediums from shaving cream to trays with rice to a mini chalkboard (google wet dry try) to forming letters out of pretzels or noodles. If you do find an OT, which I highly recommend, they will see if there are any visual perceptual issues connected to the difficulty forming letters. If you have access to youtube, there are various videos that OT's have posted with fun activities to work on skills. There are also programs. I have heard of one called fantastic fingers with lots of activities, videos, and songs, as well as more info. It seems good to me but I can't say for sure. Please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I have only been working a little over a year, but I hope this is helpful. Also, if these things do not seem to help, definitely consider seeing an OT since sometimes this isn't something you can hack on your own.

amother

Burlywood

Tue, Nov 10 2020, 12:05 pm

amother [ Lawngreen ] wrote:

So, so nice that you shared practical tips and techniques!!

Smile

Tizki lemitzvos, and hatzlacha in your career. You sound passionate and experienced.