Rhonda
Helping Kids with LD Tame the Handwriting Monster
By Margie Gillis, Ed.D
While computers have rendered handwriting less important, pen and paper are still the primary tools for completing most assignments through high school. If your child, like many children with learning disabilities, also struggles with penmanship, it’s important to know that skill can be improved with the right instruction.
If your child’s handwriting difficulty stems from weak fine motor skills, an occupational therapist can recommend exercises to strengthen the muscles required to write. Research, however, suggests that poor handwriting is more often the result of weak letter knowledge than motor difficulties.
In kindergarten, children are expected to memorize the name, shape and orientation of letters. Many children who have poor writing also have problems learning to read and spell. In the past 20 years, handwriting instruction has been replaced with computer class, eliminating the explicit, systematic instruction that is essential for students with learning disabilities. For these kids, handwriting instruction, a lower-level process, is critical to the development of higher-level thought and written expression.
When handwriting is slow and labored it interferes with the thought process. Kids with LD often forget what they are trying to communicate because they’re expending so much energy and attention on producing the letters. To make matters worse, teachers often judge a student’s work on the basis of his penmanship. Students who struggle in this area often develop an antipathy to writing and avoid it at all costs.
If your child’s handwriting difficulty stems from weak fine motor skills, an occupational therapist can recommend exercises to strengthen the muscles required to write. Research, however, suggests that poor handwriting is more often the result of weak letter knowledge than motor difficulties.
In kindergarten, children are expected to memorize the name, shape and orientation of letters. Many children who have poor writing also have problems learning to read and spell. In the past 20 years, handwriting instruction has been replaced with computer class, eliminating the explicit, systematic instruction that is essential for students with learning disabilities. For these kids, handwriting instruction, a lower-level process, is critical to the development of higher-level thought and written expression.
When handwriting is slow and labored it interferes with the thought process. Kids with LD often forget what they are trying to communicate because they’re expending so much energy and attention on producing the letters. To make matters worse, teachers often judge a student’s work on the basis of his penmanship. Students who struggle in this area often develop an antipathy to writing and avoid it at all costs.
Tips To Improve Writing Skills
- Be sure to get a proper diagnosis. If the problem is poor fine-motor skills, make sure the school provides an appropriate intervention.
- If your child has additional difficulty with reading and spelling, handwriting should be taught directly and explicitly and incorporated into systematic instruction in decoding (sounding out words) and spelling.
- Avoid being critical of your child’s writing. Because it is difficult for her, reward her accomplishments and encourage her efforts.
- As your child gets older, encourage him to learn how to keyboard and use the computer for written assignments. For many, the most difficult tasks are organizing their thoughts and translating the ideas from head to mouth to hand. Ask the school about software to help with those tasks.
- When all else fails, be your child’s scribe. As important as it is for her to learn to write correctly and legibly and to practice this skill, there are times when we all need a break from those activities that cause blood, sweat and tears.
Take Action
Make a point to ask for explicit writing instruction. Ideally, this should begin in kindergarten with letter formation and spelling. This type of instruction taps kinesthetic (tactile) learning, especially important for children with reading and writing difficulties, and helps them develop the fluent writing skills necessary in later grades.
Handwriting draws on letter knowledge. As a child learns how to form letters and spell words, he is also reinforcing other skills, including letter naming, phonemic awareness of individual sounds within words, and word reading. Furthermore, it is extremely motivating for a child to be able to produce writing that he as well as others can easily read! Above are some tips to help make that happen.
The author is the President of Literacy How and a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories for the study of spoken and written language.
Make a point to ask for explicit writing instruction. Ideally, this should begin in kindergarten with letter formation and spelling. This type of instruction taps kinesthetic (tactile) learning, especially important for children with reading and writing difficulties, and helps them develop the fluent writing skills necessary in later grades.
Handwriting draws on letter knowledge. As a child learns how to form letters and spell words, he is also reinforcing other skills, including letter naming, phonemic awareness of individual sounds within words, and word reading. Furthermore, it is extremely motivating for a child to be able to produce writing that he as well as others can easily read! Above are some tips to help make that happen.
The author is the President of Literacy How and a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories for the study of spoken and written language.
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