Does My Child’s Handwriting Matter?

Many people may say, “Handwriting doesn’t need to be taught. It doesn’t matter because we are in a digital world.”

But many parents I speak with continue to ask and wonder, “How come they don’t teach handwriting anymore in school?”

Perhaps on this blog post I can get some currently employed teachers

to chime in on the issue from their state and local school.

Are teachers teaching handwriting?

If not, what is the thing that is hindering that process?

If there is an issue with the way the child is holding a pencil, are the parents TOLD ABOUT IT?

Are the parents given resources and recommendations for improving the issue?

Parents, if your child is NOT learning handwriting at school, YOU can teach it!

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What I have been seeing in my tutoring experience since leaving the school system is that children at the very least have been given low expectations in the area of handwriting.

I get it. Choose your battles. You’ve got “bigger fish to fry.” There are so many issues that need tending to in the modern American classroom. However, I think it is still possible to teach handwriting! Let’s talk about a doable way:

1. Draw Attention to Handwriting

   With my own children and other children I have taught, they LOVE to be told they did a good job. They love verbal praise or even recognition like a simple smiley face or a sticker on the page.

Sometimes complimenting a child’s handwriting is the very thing that motivates him to continue to try harder and motivates another child to try better as well!

On the topic of motivation, remember that expectations mean so much! I once had a tutoring parent ask if I could give handwriting lessons. I said that I would, and then I asked the child to give me a writing sample. As he began writing, it was perfectly clear that he could write neatly! After his mother picked her jaw up off the floor I told her, “See! He had it in him all along. Now you know he CAN write better.”

2. Make time for handwriting instruction.

I know what you’re thinking. “There isn’t time!” While it’s true that many teachers are micromanaged and there may not be time to insert a 20 minute handwriting lesson, let me assure you there are other ways!

—Implement 1-2 letters to teach during your “morning meeting” time.

—Post a chart with directions (with arrows) on how to form the letters—especially problem letters.

—Combine some handwriting instruction with spelling or phonics time. If your students use personal dry erase boards, you can review handwriting as you practice spelling words. The same is true for phonics lessons.

—Use verbal sayings for handwriting as you spell something on the board. Handwriting Without Tears has some excellent sayings to help the child know where to start and which direction to direct the pencil.

When I taught third grade, I told myself I’d teach cursive to the students after the state testing was finished near the end of the school year. I tried, but I ran out of time. Instead, if I had GRADUALLY taught a few letters each day (grouping them into similar categories),

it would have been MUCH MORE POSSIBLE!

Parents, you can make time too! It can be as simple as prioritizing practice and purchasing a handwriting workbook. Implement your own motivation system or reward.

3. Don’t forget about motor skill activities!

Parents, if your child (Teachers, if your student..) has a problem holding a pencil properly it will likely affect handwriting. It will also affect the overall comfort of the student when writing more and writing for longer periods of time. There can be several interventions you can take to fix the problem:

—Practice more gross motor skills (throwing a ball back and forth, jumping rope, etc.)

—Practice more fine motor skills (shaping Play-doh in all sorts of shapes, using Wiki sticks or pipe cleaners to bend into shapes, and CUTTING paper—a biggie!). It matters! Lesson the screen time the child is getting, and get their hands and arms to work doing fun, but challenging activities.

After consistent practice, your child might not find it quite so difficult to hold the pencil in an acceptable and ergonomic way.

If a child is older (mid to late elementary), it can be more difficult to correct the pencil grasp. HOWEVER, my personal opinion would be to work through it and fix it anyway. Consider practicing some in the evening, weekends and especially during the summer. You can have your child use a small pencil grip that helps train their hand to hold the pencil correctly when you are not with your child. This is not a simple, overnight solution. It does take time. It is worth it, however, to increase your child speed of writing and legibility, which will overall help with homework.

For my own child who needed practice holding a pencil properly, I provided plenty of interesting coloring pages and half-sized crayons to help him color and train his fingers to hold the utensil with a dynamic tripod grasp. I sat and colored with him and did not give up. Anytime he was going to write or color, I sat near him to be sure he was practicing correctly. He fixed the grasp in about 2-3 months.

WHY IS HANDWRITING IMPORTANT?

• Communication—Answering questions, writing legibly, writing letters, and so on

• Assignments completed in a timely manner—Students draw math pictures, show work in math problems with multiple steps.

• Brain research shows we remember things better when we write them down vs. typing them.

I was just working with a tutoring student recently who was working through his school workbook on the concept of multiplication and arrays. The book had lines for him to write on and areas in which to draw the arrays. Because of poor pencil grip, he struggled to write in a timely manner and in a tidy way. Poor handwriting spills over into other subjects. It DOES matter.

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Remember, YOU are your child’s most influential teacher.