How to teach Your child to write

Research is showing handwriting IS important

There is an assumption that teaching handwriting is irrelevant in the 21st century.  People assume because we spend so much time typing our text that it is unnecessary to teach handwriting to our children.  Actually, this is not true, research has revealed the correlation between handwriting and reading fluency.

In fact, proper efficient handwriting impacts reading fluency.  A representative from Peterson Handwriting shared with Nora Chanbazi from EBLI that if kids can write 40 letters in a minute, they will not have reading problems. Stop and think about this. This is one easy way to help our children become strong readers. It has stronger effects when completed in the primary years.

Students commonly try to write letters by just seeing them.  It is great that they are trying to form their letters; however, handwriting is a skill.  And like any other skill, handwriting involves direct demonstration, formation of good habits, and repeated accuracy.  Students are only able to learn this through explicit handwriting instruction.

Handwriting Instruction Impacts:

While explicitly teaching handwriting, I have seen my tutoring students increase fluency in multiple areas that impact literacy.

Writing fluency	Processing Speed
Reading fluency	Working Memory
Sequencing	Learning
Phonemic Awareness	Letter Sounds
Simultaneous Processing	Timing and Rhythm
General Reading	Attention and Focus
Confidence and Perseverance	Handwriting

How to help your child write properly

Now that we know that proper handwriting is highly connected to reading fluency, I am going to share with you some things to consider when helping your child to write.

Habits for great handwriting

It is important to instill the habits of good handwriting into your child.  Consider doing it in a non-nagging way.  Just gently give reminders.

 Good handwriting habits require a lot of accurate practice so that muscle memory can be formed.  The longer the child practices incorrectly, the harder it is to break the habit.  Be particular in this area now to help lessen the stress in the future.  Remember every student progresses differently, so give the appropriate challenges based on the abilities of the child.

So you might be thinking what the good habits of handwriting are.  That is a perfect question!  I would say there are 3 good handwriting habits to form.

1. Proper Pencil Grasp
2. Proper letter formation and spacing
3. Say the letter formation steps out loud until letters are formed accurately and automatically

Here is an example for habit number 3. If you are wanting the child to form lower case u, they can say, “Smile line, short line down, U.” This approach solidifies the names of the letters and eventually words.

Even though teaching handwriting seems unconnected to reading, it is actually a proactive step in the process of internalizing letters and eventually putting them together into words.

If you are thinking “Oh no!  My child has bad handwriting habits.” Don’t fear; there is still hope.  We can assess the student’s formation of each letter and provide the necessary instruction and practice time necessary for each targeted letter. For example, if the student is unable to form the lowercase a, and you notice that it is backwards. The child can practice making the curly c. And then the short line down. This isolated sensory practice solidifies the brains connection with how to form the letter accurately.

Remind him or her to have full attention.  It will be helpful to give reminders throughout the day.

How to form each letter of the alphabet

I have created little sayings that will help form each letter.  Watch the video here.

If your child struggles to form the letters you may need to break the task down into smaller pieces by practicing a particular line.  It is recommended that they start out making a few well and getting it proficiently and then increasing the number required.  When those lines are more perfected, you can try to put two lines together to form the letter. Watch this YouTube video to learn more.

Time for lots of practice 🙂

You will also want to make sure that your child is writing multiple times a day.  We want to model that we don’t just do proper writing during writing time, but that it transfers over in day-to-day activities.  As you see your child writing in different scenarios, watch for any errors.  If an error is spotted, give helpful feedback that can help the child.  For example, if you see a backwards p.  You could say, “Johnny, look at the ‘p’, what is wrong with it?”  See if he can point out the error.  Then you could practice saying the saying that goes with it.  Remember we do “long line down hook around.” 

Now with giving the feedback in both instructional time and outside of school time, I am not saying to be a pest, but do find a good balance between this.  You can also give praise once you notice that something that was a struggle is now being formed correctly.  

Having the incremental reminders and feedback in different environments will make a stronger impact than just during instructional time. So, you could change the time of day, the room, or the materials used for practice. You will just want to make sure you are reiterating the good habits.

Summary

Remember, we want to find the just right spot for our writers. There is a lot to learn and overcome, but with focus, effort, and perseverance, it can be accomplished in due time. We don’t want to make it too hard or too easy but just right.  Next week we will discuss ways to adjust handwriting practice to help your child progress and build confidence, but still be challenged.

If you would like to learn more about how handwriting relates to reading, head over to EBLI and read this post based on research.