Penmanship Question--esp. for educators/psychologists...

[Anonymous]

When is an appropriate age to work with a child on writing?

My 4+ yr old girl can write most letters, but writes many of them "creatively," and pays no attention to the size and/or spacing of her letters.

I have no problem with this! I'm just wondering when is an appropriate (i.e. not anxiety-inducing) age to start showing her the right way. Or should we leave it to her kindergarten teacher?

I should mention that she's already displaying some perfectionistic and anxious tendencies, and I don't want to make her completely batty.

[zumbamama]

I'm not a psychologist or child educator, but I have always enjoyed calligraphy. I have been working on writing letter forms with DCs since they were 3, but I didn't see any real interest in handwriting until they watched me do my calligraphy one day (at age 4 and 7). I showed them my book and gave them a set of practice sheets and to my surprise, they were actually enthused about making perfect, pretty letters! I have them practice calligraphy regularly now and it has helped improve DC's regular handwriting...although, sometimes he gets too fancy with the serifs now.

[Anonymous]

As an educator for the past 13 years and a parent of 2 little ones I would not stress her out. I would probably let her K teacher handle most of it and reinforce at home.
I do practice writing with my 3.5 year old at home 3-4 nights a weeks for a few minutes...or as long as she is intrested that day. But she is not stressed out about it. I was in a K room everyday this past year- they practice handwriting daily..at least at my school in MCPS....no worries...she will getit

[Anonymous]

By PreK my kids knew the proper way to write letters as well as the funky ways. They wrote the correct way in school but could use fun printing on things other than schoolwork. My older is in Gr. 3 and uses cursive on everything except artwork-type things.

One key thing I heard from their teachers - please teach them lower case letters when spelling their names!

[Anonymous]

OP here: When I said my DD writes "creatively," I meant INCORRECTLY! (I was trying to be less than harsh.)
For example, an "R" is a circle with 2 lines coming off the bottom (like legs).

TIA!

[Anonymous]

I'm not an educator or psychologist either. My older son is nearly 6 and in Kindergarten at the moment. (We're posted in the southern hemisphere so it's winter and school is in session). He's having difficulties with handwriting and I've been working with him and his teacher on it. He started writing letters at about age 4, but with lots of reversals and spacing/size problems. He used to write his name all over the page, with the letters in random spots with some backwards. He holds the pencil incorrectly. Now at age 5 he can write capital and small letters, but not very quickly. It's frustrating for him.

I've bought a handwriting teaching system (Handwriting Without Tears) at the recommendation of posters on the dcum Special Needs board. I wish I'd gotten it earlier because he has some bad habits to unlearn.

So my advice would be to watch what your daughter is doing, and try to help her if she's got problems with holding the pen/pencil. Forming perfect letters will come in time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When is an appropriate age to work with a child on writing?

My 4+ yr old girl can write most letters, but writes many of them "creatively," and pays no attention to the size and/or spacing of her letters.

I have no problem with this! I'm just wondering when is an appropriate (i.e. not anxiety-inducing) age to start showing her the right way. Or should we leave it to her kindergarten teacher?

I should mention that she's already displaying some perfectionistic and anxious tendencies, and I don't want to make her completely batty.

I think any activity that develops the muscles in the hands is a good thing. Use playdoh, Legos, blocks, etc. If she likes mazes, get a book of fun mazes instead of focusing just on letter formation. My son is also 4 and can write his first name but even w/ lines, he writes some letters smaller than others and some go above or below the line. He will write his name sooooo much over the course of the next 2 or 3 yrs, he will get it. My son also has dry erase cards for teaching the right way to print lower and uppercase. He is sometimes interested in them but most of the time not. If she chooses to do something like that, let her but don't push it.