Now that it is almost the end of October, many parents and teachers can see which children are having difficulty with handwriting in school. Handwriting is a skill that requires specific learning, practice, and refinement. It is easy to underestimate the amount of skill that goes into learning handwriting. This is a subject that is not taught in the schools in the USA as it once was. Back when I was a grammar school student, "penmanship" was an actual subject listed on our report card! As schools have had to increase test scores and accountability in recent history, the teaching of handwriting has suffered. This is not a skill that children can just see once and be expected to learn proficiently. Good handwriting requires strong visual-motor skills, kinesthesia (muscle memory), visual-perceptual skills, fine motor strength, bilateral control, and coordination. Children who fall behind in handwriting skills often suffer from low self esteem and a sense of failure as they approach the upper-primary and middle school grades and cannot keep up with the volume required for note-taking in class.
Children need to learn how to write by example. They need the time to practice and learn it as a motor skill in memory (much like shooting a foul shot in basketball or having a great golf swing!)
As an occupational therapist, I strongly recommend the Handwriting Without Tears program, created by occupational therapist Jan Olsen over 25 years ago. It is an award-winning curriculum that has been adopted by many education departments/schools across the United States and Canada. It is a developmentally-based handwriting program that is easy to learn for typical children, as well as those with special needs. It is a multi-sensory approach to handwriting that is simple and fun for children. "Handwriting difficulty" continues to be one of the most popular referrals for school-based OT services, even for those students who are not "special needs".
So, parents...if your child is displaying difficulty with handwriting (poor letter formation, letter reversals, placement on the line, poor spacing, etc.) -- be patient and seek out the assistance of an occupational therapist or handwriting specialist who can guide your child through the appropriate developmental stages of handwriting. Do not underestimate the multitude of skills that are required to produce good handwriting. Your children will benefit from patience, proper teaching, and time for refinement of the skill. It is a skill that they will carry with them for life, regardless of whether or not they learn to use a computer!
Also, I have found another wonderful and thorough occupational therapy website...for more specific information on the components of handwriting (and all things OT!), please click on:
