Hi everyone,
Here at Teach Children we try to offer you as much choice as possible.
So now we can offer you 2 types of print font, our original “ball and stick” and a new modern “UK Phonics friendly” one.
These are now available on our website and as part of the Schools Teach Handwriting Schemes.
Check out the animation for free on our website (if you are regular user you will need to refresh the pages): https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/print-beginners-letter-choices.html
Some children find it difficult to space their letters in words correctly and to show spacing between words. There can be a number of reasons for this:
‘Tips to support letter and word spacing’ will help you to identify if your child is having difficulty in understanding the spacing conventions and how to support them: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/spacing-difficulties.html
Games and activity ideas to develop a child’s physical skills for handwriting: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-motor-skills.html
Learning to sit correctly at a table for handwriting type activities is not just important for developing a physically comfortable and maintainable sitting position; it also allows the arms and hands to move freely and enables the paper to be tilted and positioned correctly, helping to improve the quality of the handwriting.
Learning how to sit correctly, so that it becomes second nature, needs training and takes time. Many children do not sit correctly at a desk, when they are asked to do so, because they have not been taught or do not understand what they are meant to do.
Some children find sitting correctly at a desk difficult because they have not acquired all the gross motor skills needed to sit correctly for long periods of time. These children may require additional posture base and bilateral coordination games and activities to help them build the appropriate gross motor skills.
Why do Children Fidget or Appear Bored When Handwriting?
There are two key elements that can cause a child to fidget or appear bored when handwriting, both relate to being able to sit correctly:
Table and Chair Height
A poor and uncomfortable sitting position that causes a child to fidget and wriggle about affects their ability to concentrate and pay attention; for example, when listening to a teacher, as well as distracting them from the task and breaking their train of thought. It also puts unnecessary strain on the body, making sitting tasks such as handwriting more tiring.
When a child is sitting on a chair too high for them they may sit swinging their legs, causing the body to rock slightly. They might wrap their legs around the legs of the chair to stop them aching, which is not good for their circulation and can cause them to lean back away from the table top. Some children will sit with their legs underneath their bottom which often causes them to lean too far over the table due to being off balance, once again not good for their circulation or for handwriting and other fine motor skill activities such as eating or drawing.
If a table is too high for a child they will have their arms raised too high, causing tension in the upper arms and shoulders or they may rest their head on the table. Both have a profound effect on a child’s ability to handwrite with fluidity, comfort and for any period of time. Another result of this is a child fidgets as they try to readjust their position to get comfortable, which in turn distracts them from the task at hand.
For tips and ideas on how to help a child develop a good sitting posture and position for handwriting check out our ‘Sitting’ section on the website: https://www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-sitting-position-desk.html
Sitting and Core Strength
We often see children slouched over a desk, laying their head on the table or with their head propped up by their hand and arm, or fidgeting about while they are sitting at the desk writing. This can look as if they are bored and disinterested in what they are doing. However, this is not generally the case.
A poor posture position is not always due to boredom or incorrect chair and table height. For some children it is a lack of body strength or core muscle tone (the large muscle groups that control shoulder stability and the trunk of the body) that work to enable us to sit and stand upright for sustained periods of time.
We expect our children to sit at a desk for long periods of time at school. To be able to maintain a good sitting position for writing over any length of time requires good core strength. Those who lack strong core strength tend to slouch over the desk, lay their head on the desk, hold their head in their hand or pull their chair in so far that they can rest their tummy on the edge of the table to help them keep a more upright position.
This is bad for them, as it puts unnecessary strain on the body, causing neck or backache and discomfort, which in turn make them fidget as they try to get comfortable. All this can distract them from the task in hand and limit their handwriting ability as it reduces their hand and fingers movements to handwrite freely. For more information on developing a child’s core strengths check out the Key Strengths section of our website: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-motor-skills.html
The paper position and tilt on the desk, for both right and left-handed writers, can make a big difference to a child’s handwriting experience and comfort and yet it is an element which is often neglected.
The correct paper position and tilt enables your child to handwrite comfortably while being able to see what they are writing. It also allows the non-writing hand to move the paper up the table so that the writing hand elbow can stay in the same position. The aim is to have the paper move up the table, rather than the writing hand moving down and eventually off the table.
With the non-writing hand moving the paper up the table the writing line stays in the same place which means eye movements are less, helping to make the writing experience less tiring and stressful.
If the paper is positioned and tilted correctly, with their writing hand under the writing line, they will also be able to see more easily what they have just written and where to place the next letter, word or section of text on the page. This is especially important for left-handed writers.
The most appropriate paper tilt angle is generally suggested as anywhere between 20 to 45 degrees anti-clockwise for right-handed writers and 30 to 45 degrees clockwise for left-handed writers.
For more tips and advice on developing a good paper position and tilt:
For Parents: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/paper-position.html
For Teachers: https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/paper-position-for-comfortable-handwriting.html
These fun activities can be done indoors or outdoors, so whatever the weather throws at us this half-term you have got it covered.
This is a very simple idea which children love because they can take greater ownership of it. The aim of the activity is to help build up hand and finger strength through using the pegs; however, it can have a dual purpose, helping to keep track of the week by using it as a timetable or for learning spellings or maths activities, as well as supporting the development of language skills.
You do not need anything fancy, just some string (for the washing line), clothes pegs and pieces of paper or card to peg onto the washing line. The washing line can be a permanent fixture or you can just pop it up when you need to use it.
The clothes line needs to be at a height suitable for your child to peg things on to (placed against a wall is a safe option so that no-one can walk into it by accident and hurt themselves).
There are a whole range of games that can be played using this simple washing line and pegs concept:
Memory games – Get your child to peg up 5 to 10 different pictures or items on the line. Then give them 1 minute to remember the items. Once the time is up ask them to look away, or close their eyes, and then you remove one or more of the items. Get them to look back at the line. Can they work out what is missing?
Odd One Out – Hang pictures on the line that belong together. Can they pick out the odd item on the line and explain why it is the odd one out.
Sorting – Ask your child to sort all the pictures or items from a selection and to hang all the identical things on the washing line. They could all be the same;
Pattern Work – Using pictures, different colour and shaped paper or items create different patterns. The patterns can be based on colour, size or type of object. You can create a pattern sequence on the washing line and then ask your child to try and copy the sequence. Can they explain the pattern and create their own for you to copy and explain?
Pairing or What is the Same? – Hang a range of pictures or items on the line, making sure that some of the items can be paired together because they are exactly the same. They could match because;
Some children may hold a pencil correctly but struggle to maintain and control the pressure required to handwrite.
Here are some additional tips to help support a child who is pressing down too hard with their pencil:
Focused games and activities can help develop both the physical strength and sensory perception areas.
Here are some additional tips to help support a child who is Not pressing down hard enough with their pencil:
Focused games and activities can help develop the physical strength and sensory perception areas.
Hand Swapping is a normal developmental stage in infants and young children and therefore, at this stage, not a sign that a child is uncertain of their dominant hand. However, this is not ideal for a child who has started school.
Hand swapping throughout a task is not necessarily a sign that a child is uncertain of their dominant hand.
There are two routes to tackling the hand swapping issue, the one to use depends on your answers to the following questions.
1. Does the child usually start with the one hand and then swap when that hand gets tired?
You can usually tell if this is the case because they may shake out or rub the tired hand and once it is rested go back to using it again. This is probably because their fine motor skills are weak. Through focused games and activities (https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-muscles.html#hand ), the muscle strength and dexterity can be gradually built up in the dominant hand, which in turn will build their stamina so that the hand swapping will reduce until they stop it altogether.
Once you are sure of dominance gently discourage swapping hands by taking a break from the activity and coming back to it a couple of minutes later using the preferred hand.
2. Does the child use their left hand if items are presented on their left-hand side and their right hand if they are presented on the right-hand side?
In toddlers and young children this is expected. In older children however it could mean that they have developed a delay in their skill to cross the mid-line point. This developmental bilateral coordination skill is vital to develop and can be addresses through a range of simple games and activities (https://teachhandwriting.co.uk/handwriting-muscles.html#bilat ).
“A pencil hold that provides speed, legibility is comfortable and will not cause harm to the joints of the hand over time. If a hold satisfies these criteria there is no need to change it”
(Benrow 2002, cited: Foundation of Paediatric Practice for the Occupational Therapy Assistant, 2005)
The above publication, and those listed at the end of the articles, explain that there are three efficient pencil grips for handwriting:
1. The Dynamic Tripod Grip is still the most appropriate grip for handwriting (we looked at this last week using our ‘Drawbridge Flip’ method), for those with good fine motor skills, as it allows the fingers to move freely; so, the writer can form the letters more smoothly.
2. The Quadrupod Grip, this grip is a little more restrictive because the fingers cannot move as freely as they would if using the Tripod grip.
3. The Adaptive Tripod Grip, developed by the Belgian Neurologist Callewaert in 1963 (cited, Ann-Sofie Selin 2003) is a functional though not conventional grip for handwriting. This grip is often more appropriate to use with children who have low muscle tone or hyper mobility of the finger joints. It can also benefit older children who continue to hold a pencil too tightly, or who hold the pencil lightly using just their fingertips (often writing using whole arm movements), as well as those children who hold a pencil with their thumb wrapped around and across the pencil and index finger.
Bibliography
Ann-Sofie Selin, 2003: Pencil Grip A Descriptive Model and Four Empirical Studies; Abo Akademi University Press
A Wagenteld, J Kaldenberg (co-editors), 2005: Foundation of Paediatric Practice for the Occupational Therapy Assistant; Pub: Slack Incorporated, ISBN-10:1-55642-629-1
Web-sites:
https://www.ot-mom-learning-activities.com/correct-pencil-grasp.html
https://www.otplan.com/articles/pencil-grasp-patterns.aspx
https://www.pediastaff.com/resources-pencil-grasp-patterns–may-2009
We often talk about the most appropriate grip for handwriting being the tripod grip; but this usually only refers to finger position. It is easy to forget the importance of the actual hand position in relation to the pen and paper for handwriting.
The ideal position is for the hand, wrist and elbow to be below the tip of the pencil and under the writing line for both left and right-handed writers.
Some children will hold the pencil in a tripod grip but develop a hooked hand position or move the elbow too far up the table, causing the forearm and wrist to be nearly horizontal with the table edge, because they feel they can see what they are writing more clearly.
A hooked grip puts unnecessary strain on the hand ligaments and forces the body into a poor sitting position, again putting extra strain on the body. This in turn makes handwriting a tiring and uncomfortable task, impacting on a child’s overall learning experience.
It takes time to correct a poor hand position but it is well worth the perseverance as it will enable a child to write freely and more comfortably.
When writing normally, encourage children to angle the paper appropriately as this will also help to correct a poor hand position. With the correct paper tilt they will always be able to see what they are writing. If the paper is tilted at the correct angle for them, they will find a hooked hand position, or having their forearm further up the table, more difficult and uncomfortable to maintain.
Some children will find writing on a sloped desk helpful. Not all are comfortable writing or drawing on a flat surface and may benefit from the paper being positioned on an angled or sloped board. If you are not sure, instead of buying a specialist board, you could make one. Try using a ring binder or lever arch file stuffed with magazines and newspaper to make a sloped board. Tape the edges to stop the papers falling out or you could cover it in sticky back plastic to give a smoother finish to the board. The advantage of this is that you can make them to any angle of slope. Try a few to see which, if any, your child prefers. You may find that they only need the sloped board for a short while. It may also help to reduce the angle of the slope over time so that they gradually get used to moving from a sloped to horizontal writing plane.
A poor pencil grip sometimes dramatically referred to as the “death grip”, is define by Occupational Therapists and Handwriting Teachers as any that causes a closed web space, restricting the movement of the fingers and wrist, making handwriting hard work.
The most effective grip recommended for children by Occupational Therapists and Handwriting Specialists worldwide is the tripod grip, which gives an open web space. This allows the fingers to move freely so that a fluid handwriting style can be achieved.
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