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 ).
Aids to support good pencil grip can be very useful for some pupils. However, one of the issues with their use is that, when a pupil has not got the pencil grips to hand, they revert back to the original poor grip position.
Pencil grip aids generally do not correct the grip, they just force the hand and fingers into the correct position for writing. To correct the grip permanently the physical factors that have created the incorrect grip need to be addressed.
The use of grips can encourage a pupil to write more fluently, building their self-esteem, whilst you work on correcting the factors that have caused a poor grip to form. The long-term aim must always be to get the pupil to grip the pencil correctly without the use of aids.
There are a number of possible reasons why a child may reluctant to write or have a poor writing speed. Over the last few months, we have looked at a number of these:
Having the right writing tool
Hand swapping
Letter and word spacing
Too much or not enough pressure
Visual and Motor Memory issues
Spatial Awareness and eye tracking issues
Copying from the board
Other key areas to look at we have also cover are:
Sitting correctly and why they may find this difficult.
The importance of learning to position and tilt the paper appropriately.
Pencil grip – is the grip appropriate for their age and ability and when to support them.
Having the writing hand under the writing line.
Learning to write their letter correctly.
Tips for a Child who Actively Avoids, or is Reluctant, to do Writing or Drawing Activities
Best tip – Don’t force them, the more you push the more reluctant they will become.
Assess their physical ability.
If weaknesses are found play the games that will build the appropriate muscles groups.
Develop directional skills and shape formation through activities that don’t require a pencil so that they are still developing their motor memory skills which will help them later on when they do start to draw and write.
When ready, try timed drawing and writing activities after your child has had a good run around or physical activity (but not when they are tired).
Set up a good writing environment where they are sitting comfortably and without distractions, such as the TV.
Correct poor posture and keep the activity short. One minute of happy drawing is better than no minutes.
Try a ‘Playtime Drawing /Writing Session’ (see below).
End the sessions with a fun activity or treat.
This will take time, patience and encouragement, each improvement, no matter how small, needs to be recognised and positively praised.
Remember as your child’s skills develop so does their confidence to try, and their self-esteem, as they succeed where once they felt they failed.
How to Organise a Playtime Drawing/Writing Session
When ready, try timed drawing or writing activities after your child has had a good run around or other physical activity (but not when they are tired).
Set up a good writing environment where they are sitting comfortably and without distraction, such as having the TV on.
Correct poor posture and keep the activity short – up to 5 minutes initially. However, one minute of happy drawing/writing is better than no minutes.
After the drawing/writing play a non-drawing activity or game with your child. Make this break between 3 and 5 minutes long, ensuring your child knows when it will end (use a timer so they can see when they will need to stop)
Return to the original drawing/writing activity for up to another 5 minutes.
End the sessions with a fun activity or treat.
Tips on Running the Session
Start with 2 drawing/writing activities and then slowly increase the drawing/writing time and/or the number of activities and reduce the playtime slot times.
You could try to do a couple of these kind of sessions at different times during the day.
It may take time for your child to be comfortable with the sessions. You need to show a lot of patience and encouragement, each improvement no matter how small needs to be recognised and positively praised.
Remember as your child’s skills develop so does their confidence to try and their self-esteem grows as they succeed where once they felt they failed.
Copying accurately and quickly from a board at the front of a classroom can be a challenge at the best of times. For young children and those with specific learning difficulties it can be near on impossible. It is amazing how many children lose some, if not all, of a break time because they could not complete the copying task quickly enough in the lesson time.
The practise of taking information off the board has its uses and there are times when there is just no other alternative but it can be made more manageable, here are a few ideas which may help.
Make sure the child is sitting facing the board.
That they can see the board clearly.
That light is not reflecting off the board so that the writing disappears.
Try using a different colour marker pen for each line of writing (this way a child will be able to quickly locate the line they were copying from).
Or try numbering the lines so the child can more effectively find their way around the text.
Leave more of a gap between each line of writing so that each line is clearly visible from the back of the room.
Ask those children, who struggle copying, to start the first line of writing as you transfer the text to a smaller board which can then be placed at a more appropriate distance and level for them to continue copying from.
If you know the information that will need to be transferred to the child’s book then pre-prepare a text that can be given to the child to copy from. It may be in a different order or layout to that on the board; but it is the information and the child’s ability to access it, that is important.
Is a full sentence explanation always required or could the information be presented in another way such as a mind map or diagram which would be equally, or even more, useful to the child.
It can be surprising how frustrating and upsetting being asked to copy from the board can be for many children. So, anything that can help to alleviate these emotions and difficulties has got to be worth a try!
Eye tracking and/or spatial awareness difficulties can have a dramatic effect on a child’s handwriting ability. Weak skills in these key areas make it difficult for children to form letters correctly (curves and lines often not joining to complete the letter shape), as well as being unable to appropriately space letters in words and words in sentences. Other poor presentation skills include being unable to write on lines and often missing lines out when following on with a sentence.
It is also worth pointing out that a child with poor eye tracking and/or spatial awareness skills will also find reading difficult.
Eye tracking is the ability to control and coordinate the fine eye movements needed:
For left to right eye movements, without moving the head, needed to follow a line of writing as the letters are formed or for reading a line of print.
To focus and move the eyes to follow an object without moving the head, in all directions.
To track/follow objects near and far.
To focus on one object without moving the eyes.
Poor eye tracking skills can make handwriting very difficult, causing letter formation, spacing and positioning problems, leading to poor presentation. Often words are missed out or repeated, causing composition and legibility issues.
Activities that help to build these strengths and skills are: Swing Ball, target games and catching games.
Game idea: Goal post skittles
You need: Posts/marker, large plastic drink bottles/skittles and a range of ball sizes.
How to do it:
Place the posts about 2 metres away from the start position and about half a metre apart. Place the skittles about half a metre behind the posts but directly between them. The child starts by rolling a large ball through the posts to knock the skittles over. Before they roll the ball explain to get a maximum score, they need to knock all the skittles over in one roll and that the best way to do this is to look directly ahead through the posts at the skittles, NOT at the ball or their hand.
It may take a little practise, as they improve they can use a different size ball or move the skittles so that they form different patterns which means they have to be more accurate with the roll.
This game can also be used as a foot and eye activity, the same rules apply, they must look to where they want the ball to end up not at their feet or the ball, tricky!
Spatial awareness is the ability to be aware of:
The space around you and your position in that space.
The position and relationship of other objects in relation to one another and yourself.
Poor spatial awareness skills make handwriting difficult as it affects the ability to understand and produce the directional pushes and pulls required to form letters; as well as difficulties with spacing and positioning. Combined, these difficulties can cause poor presentation and possible legibility issues.
Activities that help to build these strengths and skills are: games such as ‘Twister’ or ‘Simon Says’ and jigsaws and pattern making.
Games idea: Pattern making
You need: Beads, building blocks, Lego or shapes.
How to do it:
Talk through the process of making the same pattern as shown on a card or already produced; for instance, the red square goes on the right of the blue square and the yellow square is below the blue square. Ask the child to verbalise what they see and are doing to recreate the pattern.
Patterns can be created and copied with all sorts of items – beads, building blocks, Lego and shapes.
As skill levels improve tessellation (a pattern of shapes that fit perfectly together) activities and square or patterned paper for colouring and creating their own pattern designs are enjoyable.
Motor memory and visual memory difficulties can have a dramatic effect on a child’s handwriting ability. Possible signs of poor motor memory or visual memory skills can be that their handwriting is slow and deliberate or fast and messy (as they try to hide their letter formation issues), making it difficult to read. They can spend so much time on trying to remember how to form the letters, they have no working memory space left for the important tasks of composing their writing and spelling.
Poor motor memory skills can make handwriting difficult as shapes and letter formation movements are often forgotten, causing letter reversals and incorrectly formed letter shapes, which can make joining a very slow process to learn. A poor and often slow handwriting style can develop as font styles are mixed and capital letters are used inappropriately. Combined, these difficulties can cause poor presentation, spelling and legibility issues.
Poor visual memory skills make handwriting difficult as the ability to recall how letters look and reproduce them with appropriate spacing and positioning is partially or completely lost. This leads to poor letter formation skills, letter reversal along with spelling and presentation difficulties.
Visual memory and motor memory skills are linked and so a game or activity that supports one is likely to support the other.
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:
They may not understand the concept or conventions of spacing words and letters and this needs to be explained.
Other Physical Skills such as poor spatial awareness skills, eye tracking or general eyesight.
Poor Key Strengths and/or Key Abilities elements, required for handwriting, such as sitting position, paper position, pencil grip, hand position and letter formation knowledge may also be hindering them.
‘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
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 develop both the physical strength and sensory perception areas.
Make sure that the pencil isn’t gripped too close to the tip of the pencil (check out the how to teach section for more information).
Play dough writing – flatten a large piece of play dough/clay on to a desk and using a pencil write or draw onto it. The idea is to create smooth lines, not torn ones, which pressing too hard will create. The advantage of this activity is it gives a child instant feedback about whether they are pressing too hard or not. When a good pressure has been found ask the child to try doing it with their eyes closed and talk through how their body feels when they are using the right amount of pressure.
Corrugated card – place some corrugated card under the writing paper – the aim is to try not to flatten the bumps in the card.
Tin foil writing board – wrap a piece of card in tin foil and place the paper on top, the aim is to not rip the foil when writing.
Carbon copies – use carbon paper to create an extra copy, start with two or three sheets of paper on top of the carbon paper then move to two and then one, so that your child starts developing an understanding of how much pressure is needed for a task and how that feels. Talk through with them how it feels as they need less pressure to create a copy.
Pattern work – look at and discuss light and dark line patterns and how to create them. Then using different writing tools ask the child to try and create their own. Talk through how it feels when they are making dark lines compared to faint/pale colour lines using the same pencil or crayon.
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.
Crayon rubbings – when a good pressure has been found ask the child to try doing it with their eyes closed and talk through how their body feels when they are using the right amount of pressure.
Wax drawings – rub a wax crayon all over a piece of paper then turn it over on to a plain piece of paper. Draw on the back of the wax crayoned paper and when finished lift and see another copy of the picture. The greater the pressure the more complete the hidden picture will appear.
Carbon copies – use carbon paper to create an extra copy, start with one sheet of paper on top of the carbon paper then move to two so that the child starts to develop an understanding of how much pressure is needed for a task and how that feels.
Use a softer pencil such as a B6 or B4 and slowly change the pencils so that they work up to a HB. Each pencil change will mean they have to exert a little more pressure to create the same line mark. B marked pencils are softer than H.
Pattern work – look at and discuss light and dark line patterns and how to create them. Then using different writing tools ask the child to try and create their own. Talk through how it feels when they are making dark lines compared to faint/pale colour lines using the same pencil or crayon.
There are a number of possible reasons why a child may reluctant to write or have a poor writing speed. Over the last seven weeks we have looked at a number of these:
Having the right writing tool
Hand swapping
Letter and word spacing
Too much or not enough pressure
Visual and Motor Memory issues
Spatial Awareness and eye tracking issues
Copying from the board
Other key areas to look at we have also cover are:
Sitting correctly and why they may find this difficult.
The importance of learning to position and tilt the paper appropriately.
Pencil grip – is the grip appropriate for their age and ability and when to support them.
Having the writing hand under the writing line.
Learning to write their letter correctly.
Tips for a Child who Actively Avoids, or is Reluctant, to do Writing or Drawing Activities
Best tip – Don’t force them, the more you push the more reluctant they will become.
Assess their physical ability.
If weaknesses are found play the games that will build the appropriate muscles groups.
Develop directional skills and shape formation through activities that don’t require a pencil so that they are still developing their motor memory skills which will help them later on when they do start to draw and write.
When ready, try timed drawing and writing activities after your child has had a good run around or physical activity (but not when they are tired).
Set up a good writing environment where they are sitting comfortably and without distractions, such as the TV.
Correct poor posture and keep the activity short. One minute of happy drawing is better than no minutes.
Try a ‘Playtime Drawing /Writing Session’ (see below).
End the sessions with a fun activity or treat.
This will take time, patience and encouragement, each improvement, no matter how small, needs to be recognised and positively praised.
Remember as your child’s skills develop so does their confidence to try, and their self-esteem, as they succeed where once they felt they failed.
How to Organise a Playtime Drawing/Writing Session
When ready, try timed drawing or writing activities after your child has had a good run around or other physical activity (but not when they are tired).
Set up a good writing environment where they are sitting comfortably and without distraction, such as having the TV on.
Correct poor posture and keep the activity short – up to 5 minutes initially. However, one minute of happy drawing/writing is better than no minutes.
After the drawing/writing play a non-drawing activity or game with your child. Make this break between 3 and 5 minutes long, ensuring your child knows when it will end (use a timer so they can see when they will need to stop)
Return to the original drawing/writing activity for up to another 5 minutes.
End the sessions with a fun activity or treat.
Tips on Running the Session
Start with 2 drawing/writing activities and then slowly increase the drawing/writing time and/or the number of activities and reduce the playtime slot times.
You could try to do a couple of these kind of sessions at different times during the day.
It may take time for your child to be comfortable with the sessions. You need to show a lot of patience and encouragement, each improvement no matter how small needs to be recognised and positively praised.
Remember as your child’s skills develop so does their confidence to try and their self-esteem grows as they succeed where once they felt they failed.
Eye tracking and/or spatial awareness difficulties can have a dramatic effect on a child’s handwriting ability. Weak skills in these key areas make it difficult for children to form letters correctly (curves and lines often not joining to complete the letter shape), as well as being unable to appropriately space letters in words and words in sentences. Other poor presentation skills include being unable to write on lines and often missing lines out when following on with a sentence.
It is also worth pointing out that a child with poor eye tracking and/or spatial awareness skills will also find reading difficult.
For more information on how to identify eye tracking and spatial awareness difficulties as well as activities to help support and develop these skills use these links:
teachhandwriting.blog 