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I have a 4th grade boy with terrible handwriting. I started with the Alpha Omega, Abeka products with printing & cursive. Then switched to Handwritting Without Tears and went all the back to the first book & am at the last book. His handwriting is better than it was two years agobut it still looks like a 7year olds rather than a 9 year olds. What am I missing? Any suggestions?

Practice will probably help.  Perhaps writing a letter, writing a grocery list, etc. will allow him to practice the skills he's learned.  Unfortunately, with the use of computers more prevalent, handwriting skill isn't as required.  Why not give him extra points for neatness and legibility on the schoolwork he writes?  My teachers used to (although that was a LONG time ago!)

 HI,

Did you get to the Cursive portion of HWOT yet?  

my son still had horrible printing, but his cursive is lovely, I started him when he was 9.  We used the whiteboard lots, for easy practice...the pen seems to glide across, and easy erasing for mistakes.  He learned it quickly, and I make him use it for his assignments over printing.  He has to be good at one or the other right?!  

 

Handwriting uses fine motor skills of the fingers and hand together. Try some activities that do not involve handwriting. For example, kneading playdough, building with the very small lego blocks, string small beads, etc. Also some handwriting activities that may help require only a few household items: put some chocolate syrup in a ziplock baggie, lay the baggie on a flat surface, have your child draw the letter(s) or words in the syrup. This can also be done with a small pie dish and a gritty or textured substance such as sugar, salt, sand. This gives the child the feel of the letters as well as the visual result.

Have you had his visual/motor skills tested? In 1st grade public school teacher told me my son would be one of those children that used the computer instead of handwriting! By second grade, I suspected trouble. I talked to our pediatrician and had him professionally tested. We discovered spacial and visual dysgraphia and he was prescribed OT for 6 months with a professional. It definitely helped his confidence. Rest assured, bad handwriting skills once learned are hard to break, so the pro did not work on his horrid printing skills; instead she helped him master cursive. Get on top of it, because what I found was that my son was reluctant to write what was in his wonderful mind because it was too much trouble! A gifted kid in every other way. There's lots of books out there on dysgraphia, check your local library.

Hope that helps,

Jeanne

By the way, my sone is almost 10, and also learned from HWT,a great resource.

Jeanne,

My library didn't have any info on dysgraphia ...could you tell me more about it?  I am wondering if some other things my son does is related.  

I'll do an interntet search too...

Thanks for your info, it may be life saving!  MINE!  lol

 

LIsa 

Here are some good articles from which to learn about this often undetected disorder:

http://hslda.org/strugglinglearner/sn_writing.asp This was the first article I read that got us on the right path. It popped up out of nowhere, so I confident God's hand was in it! And after testing, we discovered He was right!

http://www.dyscalculia.org/Edu563.html , start reading after point number 7, "Developmental Agraphia"

And the best book, that's not terribly difficult to understand is:

Smart in everything...except school
    Getman, Gerald N.

My b-i-law has two B.S. degrees and two M.S. degrees...his handwriting is absolutely not readable by anyone other than an expert in cave drawings...I wonder if handwriting is going to be an issue of the future. Can he read cursive with fluency? Can you reasonably read his writing? Has he been screened for learning disabilities or physiological problems like fine motor issues?