Usha’s 5-year old son has illegible handwriting. His writing is full of errors, he constantly finds it difficult to maintain correct spaces and erases often. Initially she thought her son would gradually improve handwriting as he learns but with time it has actually aggravated and he seems to be losing interest in his learning. Usha is really worried and does not know what to do!
This is not just Usha’s story what that of a majority of beginners and their parents struggling to find out the reasons behind their illegible handwriting. In the first instance although it may seem that it is very natural for kids to write in such manner since they are very new to it yet, it should be kept in mind that if this happens repeatedly, it means your child is really facing some trouble!
Dysgraphia
Handwriting experts often refer children writing illegibly as suffering from ‘dysgraphia’. ‘Dysgraphia’ refers to the problem in which children cannot write legible handwriting, have inappropriate and varying spacing, wrong spellings and struggle in composing to write by thinking at the same time while writing.
In handwriting practice, this problem makes children develop handwriting which is very unpleasant to look at and also lacks proper visibility. By using the best handwriting practice sheets such problems can be dealt with by creating practice grids with enough and big spaces, lines etc.
It should be kept in mind that Dysgraphia often occurs in children with other difficulties like ADHD and Dyslexia and sometimes in isolation as well. But whatever it is, it should be dealt with great care and immediate attention.
Signs of Dysgraphia
Kids with dysgraphia have indistinct, irregular, or varying handwriting, often with dissimilar slants, outlines, upper and lower-case letters, and cursive and print styles. They also have the tendency to write or copy things very slowly whenever there is any dictation in the class or if they are given to see and copy something. Parents or tutors may notice indications when the child initially begins writing tasks in school. There are also other signs of dysgraphia to watch for in handwriting for kids. They include:
- Restricted grip, which may cause pain in the hand
- Improper posture and grip while writing
- Trouble maintaining gaps or spaces and margins while writing
- Recurrent erasing while writing
- Inconsistency and confusion in letter and spacing of words
- Spelling errors, including incomplete words or missing words or letters
- Difficulty in writing and thinking simultaneously at the same time
Ways to Deal with it
The first and the most important thing that you need to understand is the fact that suffering from dysgraphia does not mean that your child is suffering from a ‘disease’! It is just a condition of learning difficulty and does not mean that your child has low intelligence and can never improve handwriting skills!
An approved psychologist well-trained in treating learning disorders can identify dysgraphia and it could also be his school psychologist. The specialist will try to give your child educational and writing tests that will help to measure his capability to think and express his thoughts via writing and also tasks to develop fine motor skills. The specialist may also try to analyze the finger and wrist movements to understand if there is any difficulty in the grip and hold.
At home you can also work on different activities to develop his motor skills and brain functions by making him involved in different activities to strengthen their hand muscles and teach him the correct posture and pencil grip.
You can then design customized handwriting lessons in order to teach him lines, curves, shapes etc. which will help them to form the different shapes of the alphabets correctly. You can also teach him the cursive fonts with the cursive handwriting practice sheet and help him learn a different variety of letters.
You must always be very affectionate and caring towards him to help him improve and allow him sufficient time to practice his writing skills. Make the best use of the numerous features of the handwriting practice sheet make his learning full of life!