What is your child's handwriting like?

In my country, face-to-face classes have started at all levels of education. Since the pandemic, my 7-year-old granddaughter had not attended classes. She attended first grade, guided by her whatsapp teacher. Yesterday she excitedly attended her first day of school, her second grade year.

The classroom was divided into two groups of students. From next week she will have to attend class only on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It is not total normality, it is partial, but it was necessary for the start of classes to happen, to start with something, so to speak. From home, the girl's parents have had to teach their daughter in many activities. She already reads very well, quite fluently, although she still needs to respect the pauses in punctuation marks.  But what she is still struggling with, and where she has had the most problems, is writing. Her handwriting is too big.

Writing is not easy, it requires a series of processes. The child first has to acquire phonological awareness, which involves attention and memory to transcribe the sound of the letters into the corresponding symbols. Once the child has acquired this phonological awareness, he or she has to coordinate visually in order to write the letters on paper, that is to say, there has to be coordination between the eye and the hand in order to write legibly.  

Having good handwriting takes time, and parents should always help and support the child at home so that he/she acquires good writing habits. The child needs to achieve the degree of psychomotor development from the pre-school stage, but as we are confined at home because of the pandemic, parents should be aware at the home of the importance of performing certain exercises for the child's psychomotor development. Exercises such as tracing on paper to cut out straight lines, curves, circles, and other geometric shapes help a lot, tearing paper without using scissors is another good fine motor skills exercise, as is playing with plasticine. These exercises promote psychomotor skills in children and good handwriting in the future, as they allow them to trace letters with precision and strength.  

Just as when they are small children are unable to eat their mashed potatoes with a spoon and little by little with practice they manage to do so, so it is the same with writing. It is all a matter of practice. The child has to develop graphic skills. They have to practice a lot. Calligraphy exercises are an activity that helps to shape the handwriting for good handwriting.  It is very important that calligraphy exercises are carried out in a pleasant environment, free of all distractions, so that the child can achieve the necessary concentration in the tracing of each letter, he or she should be well seated with the chair correctly placed in front of the table, hold the pencil well with the fingers and not lean over the notebook. Good posture is essential to ensure that the handwriting is legible.  

When the handwriting is not legible, the child has difficulty in writing on the paper, writes irregularly, is illegible, and loses the meaning of what he or she wants to transmit. By observing this, parents should detect a possible difficulty in writing. Dysgraphia shows alterations in all the aspects mentioned above, except in meaning, as the child knows what he or she wants to write but his or her writing is poor and difficult. From 6 or 7 years of age onwards, we can speak of a difficulty in writing when they present writing with the aspects already mentioned.

It is important for parents to know that dysgraphia is a specific difficulty in expressing through writing the correct form of letters, that they are legible and in the correct position on the paper. It can occur in children with normal intellectual abilities, without neurological or affective disorders. It is a great commitment of parents to be aware of their children's handwriting, especially at an early age, in order to start early and appropriate treatment. Early support helps to prevent future problems such as self-esteem, frustration, and rejection of schoolwork.

Parents should keep an eye on their children's school notebooks to observe aspects that might indicate any difficulties in writing. As a guideline, here are some aspects to observe in your child's handwriting: Size of the letter, it should not be excessively large or small. The layout, observe if it is too strong that it is noticeable when you pass your hand over the next page (back of the page) or too soft that it is almost impossible to read. Links between letters: unjoined letters or incorrect joins. Inappropriate spacing between letters or words. Difficulty in keeping writing straight on the line drawn in the notebook, distortion in shape and size of letters in words or sentences. Final writing Illegible. Very often do not finish what they copy or take too long to copy.

If in spite of trying to improve their handwriting by constant practice of handwriting exercises, the poor handwriting is still persistent over time, I can tell you that we may be observing at home aspects of possible dysgraphia in the child. I suggest that parents ask for support from the school's educational psychologist. The specialist will make the required diagnosis to determine if there is some kind of problem. Remember that early intervention is important to avoid possible learning difficulties. The specialist will make a plan of activities to do at home.  

Do not neglect this important aspect of a child's psychomotor development. Early prevention is essential.

Now as a guide, I invite you to look at your child's notebooks and ask yourself:  

What is your child's handwriting like... is it legible?

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