Common difficulties and strategies

Handwriting skills: evidence based, common difficulties (video)

This is video 5 in a 6-part series.

Handwriting skills

What you will learn

In this video, you will learn about:

• tips for working on common difficulties
• what research says about practising handwriting

Common difficulties and strategies

Handwriting improves with regular practice.

Practising writing is the most supported approach to improve handwriting skills. It is also called task-oriented practice. This means spending time forming letters, words, and sentences, not just doing unrelated hand exercises.

Your child will benefit from practising handwriting twice a week or more. Regular, short and focused sessions are often better than a few long sessions.

Common difficulties include:

• finding it hard to sit for longer periods
• low muscle tone affecting their posture
• not having established a hand preference
• if left-handed - letters slanting to left

Finding it hard to to sit for long periods

Some children need to move. They have difficulty sitting down for a long time to write.

Low muscle tone

Some children have low muscle tone. This means their muscles may feel soft or floppy. This can make it harder for them to sit up or hold certain positions.

To get the best out of the muscles in our hands, we need a strong, stable core. Weakness in our body, stomach, or pelvic area will affect fine and gross motor activities.

Tips to develop arm strength and stability to help hand use include:

• therapy ball activities
• crab walking
• couch push-ups
• chair pushes and pulls
• tug of war

These activities can be fun and helpful. But every child is different. Talk to your physiotherapist or occupational therapist to find exercises that are just right for your child.

Not having hand preference

Children usually develop a preferred hand between the ages of 2 and 4. This is normally set between ages 4 and 6.

To see which hand is your child's preferred hand, look at which hand they:

• use more
• use to feed themselves
• lead with during play
• use to position their toys while they play

You can promote hand preference by:

• encouraging them to use their stronger hand
• using words like the 'doing hand' and the 'helper hand'
• encouraging your child to finish the activity with the hand they started with
• encourage activities that involve reaching across their body

Left-handed slant

Some children who write with their left hand may place their letters leaning to the left. This can make writing feel awkward and harder to read.

There are some things you can do to help with this.