Development and difficulties

Watch a video on typical development and difficulties for children learning to handwrite.

Handwriting skills, typical development and difficulties (video)

This is video 1 in a 6-part series.

Handwriting skills

What you will learn

In this video, you will learn about:

• how handwriting skills develop
• common underlying difficulties

Typical development

Every child develops at their own pace. It can depend on a child's environment, experiences, and needs.

It’s common for handwriting milestones to happen later or differently if your child has a disability. But it is useful to know what to look out for.

The typical developmental stages children go through that impact their ability to handwrite are:

12 to 18 months

Your child learns how to hold a chunky marker or crayon in a whole-hand, fisted grasp. This is also known as the palmar supinated grasp. Your child may start to scribble during this time.

2 to 3 years

Your child learns to hold a pen or marker with all the ends of all fingers and the thumb. Their palm faces down. This is also called a digital pronate grasp. They learn to make vertical, horizontal or circular strokes.

3 to 4 years

Your child starts developing a more refined grasp, like a tripod grasp. A tripod grasp is when the pen or marker rests on 2 fingers and the thumb.

The grasp is often still 'locked' around the pen or marker. This means they move their hand by moving the whole arm. It is also called a static tripod grasp.

They start being able to copy lines and circles.

4 to 5 years

Your child may start to show more ease of using a pen, marker or pencil with their hand and fingers. They may no longer need to use the whole arm. But the movement comes from the wrist and fingers.

If they use a tripod grasp, this is also called a dynamic tripod grasp. Some children use slightly different grasps that work for them.

They learn to copy diagonal lines, crosses and even write some letters and numbers.

5 to 6 years

Your child may learn to write letters that are more legible. The sizing improves and the placement of letters on a line.

6 to 7 years

Your child's writing starts to become easier to read.

8 years and older

Your child can do more legible, joined-up writing. They develop more ease and speed at how they form letters. They may increase their ability to do joined-up writing.

Skills you need to handwrite

Your child needs to develop some skills to help you to handwrite.

These include:

• visual perceptual skills
• upper body control
• a grasp
• hand dominance or preference

These skills will improve as your child practises handwriting.

Self-esteem and cognitive ability are also important factors. Cognitive skills include memory, visual perception and language skills.

Common underlying difficulties

There are common underlying difficulties that can affect your child's handwriting.

These can include:

• differences in cognitive ability, such as attention or processing what they hear
• difficulty processing what they see
• difficulty processing how they coordinate what they see with movement
• challenges with maintaining posture they need for writing
• difficulties in controlling hand and finger movements
• challenges with using both sides of the body at the same time
• difficulty planning and carrying out movements