Are my child’s writing skills delayed?
There are common concerns about children’s writing skills. Parents may ask questions like……
‘Why does my child get tired or complain of pain when writing?" ‘Why does my child avoid writing activities?"
The first thing we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Is the writing task at the right challenge level for my child?’.
The following milestones help us to check if the task is age-appropriate. Please keep in mind that milestones serve as a reference for expected skills at a certain age (see reference below). Some children develop a skill earlier while some develop it a bit later depending on the exposure to similar activities as well as inborn ability.
1-2 Years Old
- Scribbling: Make random scribbles with markers or crayons
- Imitation: Start to imitate vertical and horizontal strokes and circles, though not yet accurately
3-4 Years Old
- Trace along dotted curved lines (stay on the lines)
- Draw a line that stays within a 1cm wide curved tunnel
- Copying basic shapes: Can copy horizontal lines, vertical lines, and circles
- Copying complex shapes: Copy plus signs (+), squares, and diagonal lines
- Motor control: More intentional marking and can hold a pencil with an emerging functional grasp
4-5 Years Old
- Advanced copying: Copy "X" shapes and triangles
- Writing the name: May start to write their name
- Pencil grip: Hold a pencil using a functional writing grasp
- Letter-like forms: Begin to create letter-like marks
The second round of questions would include, ‘Why is my child avoiding writing tasks?’ ‘"Why is my child's handwriting so messycompared to their peers?"
Children often avoid tasks due to low motivation, i.e., the task is too long or too hard, the child has never mastered it, or wants to get it done quickly.
How can we support?
- Decrease the amount of task
- Giving the child verbal and visual prompts for analysing shapes/ letters/ words and planning how to copy or write them e.g., ’What shape does it look like?’ ‘When we copy/ write this letter/ word, we usually start from …….!’
- Use a multi-sensory approach to provide a sensorimotor experience. Children benefit from imitating words, letters or shapes with stickers, dot-mark pens, sensory bins (e.g., rice, beans, sand), or whole arm or whole body movement.
Writing is not just about the hand movement. actually, larger muscles are also engaged. The trunk, elbow, and wrist provide stability for pen control.
How can we support?
- Check if your child is sitting straight, with their elbows resting on the table, their wrists slightly extended, and their feet on the floor. This ensures adequate support and correct positioning when writing.
- Use a pencil grip to correct the hand grip to maintain or increase intrinsic muscle group endurance.
- To strengthen core and shoulder muscles, try animal walks (e.g., crab, bear) and wheelbarrows.
- Facilitate wrist extension to get better support by using a slanted surface while writing. Using a water spray can or tongs can also increase hand strength, which contributes to wrist extension.
There are different systems contributing to handwriting skills, such as the visual and sensory systems. Joint sense (kinesthetic sense) helps children detect the position of their fingers and how much force they are exerting while using a tool. The visual system may affect the spacing concept and help them find the difference between their work and the example.
How can we support?
- If you have any concerns, please ask an occupational therapist for help
- Provide sensorimotor experiences for the fingers exerting different level of forces such as geoboard or using playdough to make different-sized balls
- Provide visual prompts such as writing grids, or engage in a programme such as ‘Handwriting without tears’ (see reference below)
If parents are still concerned and the above tips do not seem to have a positive effect, they may contact an occupational therapist for a follow-up.
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