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Handwriting

Handwriting is the ability to write letters and numbers using a pen or pencil. 

Factors that affect handwriting

Handwriting is a higher level skill that involves many areas of development.  If your child is having difficulty with handwriting, check the following areas to determine where the break down is occurring:

  • Motor Skills - Motor planning and fine motor control is required for handwriting.
  • Vision - Vision is important for eye-hand coordination and typically directs our motor performance.
  • Postural Control - Children who do not have a strong base of support may have difficulty with handwriting.
  • Upper-extremity Strength - Upper extremity strength can affect your child's ability to perform handwriting tasks, which require dexterity and precision. 
  • Visual-motor Skills - visual motor skills involve the ability to coordinate what the eyes see, and reproduce that information into written form. 
  • Visual Perception - Visual perception is the ability to understand similarities and differences between forms.  Visual perception is related to the size, shape, direction, and position of letters. 
  • Auditory Processing - Auditory processing difficulties can make it difficult to write if your child has difficulty remembering which letter makes which sound.
  • Memory - Memory can affect your child's ability to write.  Your child may have difficulty remembering how to form the letters, sequence letters, and attend the finer details involved with handwriting.

 


Treatment

Core Exercises:
  • While lying on his/her back, have your child kick their legs up in the air
  • Wall kicks - have your child lie on their back with their head up against the wall, have them bring their legs up to the wall and touch it
  • Sit-ups with knees bent - have your child pull-to-sit
  • Planks
  • Push-ups - either on the knees or their toes
  • Sit on an unsupported surface without back support (bench, small ball, chair)
  • Play in tall kneel
  • Crawling - on all fours, reaching for objects, throwing objects
Shoulder strengthening and stability:
  • Planks
  • Push ups
  • Crawling
  • Working on a vertical surface
  • Leaning on elbows while lying on belly
Activities to promote finger/hand strength/dexterity
  • Use tweezers or tongs to pick up small objects
  • Pinch clothespins onto a rim of a can or string
  • Peel off stickers
  • Tear small pieces of paper
  • Shuffle a deck of cards and sort them
  • Play-doh activities - rolling, squishing, poking, pulling
  • Turn pages in a book
  • Fold paper
  • Remove lids from various containers
  • Use broken crayons for coloring or drawing
  • Sharpen pencils
  • Hook paperclips to paper
  • Use a spray bottle to water plants or in the bathtub
Activities to learn letters
  • Memory type games where they match letters
  • Have your child identify letters within text
  • Start with letters that involve straight lines first (I, T, L, H, E)
  • Move onto letters that have circles and lines (D, B, C, O, U, J)
  • Finally introduce letters that have diagonals (K, M, N, A, W, Z)
185 S. Marley Rd. New Lenox, IL 60451