Help to improve the hand writing of 5 year old?

[Ninasa]

 I am concerned about my five-year-old son who finds difficulty writing clearly and accurately. Although his classmates are the same age as him but I find it hard to make him sit for 5mins without moving and forgetting how and when to write what he is writing. Can anyone help with this please?

[Jules001]

He is still only 5 years old and his fine motor skills may still not be fully developed enough to write clearly. This link gives lots of good and useful advice, just remember to keep it fun and don't make too much of a issue of it at the moment otherwise it might become a major battle and put him off of writing altogether. http://www.handwritinghelpforkids.com/basics.html

[taemoon]

Its probably nothing and he will grow out of it. But when i was a kid (and now actually) my handwriting was really bad. They did tests on me  for Dyslexia but I could read etc fine. Therefor they put it down to laziness and i was given a lot of stick for it. It wasn't untill i was 18 that I was tested again and it was found i had dyspraxia- a co-ordination dysfunction that basically makes you exceptionally clumsy and makes your handwriting bad. My advice would be to check for these things as soon as possible just to illiminate them if nothing else. Also I know it would have helped me a lot if someone had spotted it.

[shaz-rla]

Thanks for posting this Ninasa, I have a five year old who is exactly the same. She didn't walk till she was 22 months old and has a lot of trouble with reading too.  I think there is a problem and am keeping a very close eye on it, obviously I am not saying anything to her.  The ELC does pencils with grips to help pencil control and I was advised by the school to let her play in sand, draw with chalks on boards, things to help her improve her motor skills. Dont' put too much empasis on him sitting for a length of time it a couple of minutes here and there will definately help.  Please let me know how you get on.

[Lore]

Ninasa, there's still plenty of time for your son to master the art of neat handwriting. If there is a specific problem your son's teachers would have spoken to you by now. As shaz mentioned, sand is excellent for letter formation, you could also use highlighters to write a few words ( written larger than average)  for him to trace over with his pencil. pens aren't so easy for a child to control at this age due to the fact that many of them have to be held at a specific angle to get the nib to make contact with the paper.

You mention that he can't sit for more than 5 mins without moving and then forgetting the set task - you could try to improve his concentration skills by giving him other tasks such as playing a memory game. place four objects on the carpet, talk about them then remove one of the objects see if he can tell you which one you removed, then reverse roles and let him remove an object.

[billyshears]

Shot in the dark, but is he being encouraged to write with the hand that isn't natural to him? My brother was bullied by a certain teacher about using his right hand, when his left was actually his natural hand.

[Ninasa]

Jules001-Thanks for the link I never knew about all these basic skills for handwriting, I will try to keep up with practing them with him.

In A Pickle-Its true what you said I shouldn't make it very seriouse because he likes reading and he reads well.So I will lay back a bit.

Taemoon-I know what you mean many parents don't realise some simple things their children can't do and they leave it too late just they haven't  known about it at an earlier stage.So yea thanks for notifying me about it.

Shaz-rla-He never played with sand I think thats a good way of having fun and practicing how to write some letters and yes I do always make him sit longer to practice writing but now I guess I will make him write for a minute then make him come back to write from his own will.Also, I will let you know how I get on with him.

Lore- Thanks for pointing about the concentration bit, I will try the memory game and see how it goes.

Billyshears-His teachers are very good they say there is nothing to worry about it at this stage and he is a right handed.But thanks for mentioning that.

[vehelpfulguy]

My son has Dyspraxia and has similar symptoms. My son is 15 yet has difficulty reading and writing, and also using a fork and knife and so on. 

There are a number of special needs children who have symptoms like this, they are often within the Autistic area.

It may be worth getting him checked to see if there is a problem (better to find out now so he can get support at school).