HANDWRITING HOW-TOS Legible handwriting is an essential component of your child’s educational foundation. Staying involved provides an opportunity for interaction with your child and real progress. Here are three things to keep in mind as you begin working with your child: Consistent practice can do wonders. Have your child practice his handwriting several times a week. If he tires easily, two short sessions per day are better than a long session that may cause burnout. Praising his efforts with consistent positive reinforcement will help him persevere when he faces some of the most challenging skills. Poor body positioning hinders proper handwriting and can lead to fatigue. Make sure your student’s feet are flat on the floor rather than dangling. The table should be at an appropriate height so that he can gently rest his elbows on it while keeping his back straight. An inability to write in this position could signify problems such as weak trunk control or shoulder instability, requiring various exercises to improve strength. Pencil grip greatly influences handwriting accuracy. It is important that your child have an open web space when holding his pencil, creating an oval between his thumb and forefinger. Students just learning to write can benefit from plastic pencil grips that slip onto pencils. Pencil grips encourage proper positioning and keep a child’s fingers in place. Your child should hold his pencil tight enough to keep it stable when writing, but loose enough so it could easily be pulled out of his hand. The most important components of legible handwriting are correct letter formation, size and slant. Here are some things that you can do at home to help improve your child’s handwriting: Letter Formation Practice uppercase letters and then move to lowercase. If your child feels overwhelmed, remind him that most letters are simply combinations of lines and curves. Try having him draw letters in sand, paint or shaving cream for a fun activity. This will help him get a feel for the motion needed to write the letter. Be creative when developing opportunities for practice. For example, play tic-tac-toe using letters he is working on rather than the usual X and O. Letter Size Use a dry erase board or a chalkboard to help your child get comfortable writing in different sizes and determining an appropriate size for everyday writing. Review one of your child’s writing samples with him. Have him circle all letters that are too large or too small. Let him use an eraser, and make any necessary changes. Experiment with size. Have your child copy a sentence three times: with large letters, with tiny letters and with correctly-sized letters. Letter Slant Encourage the importance of slant in handwriting. In most cases, printing should be straight up and down, and cursive writing should slant to the right. Draw diagonal lines on your child’s paper to serve as guides for correct letter slant. Have him repeat a letter until a proper slant is achieved. Help your child use two hands when writing. One hand holds the paper at a slight angle according to which hand your student writes with, and the other hand writes. This will ensure the paper stays in place in order to create a consistent slant in his handwriting. By Renee Sarnowski