Writing Readiness

Take time to teach how to hold a pencil. Early on, children may successfully change a poor pencil grip. Poor pencil position can cause fatigue and discomfort. Model and reinforce a good pencil grip. Children begin holding a pencil or crayon at an early age. Proper grasp helps your child write more effectively. Proper grasp helps eliminate a tired hand and improves handwriting.

Children who are right handed should have their paper slanting to the left. Left handed children should position their paper slanting to the right. Encourage your child to have the non writing hand hold down the paper so it doesn’t slip when writing.

• Do encourage your child to write by providing paper, crayons, and pencils
• Do encourage your child to hold his or her pencil by pinching with the thumb and pointer finger and resting the pencil on the tall finger
• Do encourage your child to write all letters starting from the top. When seeing your child starting from the bottom, model the correct way to write the letter
• Don’t say to your child “ that is the wrong way”
• Do say to your child “ Can I show you a way to hold your pencil so your hand won’t get tired?”
• Do say “ Can I show you how I learned to make that letter?”
• Don’t expect young children to make letters uniform by touching lined paper
• Don’t say “ I don’t know what that letter is”
• Do say “ Can you tell me about this letter?” as you point to it
• Do encourage your child to write his/her name using a capital at the beginning followed with lowercase letters