Handwriting difficulties
Handwriting relies on many small skills. When children have trouble with them, the result can be writing that’s messy and hard to read. In these children you might see:
- letters are different sizes and slants
- Spacing in letters and words are odd
- Hard to Hold and controlling a pencil- odd grip
- arm position and posture for writing is odd
- Words or sentences written on too much or too little a slant
- Letters and words spaced unevenly or running into each other
- Writing is too dark
Handwriting issues can show up as early as preschool, when kids learn to grasp a crayon to draw. And for some people, the difficulty lasts into adulthood. For some children in school, trouble with handwriting can really get in the way of learning. What they write might be too messy to read, and they might write very slowly. They might it hard to finish classwork or tests because of it. They will not like writing plus, struggling with it can take a toll on their confidence.
What can cause messy handwriting?
When children have trouble with handwriting, it doesn’t mean they’re just lazy or careless. They may be trying as hard as they can and need help to improve because they don’t have the equipment of the control of their hands.
In my doctoral research and clinical practice children who have challenges usually have a retained reflex called ATNR (see section on primitive reflexes). Thereby the messy writing is caused by poor fine motor skills (the ability to make movements using the small muscles in our hands and wrists) which in turn is caused poor gross motor skills (the ability to make movements using the large muscles) caused in turn caused by poor physical literacy (the inability to control our body in the way we want i.e., doing simple sequences o.) and in turn caused by retained primitive reflexes.
You might also hear motor skills difficulties referred to as developmental coordination disorder, which makes it hard to learn motor skills and coordination. You may also hear people use the term which Dysgraphia refers to a challenge with writing when linked
to writing difficulties. There are also challenges that don’t seem related to motor skills but that can make handwriting difficult. For example, if children are impulsive, they may rush through assignments. That can result in sloppy work and many mistakes.
No matter what’s behind your child’s trouble with handwriting, addressing retained primitive reflexes can really help your child. See www.childcentremethod.com .
