IS MY CHILD READY TO WRITE LETTERS?
Congratulations on being involved in your child's learning! What an exciting time for your young learner as they jump into reading and writing literacy fun. Writing will open up a whole new world of communication! Starting when your child is ready and teaching them correctly from the beginning will make a big difference in their writing success! But, how do you know if your child is ready to write?
When considering whether your child is ready to write, there are a few key questions to ask yourself:
- Does your child hold a pencil correctly?>
- Can your child draw the nine pre-writing shapes shown by research to determine readiness to write the capital letters of the alphabet (l, --, O, +, square, /, \, X, and triangle)?
- Can your child identify letters?
- Is your child motivated to write and interested in writing?
Pencil Grasp
Steps to a correct pencil grasp:
If your child is not yet holding the pencil correctly, it is important to encourage activities that strengthen pencil grasp before encouraging pencil use. This doesn't mean your child can't enjoy practicing making letters though! He/she can make letters with play dough, draw letters in the sand with a stick, draw letters on cement with chalk, form letters with pipe cleaners, etc. These activities are age-appropriate and enjoyable for children who are 3-6 years old, and will allow your child to enjoy learning to make letters without forming incorrect pencil habits early on.
Some ideas to strengthen pencil grasp are:
- Play games to increase upper body strength: wheelbarrow walks, hanging from rings or bars, tug-of-war, animal walks.
- Encourage activities to strengthen pinch such as playing with tweezers, clothespins, small pop beads.
- Try holding a wooden dowel or chopstick with the correct grasp and draw in resistive material such as play dough, clay, cornstarch and water mix. Make sure to encourage your child to use their pinchers!
- Use a pencil grip that facilitates proper pencil graps and trains the proper muscles when having your child use a pencil or colored pencil (i.e., Grotto Grip).
Pre-Writing Shapes
Pre-writing shapes are the basic geometric shapes the child needs to be able to make in order to form all of the capital letters of the alphabet correctly. At at the age of 2 years, children can generally make a vertical line, ____, and begin to make a circle. During their 3
rd year they become confident with circles and crosses. Their 4
th year brings diagonal lines, X's and squares. Between 5 years-old and 5 years, 6 months, children generally learn to make a triangle with three sharp corners. At that age, the child has the skills to make all of the capital letters correctly. This doesn't mean your child has to be 5 ½ before he/she starts writing, it just means that formation of the triangle should be emphasized before making some of the more difficult letters such as A, M, N, etc. Try
Shape Builders Learn to Draw and
Shape Builders Stencils to facilitate pre-writing shape formation with fun drawing and stenciling activities. Also, have multisensory pre-writing shape fun by makign shapes out of pretzel/cookie dough, drawing in shaving cream in the bathtub, forming shapes with a stick in the dirt, or simply making letters really big with your whole arm and guessing which shape was made! You can also do this with a flashlight on the wall!
Letter Recognition
Some children will start to identify letters at a very early age (the M of their favorite restaurant, the first letter of their name, etc.) and others are still working on letter recognition at 4 and 5-years old. There are old classics like reading Dr. Seuss' ABCs and singing the ABC song, or new technology like
Fridge Phonics. All of these fun games should be encouraged! Ask your child to look at the signs in the grocery store and find the letter
B or look for letters on billboards during a car trip. Your child will need to be able to identify letters before writing really has meaning for them. Otherwise, they are just copying a picture and retention for correct letter formation is significantly decreased.
Motivation and Interest in Writing
Motivation and interest are probably the two most important ingredients when considering a child's readiness to write. When your child is ready, work in short sessions. Use
Capital Letter Stories first to teach correct letter formation and then engage in a fun activity (form the letters with play dough, paint the letters onto a picture, etc.) If your child has the developmental skills of a correct pencil grasp and pre-writing shape formation, motivation is often spontaneously increased because he/she is more successful from the start! Try Stage I activities from
Mead Writing Fundamentals to increase confidence in writing.
Children develop at various speeds and most are normal variations. Making sure your child is ready to write letters and starting at the stage where he/she is developmentally, will foster increased success, decrease the formation of bad habits and create a successful and cnofident writer!
Remember, always keep it FUN and praise your child's individual accomplishments!
Happy Writing!
Toni M. Schulken, MS, OTR/L