Pencils

Writing Difficulties

Many children with writing difficulties have dyslexia and / or dyspraxia (developmental coordination difficulties) − these conditions often occur together and affect all aspects of a child's life, both in school and outside. It is vital therefore, that schools and early years settings are able to identify difficulties in this important area and put in place appropriate interventions where necessary.

Some things to look out for are children who difficulties with:
throwing and catchingdance/music and movementmanipulating small objects (building bricks, jigsaws)getting dressed/undressedusing cutlery / scissorshandwritingorganising themselves and their worksequencinglaterality (knowing left from right)following multiple instructions

Children with motor coordination difficulties may also have poor posture and limited body awareness, moving awkwardly and seeming clumsy; this can be especially noticeable after a growth spurt. They may also tire more easily than other children.

For children who find writing difficult the following things should be thought about:

the sitting position: ideally both feet on the floor with the table and chair at an appropriate heightthe possibility of using a sloping writing surfaceanchoring the paper / book to the table to avoid slippingproviding a 'cushion' to write on can be a help, for example, an old magazine, used paper stapled togetherthe writing implement − try triangular pencils or different pencil grips, for example standard triangular pencil grips, Tri-go grips or Grippy...

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