Handwriting

• Is not able to correctly form the letters of the alphabet, in the school’s chosen style.
• Writes letters that are incorrectly or inconsistently sized.
• Doesn’t place letters correctly on the line.
• Leaves uneven spaces (the child or young person may forget finger spaces, write letters within a word too close together or too far apart).
• Presses too softly or too hard.
• Writes slowly (in comparison with other children and young people of a similar age).
• Complains their hand hurts when writing.

Based on need, some of this provision will be effective.

• Provide individual or small group support that is aligned to your school’s handwriting programme.
• Provide further targeted intervention to support handwriting, for example Write From The Start. Use Letter Join’s KS2 recovery programme or ‘Speed Up!‘ for children and young people in KS2 and above.
• Make available a variety of pens, pencils and grips, and help the child or young person to trial these to see which they prefer.
• Consider the use of a light-up pen, or a 2H pencil if the child or young person is applying excessive pressure when writing.
• Consider the use of a weighted pen or pencil, or a B/2B pencil if a child or young person doesn’t press hard enough when writing.
• Use a writing slope (a piece of Dycem will help paper and books from slipping).
• Provide books or paper with handwriting guidelines. Use a highlighter to support the child or young person to generalise this to writing on standard lined paper. A bubble handwriting template can also help with letter size and spacing.
• Use handwriting apps and a stylus to practise letter formation.
• Ensure that the child or young person is in a proper position for table work (feet flat on the floor, shoulders relaxed, and forearms supported on the desk), and that their chair and table is the correct size for them. A visual sequence strip can provide a simple reminder of good posture for handwriting. The National Handwriting Association’s ‘Good Practice for Handwriting‘ contains further guidance.
• Support the child or young person to leave spaces between words:
  • check that they understand that sentences are made up of words. Practise clapping the words in a sentence. Build sentences with word cards, with a space between each.
  • provide a prompt that will help the child or young person leave a space between words (for example, a lolly stick or a coffee stirrer).
  • encourage the child or young person to check each sentence, ticking correctly sized finger spaces.

Support services

• The Devon English Team
• Devon’s SEND ICT Team
• In most of Devon (excluding Plymouth and Torbay), Vranch House provides assessment and support for children and young people in mainstream schools experiencing persistent difficulties with handwriting, despite purposeful action as part of the school’s graduated approach, and where these difficulties are significantly impacting on functioning. Contact Vranch House to request referral forms: clinic@vranchhouse.org. Vranch House also provide training for staff in Fun Fit and High Five.
• In Torbay and North Devon, support is provided by the Occupational Therapy team at Child and Family Health Devon.

Further reading and information

• Pencil grips – tips and advice | Children and Family Health Devon
• Good Practice for Handwriting Toolkit | National Handwriting Association (free to download on request)
• Writing Repeater – handwriting demonstration tool

Resources to share with parents

• Handwriting | Oxford Owl for Home
• Help for Parents | National Handwriting Association
• Pencil grips – tips and advice | Children and Family Health Devon
• Occupational Therapy Information Sheets | Vranch House
• Doorway Online (free online keyboard fluency programme)
• Learn Touch Typing Free | TypingClub (free online keyboard fluency programme)