Taking the Pain out of Handwriting
07/14/2023
I saw him wincing as he wrote his first line of ideas. "Does it hurt when you write?" I asked. "Of course," Sam replied. He believed that handwriting was a painful activity they made you do at school.
Sam was brimming with fantastic ideas but his dyslexia made writing a challenge. Thankfully the pain in his fingers was an easy fix as we adjusted his pencil grip. Helping his mental discomfort was to take a little longer.
How was I going to help him to create a story? With practice, patience and a PC.
- Practice
Sam's in Year 6 and was in need of some practice forming his letters. We used the "Progress with Oxford" handwriting activity books which come complete with fun games and stickers. They were a winner! - Patience
Sam would feel daunted by the thought of writing for a more than a few minutes. So to build his stamina, we wrote shorter tongue twisters to longer metaphor poems. Eventually he was starting to feel more confident writing for longer and he now loves that he can express himself on the page (even if he wishes the words would just magically appear there!) - PC
Technology is a godsend! It was liberating for Sam to plan his ideas by recording his voice onto his iPad. And the speech-to-text function on Word allowed him to write as quickly as he could think (and that was pretty speedy!)
It was wonderful to see Sam's full potential when those handwriting barriers were removed and now he has a skill for life!