Ok my 4 yr old has been in Headstart/Free pre-school for the last two yrs. He is about t go into K this Sept. My problem is that he refuses to learn how to hold a pencil or a crayon correctly and therefore is handwriting is terrible even for a 4 yr old. He doesn't want to sit and practice his letters or his numbers and still can't differentiate between the two when they are set before him. I thought he was doing fine last year but he just hasn't gotten better as the time has passed. I don't want to blame the teachers but he went from having a young teacher last year with younger room helpers to having a grandma type this year and older helpers. Its not like there are a lot of children in a class, his only has 15. So thats only 5 kids per teacher/helper.
He tole me tongight while we were practicing that he doesn't have enough mucsles to write right and he needs to exercise. Where does a 4 yr old come up with something like that???
my 4 yr old is just starting to write letters. I do not believe this is uncommon or anything to worry about.
Your not the only one my son just turned 5 a few weeks ago and will be going to kindergarten in September and cannot write his name and cannot recognize his alphabet I have been working with him alot on these things but he just doesn't seem to get it I show him a letter and we talk about it and what sounds it makes and then when I ask him what letter it is he says I don't know I'm thinking he is just not ready yet it seems like with counting and alphabets I tried to teach him forever and he could never get it and then one day he was just sitting down playing and he said the entire alphabet and the same thing with counting I don't know maybe he knew it the whole time but he sure didn't act like it when I was teaching him. I think all kids are on there own schedule and they'll get ot when there ready.
Hi E.,
It may not be the teacher, but start by having a talk with her. Express your worries and concerns. And tell her what he said to you. Ask her to shed some light on where he would have gotten that from. It is quite possible that he doesn't have the fine motor skills,however, that is something the teacher should discuss with you.
My stepson(17 yrs old) from a very young age(maybe 4 or 5) has had this problem. It turned out that he has "dysgraphia". You may want to look into that as well. I know it may sound extreme or even scary but you want to at least rule it out. Two of my children have gone through Headstart. So I know that
the child to teacher/helper ratio isn't always optimal. So it may mean that you will (I can that see you do) have to work with your son on your own. And the Handwriting Without Tears mentioned in a previous post is a wonderful thing to use.
Keep doing the great job you are doing!
I.
I have worked as a teaching assistant in Head Start and in Montessori classrooms. This is absolutely nothing to worry about. Does your son use his fingers in other ways? legos? manipulating dials and knobs, using tweezers, learning to tie laces and button buttons...all of these things will hone his fine motor skills.
It sounds as if your son is simply not ready yet, and trust me, you will know when he is. Similar to how you recognize when they are ready for solid food, children tend to "reach" for things they are ready to master. Continue to encourage the proper way of holding writing implements, but if he is resistant, offer other fine motor skills exercises.
Forcing a child to master a skill they are not ready for, or do not have the experience of mastering necessary pre-skills for it, is setting that child up for disappointment and will hinder progress in that and other areas.
Good luck. Be gentle. Follow his lead.
hi how are u? I have a 6 year old and about his writing. My cuz that is 10 years old my son look up to him big times so i ask him to sit down with him and my cuz made up song about writing and he started to write a lil better
E.,
He is only four so there is no need to fret. However, as a teacher, it sounds like he just doesn't WANT to do it for you! That is not uncommon. My goddaughter WOULD NOT recite her abc's and if her mom asked what color something was she would answer her wrong. If I were to ask her she would answer me correctly. When she started preschool, she knew her entire alphabet AND all of her colors!
My godson refused to write his name and his mom is a teacher and two or three days after preschool started he came home and said MOM LOOK WHAT I CAN DO?!! He wrote his name.. when asked where did you learn that. He said, My desk has a name tag on it! something We both as teachers never thought of doing for him.
My daughter (3YO) can write her name and learned quickly after I purchased letter tracers from the Lakeshore teachers store. If there is not a store near you, it is online at lakeshore.com.
Good Luck,
D.
I would have to say that it is partialy the teacher. I say this because you said that he was doing fine with the other teacher. I'm not saying he heard the whole muscle thing from the teach, but it sure sounds like it. Did you sit down and talk with the teacher about his progress? Teachers do have an effect on kids. It sounds like you are trying to help your son learn and I don't think you are leaving it up to the teacher, like some will say.
As for holding a pencil correctly...my 5 1/2 year old will not hold her pencil right either. She writes okay, but she refuses to hold the pencil correctly. I heard a little tip...to get a child to hold their pencil right, use one of those black binder clips. The ones that hold a lot of papers togeather with the silver ends. Wrap a rubber band around the pencil and put the clip on top of it (this keeps it from moving).Their pointer finger falls in between the silver ends and their thumb and middle finger lay on the sides.
Maybe you would want to reconsider sending him to kindergarden until he can practice his letters and numbers a little more. It's just a suggestion.
Good luck!
Hi,
As some of the other people mentioned, getting frustrated about it will probably only make him more frustrated. Your question is about the handwriting but it sounds like you also mention that he doesn't recognize letters visually by looking at them and knowing what they are. These are two different skills. My 4 yr old son has decent handwriting and likes to write but he can't quite remember what all the letters are. His friend can read but doesn't like to write and isn't good at it. To encourage letter recognition and an interest in letters, I like the ideas others suggested about trying to relate letters and writing to his world, making it fun. Try to talk about letters that you see during the day-- on signs, at the store, in books when you read to him. Squirt his ketchup into letter shapes, make letter shapes with pancake batter, see if he can bite his sanwich or a cookie into the shape of a letter, draw letters in the dirt or sand, make letters out of legos or blocks. As far as the muscle control, maybe his teacher said that because that is real. Playdoh, toys with small parts will help his fine motor skills. Also, does he like to draw? Encourage drawing by drawing with him, giving him ideas, etc. Even practicing coloring in the lines in a coloring book helps him get that fine motor control. My sons's teacher breaks their crayons in half to make them use the right grip, if it's that small they can't grab it with their whole fist. Also crayons are the best (over markers and pencils) becasue they provide the most feeling of moving over the paper. My son's classroom uses Handwriting Without Tears, they have a low-cost workbook that might give you some ideas (although I wouldn't push the workbook if he's not interested). It's at www.hwtears.com Good luck!
my son has an older kin teacher and i said something to her about his hand writing and she says it will get better she has the kids write then she has them paint they write then she has them use play doh etc....she does this to get them to use there fine motor skills for writing and gets them motivated to write and my sons writing has improved since he went into her class in march (we moved) now his old teacher just used to make them sit and write and write and my son hated writing....talk with the teacher and make writing fun...it might just take him alittle longer to do it or he just doesn't want to do it because he doesn't get along with the new teacher...
My daughter was 4 in Dec., my neices are 4 and some friends have 4 year olds, none of them can write their name , let alone any other letters. They are all in pre-school, and are doing just fine. They can draw face like figures , some with stick bodies, but I don't believe they really learn to write till kindergarden anyway. I have 2 older children, 16 and 11 and prego with my fourth. Don't stress yourself out over this yet, they are still young.
Hope this relieves some of your worries.
L.
his teacher may have told him this while it is true that kids at his age need to exercise the muscels in the hand to strengthen them try getting him to practice cutting and pasteing the action of open and closeing scissors will help exercise the muscle in the hand also skip the pencil and crayon instead start with markers and instead of trieing to get him to do letters and numbers do lines get him to practicwe with vertical and horizontiazl lines then move on to parellel and curved lines with a marker first have him play with play dough as an exercise have him squeeze it for so many minutes once he gets the marker and lines down move on to crayons and traceing letters make sure he is takeing his time and not rushing if he still has problems go back to markers and make sure they are the small tip ones not the big fat ones it will be just like holding a pencil just it dosent take much to make marks and try to get a pencil grip it will help teach him how to hold a pencil once he gets down useing markers and crayons then move on to pencial sounds more to me that he was rushed into trieing to use a pencil and didnt start with the basics slow down take your time I know it will seem like you need to hurry because he will be attending school but just work with him hopefully he will master the small stuff quick and be writeing with a pencil before the start of school also its good if he knows what letters are in his name even if he cant write them on paper he will need to know his first and last I do volenteer work for a pre-school and this is how we start all our kids out with the kids in the class are aged from 3-5 so it is possible to teach a three year old to trace letters if you start with basic skills as for the letters skip letter sounds and work with one thing at a time I suspect that everythings being lumped on him at once kids dont learn that way start with one letter make up songs or craft activtys for that letter work with it for a week check out the learning section at your local department store they have tons of work books and things geared towards learning go for the pre-school ones dont get mad or frustrated if he just dosent get it just keep working at it take one letter and number at a time dont worry if he dosent know his entire alpjabet by kindergarden the most important skills he needs for kindergarden are counting from 1-10 knowing how to spell his name basic writeing skills colors and basic shapes tieing shoes would be a bonus but not required he will need to be able to button and zip and they also would love it if he knew his adress and phone number but actually being able to write legably will not be a requirment until first grade you can always look into the hooked on phonics writeing bundle which would help him with his basic skills good luck if you have any questions or just need a few tips feel free to ask
My 6 yr old does not hold the pencil right either. She curls her index finger up. She has to use this special grip on her pencil to help her hold her fingers in the right place.
M.
hi E.,
One thing I would do, first would be not to push your child into writing. Try to get him interested in writing first. If his name is of no interest, how about one of his favorite characters? drawing a picture of it and then "how about we write his/its name so we can remember it later?" or stuff like that.
I got my 4 yr old interested in writing through writing "letters" to family members that are in other states and countries. In the back of her notes, I wrote notes to the members and pleaded to write back so that I could get her going into writing. It has worked! the first "letters" were drawings with her name on them. Then she added "I love you" on them and just today she was writing a question to my sister.
Ok, I admit she is a quick learner. But who is to say that your son can't do the same? Don't leave it all to the teacher. You can do this a little bit at a time in one, two or even three nights in a row depending on how much your son gets into it.... Ok, this is just one idea... like I said, catch his interest and go from there to put it into writing.
Second... if you can, spend an hour or so in your son's classroom. Volunteer for one or two days or stuff like that. Its the only way you'll get a sense on what's going on in there :)
good luck! and don't give up! he'll get there, you'll see :)
M.
