There ^
are
a
num·ber·
of ^
rea·sons·
why
chil·dren·
find
it
di·ffi·cult·
to
put
their ^
thoughts ^
down
on
pa·per· .
Co·mmon·
rea·sons·
for
this
are :
Hand·wri·ting·
Vs
Fin·ger-wri·ting·
Hand·wri·ting·
is
the
me·cha·ni·cal·
part
of ^
the
wri·ting·
pro·cess· .
Since
most
schools
stopped
tea·ching·
cur·sive·
wri·ting·
in
fa·vour·
of ^
the
linked
script
style
there ^
has
been
less
em·pha·sis·
on
tea·ching·
hand·wri·ting·
tech·nique· .
Con·se·quent·ly· ,
ma·ny· ^
chil·dren·
now
hold
their ^
pens
in
an
aw·kward·
ma·nner· ,
for·cing·
them
to
use
a
tech·nique·
called
"fin·ger-wri·ting· ".
Fin·ger-wri·ting·
is
slow·er·
and
more
di·ffi·cult·
to
do ^
than
tra·di·tio·nal·
hand·wri·ting· .
Vi·su·a·lly· ,
it
o·ften·
lacks
style
be·cause·
the
le·tters·
slope
in
di·ffe·rent·
di·rec·tions· .
And ,
e·ven·
more
se·ri·ou·sly·
for
the
long·er·
term ,
the
hand
gets
ti·red·
qui·ckly·
and
so
wri·ting·
con·ti·nu·ou·sly·
for
more
than
a
few
mi·nutes·
be·comes· ^
pain·ful· -
a
se·ri·ous·
han·di·cap·
when
si·tting·
for
a
3
hou·r·
ex·am·
at
ma·tri·cu·la·tion·
le·vel· ,
or
try·ing·
to
take
notes
at
u·ni·ver·si·ty· .
How
to
Hold
the
Pen·cil· :
I·de·a·lly· ,
your
child
should ^
be
si·tting·
u·pright· ,
not
hunched
o·ver·
the
pa·per· .
The
hand
should ^
be
hol·ding·
the
pen·cil·
at
an
an·gle·
of ^
a·bout·
60
de·grees·
and
u·sing·
a
3 fin·ger·
grip ,
2-3cm
from
the
tip .
Di·scou·rage·
the
use
of ^
bi·ros·
be·cause·
young
chil·dren's·
hands
are
still
too
small
to
hold
a
bi·ro·
at
the
co·rrect·
an·gle·
-
bi·ros·
force
them
to
hold
the
pen
u·pright·
in
or·der·
to
get
the
ink
flow·ing·
pro·per·ly· .
If
your
child
is
left-han·ded·
you ^
need
to
be
e·spe·cia·lly·
vi·gi·lant·
be·cause·
left
han·ded·
chil·dren·
are
not
al·ways·
taught
the
spe·cial·
tech·niques·
nee·ded·
to
com·pen·sate·
for
the
fact
that
they ^
must
push
the
pen·cil·
ra·ther·
than
pull
it
(like
a
right-han·ded·
per·son· ).
The
first
thing
to
check
is
the
slope
of ^
the
le·tters· -
left-han·ded·
wri·ters·
should ^
slope
their ^
wri·ting·
in
the
o·ppo·site·
di·rec·tion·
to
that
of ^
right-han·ded·
peo·ple· .
The
3
fin·ger·
grip
is
still
used ,
al·though· ^
the
pen
should ^
be
held
in
a
slight·ly·
di·ffe·rent·
way .
Long
term
ha·bits·
are
hard
to
break .
So ,
if
your
child
is
not
hol·ding·
the
pen·cil·
co·rrect·ly· ,
it
is
im·por·tant·
to
make
the
change
as
soon
as
po·ssi·ble· .
If
your
a·ttempts·
to
do ^
this
are
not
suc·cess·ful· ,
it
is
like·ly·
that
your
child
is
wri·ting·
with
i·na·ppro·pri·ate·
wrist
move·ments· ^,
or
is
si·tting·
with
poor
po·sture· .
Poor
hand
wri·ting·
can
al·so·
be
a
sign
of ^
o·ther· ^
lan·guage·
pro·blems· .
For
ex·am·ple· ,
poor
wri·ting·
is
fre·quent·ly·
used
to
co·ver· ^
up
weak·ne·sses·
in
spe·lling·
or
wri·tten·
ex·pre·ssion· .
If
this
is
the
case ,
re·me·di·al·
ac·tion·
should ^
be
ta·ken·
to
fix
these
pro·blems·
be·fore·
a·ttemp·ting·
to
change
the
hand·wri·ting·
style .
Do ^
not
let
your
a·ttempts·
to
help
your
child
write
be·tter·
de·ve·lop·
in·to· ^
a
ba·ttle· .
This
will
lead
to
a
ne·ga·tive·
a·tti·tude·
and
so
make
the
pro·blems·
har·der·
to
fix
la·ter·
on .
If
your
child
can't
make
the
chan·ges·
you ^
are
a·sking·
for ,
con·tact·
us
for
an
ex·pert·
a·sse·ssment·
so
you ^
can
be
sure ^
of ^
ex·act·ly·
what
needs
to
be
done ^.
With
a·ppro·pri·ate·
trai·ning·
and
prac·tice· ,
it
is
po·ssi·ble·
to
co·rrect·
hand·wri·ting·
pro·blems·
and
de·ve·lop·
a
fast ,
le·gi·ble·
hand·wri·ting·
style ,
in
a·bout·
6
weeks .
Spe·lling·
Spe·lling·
is
the
co·ding·
part
of ^
the
wri·ting·
pro·cess· .
Poor
spe·lling·
is
u·su·a·lly·
a
symp·tom·
of ^
an
un·der·ly·ing·
pro·blem·
with
rea·ding· ,
so
wor·king·
on
spe·lling·
in
i·so·la·tion·
is
u·su·a·lly·
a
waste
of ^
time
and
e·ffort· .
In·deed· ,
it
may
e·ven·
be
coun·ter-pro·duc·tive· ,
be·cause·
con·ti·nued·
e·ffort·
wi·thout·
a·ny· ^
real
suc·cess·
can
in·crease·
fee·lings·
of ^
i·na·de·qua·cy·
and
low·er·
con·fi·dence·
le·vels· .
If
your
child
has
a
spe·lling·
pro·blem·
have
a
di·ag·no·stic·
a·sse·ssment·
done ^
so
that
you ^
can
find
out
the
cause
of ^
the
pro·blem· ,
then
work
on
the
so·lu·tion· .
Sto·ry·
Wri·ting·
Sto·ry·
wri·ting·
is
the
thin·king·
and
cre·a·tive·
part
of ^
the
wri·ting·
pro·cess· .
If
your
child
is
good
at
hand·wri·ting·
and
spe·lling· ,
yet
still
has
pro·blems·
wri·ting·
down
i·de·as· ,
try
u·sing·
a
tape
re·cor·der· .
Re·cord·
what
he /she
has
to
say ,
then
tran·spose·
from
there ^.
This
way
you ^
are
tea·ching·
your
child
to
break
up
a
com·plex·
pro·cess·
in·to· ^
sim·pler·
steps .
If
this
a·pproach·
does ^
not
work
then
we
re·co·mmend·
a
di·ag·no·stic·
a·sse·ssment·
so
the
cause
of ^
the
pro·blem·
can
be
i·so·la·ted· .
Once ^
we
have
re·me·died·
a·ny· ^
un·der·ly·ing·
pro·blems· ,
we
will
pro·vide·
your
child
with
the
skills
re·qui·red·
to
be·come· ^
a
suc·cess·ful·
wri·ter·
of ^
both
fic·tion·
and
non-fic·tion· .
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