Thank you all so much. I would say 90% of the time her writing is fast and very sloppy. Letters are not formed the same way each time, many letters look similar, and she still has "b" "d" reversal issues. If I remind her to write neatly, she can slow to about half the pace, the tongue comes out (somehow the tongue always comes out when she is trying to write neatly) and I would say the handwriting looks more typical first grade. If I offer a big incentive for writing neatly - a bowl of ice cream or something, her writing slows to a snails pace - and like zen scanner said - it is more like drawing or drafting than writing, and she can do a good job - but she can only do a few words like that and then she can't take it any more.
polar bear - 1) yes in most other areas she is really far ahead, but the handwriting really stands out as being an area that is a disaster. 2) She is a very active kid who would rather be running than sitting to write anything. 3)In the classroom she is both much faster and much more sloppy than her peers. Her teacher additionally commented on the volume of work she produces, because she will write pages and pages (of sloppily written work) in the time it takes most kids to turn out a single page. 4)bigger fine motor (buttons and zippers) are OK, but truly micro fine motor (tiny beads and rainbow loom) are not- I have no idea what is considered developmentally normally that way. Shoes are not ever on the correct feet. Never. 5) letters are always randomly made - lower case r is often formed like trying to write a checkmark backwards (starting at the right side of the letter). She starts each letter at a different place each time - we have done handwriting without tears, which tends to emphasize where to start from, but it did not seem to sink in.
I guess I am just wondering if this is something that can be fixed with more practice, and if so, what kind of practice...
I had a friend recommend that I try having her play with a squirt gun over the summer, practicing the pulling the trigger with just that one finger... I thought it was a good thought - this motion was really hard for her, and she always wanted to pull the trigger with two hands. Now that it is snowy, the squirt gun has been put away.
It seems like she may have some fine motor issues and some visual processing issues... but if that is the case... what should I do?
