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DD7 gets so frustrated whenever she has to print. She avoids it like the plague. Today, she had to write down the titles of two books she had recently read for her library reading program log. Each book title had seven words and she was in tears at the prospect of having to print 14 words. She was squirming and tearful and making growling noises. She gets like that whenever she has any homework to do. It makes me wonder which part she dislikes so much... the sitting still, the printing, or that actual effort of doing any work.

It makes me dread the coming school year. I so don't want to be fighting with her every night, but it just doesn't seem to be getting any easier. I welcome any suggestions!

Kathleen's frustrated Mum

Here's some ideas:
-Let her write standing up at the table
-Let her use window markers on a big sliding glass window
-Use colored pens and a ruler, draw lines on aluminum foil and have her try writing on that
-Chewing gum while writing
-sitting on a disk seat in her regular chair, sitting on a big exercise ball instead of a chair, using a t-stool instead of a chair
-put a bungee cord or rubber tubing on the bottom of her chair to place her feet on, or kick at
-use theraputty to exercise fingers
-if she is copying something, you can use a very slow metronome to help pace each letter
This is all stuff my dd has tried with an OT. I'm still worried about next year, but this stuff has helped enough I am hoping we are going to get over the going back to school hump.

I hear you. That is very tough.

May I ask, since I haven't gone to read some of your history on this board, has she told you (when she is calm) ... what she thinks it is?

Does her hand get tired real quick because she's holding her pencil too tightly? Does something hurt when she writes? Does her brain "feel funny" when she tries to write? etc etc Or, perhaps she finds that it is intolerably slow to print?

I'm sure someone else will come along who will be more helpful

Thanks Chrys! Great ideas... I will post these beside my kid's area as a reminder for us.

Which reminds me -- we provide a smartie for each sentence. We do stuff like "I don't know if you can stand writing 3 words before having a smartie -- well, if you need it, go ahead. But if you can wait till 4 words... "

We also try raisins or grapes or other small pieces of food. Which is ok as long as it is healthy.

(I can imagine if my younger self had done this, that I would eat a bag of chips, 1 chip a sentence, during essay writing time. Just kidding!)

I second the chewing gum, if your child is into chewing gum.

Thanks for the suggestions. We will certainly give them a try.

Jesse - from what I can gather, her frustration comes from a) her brain working way faster than her hand, and b) her perfectionism is too much to cope with (she can't tolerate making letters imperfectly). She has ADHD as well, so there could be many reasons for her to be frustrated.

She tends to get into really negative cycles where no amount of coaxing and bribing can convince her to cooperate and she seems to be in one right now. She wanted to learn handwriting this summer and barely made it through three letters before throwing the book down in disgust because her letters didn't turn out well enough.

She has a follow-up appt with her psychologist this week as a prelude to the school year. She wanted to work with her on self-talk and coping skills to deal with her frustrations at school. I will certainly mention the printing issue and see if she has some ideas.

Been there. My DD7 skipped Kindergarten and her fine motor skills were the last thing to develop. One thing that worked for us was a giant white erase board and multi color dry erase markers. She loves writing and drawing and really likes to leave messages and art work on the board.

In addition, we stocked up on 72 count colored pencils, gel pens, magic markers, and all the really cool pencils so that she can add a little personality into her writing. (As a result, she now writes all of our greeting cards in rainbow letters, one letter in each color and then decorates wtih stickers. Everyone loves them!) Note: Her favorite pencil is one that writes in four different colors and each letter will have multiple colors based on the strokes.

The other thing that we tried is writing tablets doing one letter a day. My DD7 goes into 3rd Grade this fall and her 2nd Grade teacher sent home a cursive handwriting book. I watch her make the first letter, and then comment something like, "Great job, but can you make this a little fatter, skinnier, touch this line, etc." as she makes her first two or three letters. Once she gets the hang of it, she does the rest of the page and I tell her to put a star by her best letter.

Don't know if this will work for your daughter, but it is working for us. We've made it through the book now, and I have been truly impressed with DD's improvement. She's actually told me that writing isn't that bad any more!

The good news is that as your daughter writes more in school, her writing should improve with practice.

My DD refused to write even her name until she was 5. What helped her was watching me write out the words. She closely watches how I form the letters on my page and then she copies 'my words'. I mostly use this technique when she asks about spelling. I never spell out a word verbally. I always write it on a separate piece of paper. It has helped her hand writing tremendously. To this day she will not 'practice' using writing work sheets, due to perfectionism she needs to use a pencil so that she can erase mistakes. The coloured pencil/marker approach didn't work for her at all. I tried many different things but in the end something as simple as this helped her.

Is your DD going into Grade 2?

Not sure if this is a good idea, where can we find samples of work -- what does handwriting look like for an average or even below-average Grade 2 kid? There are lots of kids who are still struggling with printing at Grade 2. (I wouldn't show DD examples of what great printing would look like because she already knows.)

Bah, it is late and I'm rambling. I'm trying to say, what if she saw how many kids struggle with printing at her age... ? (Trying the 'logic' route... and that it is ok, etc etc)

I think I've mentioned it elsewhere, I would recommend that parents can role-play themselves trying to draw or do something and making a mistake -- talk aloud what you tell yourself, like "oh I made a mistake, I'm never going to try again" -- and then when you calm down "Maybe I just need more practice", then go and show her you are practicing, for example... etc etc

Let her hear your brain process... as you work it out.

She is going into grade 3. We have had long talks about how difficult handwriting is and that her letters look like everyone elses (her two best friends volunteered to try just to show her that they could not make letters that were perfect) and that no one, except herself, is expecting the letters to be perfect. The handwriting book is hers, I told her that she did not even have to show it to anyone... that it was just for her own practice (please keep in mind that learning handwriting was HER idea). The star by her best letter helped momentarily, but I cannot convince her to pick up the book again. She just shuts down. I worry because they will be learning handwriting at school this year and if she can't even cope at home I know it is going to be a big deal at school.

She had a pretty significant vision issue until the age of 6 and her fine motor skills are still behind those of her peers. I feel for her because I am an uber-perfectionist, too. It takes a lot for me to keep from transferring that onto her, but I never criticize any of her efforts.

I suggested that she concentrate on learning to type/keyboard for the time being and she has taken off on the BBC kids typing program. Goodness knows that if she refuses to print that she will at least need to know how to type!

Could she receive OT services at school? Or privately? The motor and vision issues might be related to her handwriting problems.