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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Handwriting

One of Kayla's weakest areas is fine motor skills - more specifically - handwriting. She has struggled even with the concept of tracing; her lines just would not follow the other lines.

She has the correct pencil grip, but I can see that her hands are just weak. She's had trouble with wrist rotation and stabilizing her arm to print.

Several months ago she just could not trace letters...it seemed as if she just couldn't make her hand do what she wanted it to do. Instead she seemed to want to color in the lines instead of tracing the lines. It was discouraging watching her trying to trace because it felt like she would just never get there.

Over the past few months she has made significant progress in this area. She is now able to trace with some accuracy and I'm amazed at the difference. I should have saved some of those earlier papers where she 'attempted' to trace so I could compare to where she is now.

But trust me when I say she could not do this just a few months ago. (This is her tracing over her name that I wrote, not her writing free hand by herself).


She can independently make an L, T (although after making the T she likes to turn it in to an I), and sometimes H, E, and F.

She obviously practices K a lot to prepare for writing her own name. Several weeks ago she was working on the little chalkboard and produced this - needless to say there was a lot of cheering going on.



She is still a long way off from writing independently; and struggles to make her K on flat paper (instead of the boundaries the chalkboard provides) but she knows the basics of how it should look and makes the right amount of lines - it just comes out looking more like an F instead of a K.

I'm just happy to see the progress she's making and knowing she is finally tracing letters now...she'll get to writing eventually and there will be a big celebration when she does!

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38 comments:

Junior said...

that is wonderful, way to go Kayla.

Cammie Heflin said...

Handwriting Without Tears is the Best! Way to go Kayla!

Stephanie said...

YAY KAYLA!!!! She is doing GREAT!!!!

We can relate! It has been a hard road here and will continue to be with Meg's chubby little fingers.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!

Karly said...

Yay! That is one awesome "K"...of course, I am pretty partial to that letter as well. ;)

Great work, Kayla!

Nancy M. said...

My son is in 6th grade and his handwriting still isn't the best. Funny thing is he writes better in cursive than print.

Kayla looks so happy in the video! I think she's doing a great job and will get it soon enough!

Ria said...

Yay Kayla!! Good job!
Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday. I appreciate your comment.

Beth said...

Great job, Kayla!! Keep up the good work!!!!

Jeanette said...

Michelle, I just got some documents from a Susan Peoples conference about how children with DS learn. It has a section on writing. If you are interested, drop me an email and I will make copies and get them to you.

It was great to see how proud Kayla was! And I am sure you were!!!

Stewart Family said...

Way to go Kayla!

*High Five!*

RK said...

That's SO exciting!!! Great job Kayla!! Woo Hoo!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is incredible work! She is persistent! Good work Kayla!Of course, I too am partial to the letter K!

Kim said...

WTG Kayla!!! That is the best looking K I have ever seen! Super Job!

datri said...

That is just awesome! WTG Kayla! I know that my Kayla has had a hard time even scribbling and we're thrilled that she can finally draw a straight line at age 5.

Jill said...

That's awesome! What an accomplishment - you should all be so proud!

much more than a mom said...

Way to go, Kayla! That's awesome!

My guy can't even hold a pencil yet most days and has no interest in printing. At all. Ever. ;-)

Mike said...

Looks great to me.

Mike
http://somethingaboutparenting.typepad.com
Twitter: AboutParenting
Photo ideas? 100 Portrait Ideas

Me said...

WOW!!! What a perfect K! Kaia struggles a little bit with handwriting as well, it's like her brain and her hands are working together either. She has the grasp, and the strength, and she can trace fine, but when it comes to independant writing, her brain just can't get her to hand to cooperate. And K is the hardest letter of the alphabet (according to our OT) so that's an extra challenge added. At least her name is only 4 letters long. She's got the A and the I down, just can't catch on to the K.

LauraJ said...

I can see that she's also left-handed too. I think lefties have a little harder time adjusting themselves to a righty world. :) I'm so happy for you and her! Your hard work is paying off! I loved her beaming smile in that video!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Kayla, WAY TO GO!!!

I'm all teary-eyed with happiness. I think this is a really HUGE accomplishment and Kayla is doing so great!!!

My husband is a lefty and he's a brilliant guy -- just like Kayla. ♥

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

Yay, Kayla! J's problems all surround fine motor so I can relate a bit. His hand strength is not the best. I just loaded up on some fine motor activities to work with him on at home over the summer. His O/T therapist gave me an exercise band to work with him at him also. He'll give me 2 minutes and then he gets frustrated and runs off. Someone suggested Handwriting without Tears. I'm going to check that out!

Anonymous said...

YAY Kayla! Very very nice work!

Karen said...

That's awesome! Congrats, Kayla!

chelle said...

How exciting to watch the progress!!!

Unknown said...

Yay for Kayla!!

It's so exciting seeing all these skills flourish with our kids. Skills that others really do take for granted.

I took pic's too when Carly first started to write her name. Of course, I emialed the pictures to everyone!

Way to go Kayla! Keep up the great work.

Anonymous said...

Way to go Kayla!!!! That was a beautiful K!I love the excitement on her face when she did it!she is a smart little girl!
love ya,
mimi

Tricia said...

Karate chop! Love it!!!!!

Nicki said...

is really good... the K is especially well done! :)

Corey~living and loving said...

go girl! :)

Sugar refuses to use the correct pencil grip. I don't even know how to help her.
The only way she'll do it, is if the pencil is too short to do it any other way.

Sue said...

That's great that she ismaking such great progress! We have Handwriting without Tears here.

:)

Unknown said...

Go Kayla. I know you can do it!

Ellen said...

Kayla, I loved watching your video. What a perfect K you wrote.

Mommy to those Special Ks said...

WTG Kayla!!!

Crittle said...

A beautiful "K" indeed. Go, Kayla!

Amy said...

Great work, Kayla! Joe is basically in the same place. His teacher tried tracing with a highlighter but that didn't work for him. So instead we spent a lot of time with drawing straight lines from one point to another and that really helped. Now he is working with a Kumon book on letters, but it is the same problem with pressing down hard enough. Funny, he also made his breakthrough with chalk. I wonder if there is something about the chalk that helps them to press?

Tausha said...

Kayla, you are an inspiration. You go girl!!

Anonymous said...

Kayla- Great Writing! :)



Hi Michelle,

My son has some severe fine motor issues- hand strength was the main culprit. He has a Sensory Dysfunction Disorder and spent about 18 months in Occupational Therapy for his handwriting/muscle weakness. I would suggest to have her work with theraputty. My son's OT recommended it and he didn't even realize he was "working". It's similar to silly putty, but it takes a little more effort for the kids to work with it, strenghing the muscles. Anyway, here's the link:

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/fine-motor-skills-activities-for-children.html

Kate

JoDee said...

Way to go!
I second checking into the Handwriting without Tears program. Our schools use it some and I am going to see if I can borrow materials for over the summer to work with Lexie. She is almost 9 and has just started OT for hand writing issues.

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

She does really good for her age!

Gabi just learned to write hers without tracing it and her handwriting isn't the greatest but who cares?