Handwriting is a complex skill that involves multiple areas of development, and in pediatric occupational therapy, we work with children to build each of these foundational skills. For strong handwriting, kids need good fine motor coordination, hand strength, and control over finger movements to hold a pencil effectively. They also benefit from having strong visual motor skills, like being able to coordinate their eyes and hands, as well as spatial awareness to judge the size and spacing of letters. Bilateral integration is another important part of handwriting, because to write you need to hold the paper steady with your nondominant hand to write with your dominant hand. Additionally, core strength and posture help support handwriting, as kids need to be able to use their core muscles to hold their trunk steady in order to have good control of their hands for writing. Kids also need to have good visual perceptual skills to be able to recognize letters and write them accurately. In therapy, we might work on exercises that strengthen hand muscles, improve hand-eye coordination, and practice letter formation in a way that is fun and engaging. Kids learn handwriting best not by repetitive writing on paper, but by using their whole bodies in a multi-sensory way to learn. By breaking down handwriting into smaller skills, we help children develop the tools they need to feel confident and successful when they write. We can also work on cursive writing for older children who may be struggling with print, as cursive has less stopping and starting so can be a more efficient way to write for some children.
Activities to Complete at Home:
- Using tweezers/tongs to pick up objects
- Playing with Wiki Stiks or Play Doh to create numbers/letters
- Write, draw, or color with broken crayons, golf-pencils, etc. This allows the fingertips to hold the utensil rather than the hand, encouraging a more mature grasp.
- Trace letters with a Q-tip and paint
- Find and pick small objects out of putty
- Use a stylus when working on an iPad
- Use paper with a darkened or highlighted line to help the child recognize where the letters start
- Animal walks to strengthen the shoulder/trunk muscles
- Writing/drawing on an easel or vertical surface
- Tracing using stencils
- Punching holes in paper using a single hole punch
- Tape a piece of paper to the underside of a table and lay under the table to draw
- Therapy ball exercises
- Board games with small pieces
- “Pencil Walk” moving the fingers up and down the pencil
- Sidewalk chalk on pavement, chalkboards and loop pile carpet squares
- Pushing golf tees into dense Styrofoam or pool noodles
- Use graph paper to help with letter sizing and spacing. Write with one letter per box.
- Use blocks to make large letters on the floor
- Draw in the air using fingers, arms, legs etc
