Occupational Therapy Advice

Strategies for Common Handwriting Problems

Too much pressure on pencil:
Try to increase the student’s awareness of how much pressure they are placing on the paper. The
activities below result in a negative effect and will provide immediate feedback of how hard to press
on the paper.
Activities:
 Place carbon paper under the student’s page. Encourage them to try write so that it does
not transfer to the page underneath.
 ‘Ghost writer’ – student writes a word and rubs it out – other student or teacher tries to
guess the word that they wrote. Student gets a point every time the person cannot guess
it
 Put a soft mat/ cardboard under the page. If student presses too hard they will put holes
in the paper
 Provide a light-up pen which can be bought cheaply from stationery shops. Challenge the
child to write so that the light does not come on.
 A soft pencil grip might help them stop squeezing the pencil so hard
 Often the speed of writing is impacted by using too much pressure. Reducing pressure
can help improve speed. To encourage an increase in speed try using a timer and ask the
student to write a familiar word/ sentence as many times as they can in 1 minute. When
practicing ask the student to see if he can beat this time i.e. write more than the last time.
Too little pressure:
The following activities are to encourage the child to understand how hard to press on the paper. If
they press too lightly during these activities they will have a negative result and will have immediate
feedback of how hard to press on the paper.
 Use crayon rubbings – if too little pressure is used the image does not come through clearly
onto the paper. After achieving the ‘perfect’ pressure ask the child to maintain the same
amount of pressure with their eyes closed
 Rub wax over a square of paper and then turn it over onto another piece of paper. Ask the
child to press hard onto the paper and draw shapes so the wax leaves marks on the other
piece of paper
 Use tracing or carbon paper – if child does not press hard enough the image will not show on
the paper.
 Use a softer pencil – the softer lead pencils are B and the harder are H. You can purchase
these pencils from any art supply store

Occupational Therapy Advice

Pain in hands:
 Take part in regular hand strengthening activities
 Ensure warm up activities for the hand are performed before writing
 A soft pencil grip might help reduce squeezing on pencil
 Regularly stretch hands out during writing tasks

Spacing:
 Encourage the student to leave a finger space between words
 Use a ‘spacer’ e.g. ice cream stick, to help with leaving finger-spaces between words
 To increase the student’s awareness ask the child to read a sentence where there are
no spaces/incorrect spaces to show why these are needed.
 When finished work, ask them to check back over and mark where they could have
used more spaces/ where they left good spaces.
 Exaggerate spaces on when writing text for student to copy. Leave large spaces or
highlight spaces with a marker as a visual cue.

Not writing on the lines/ Letter sizing:

 Use a visual cue of where the letters should be sitting (i.e. clear bold/dark lines,
different coloured lines for top and bottom, sky/grass/ground paper etc).
 When letters float above or drop below the line it is often because the student does not
place their pencil at the correct spot to start the letter.
 Teach the use of sky grass ground letters and when starting a letter they need to place
their pencil at either the top ‘sky’ line or at the ‘grass’ line.
 Emphasize the idea of ‘bumping the lines’, so that the child is always reminded to touch
lines with the pencil when forming letters
 An alphabet sample taped to the table can also be used as a visual prompt of letter
placement in relation to the lines
 Use clear glue or wiki-sticks which provide a raised surface that will give sensory
feedback and prompt the student to write on the line
 Other activities can be used to raise student’s awareness such as drawing a car or train
with making sure the wheel is along the road or track.

Occupational Therapy Advice

Remediation of written reversals:
 Write the letters and numbers that are confusing to the child on a chalk board, then
slowly erase so that the image of the letter or number is still visible. Have the child
trace over that image as many as five or ten times. Ensure that the child starts and
completes the strokes at the proper places.
 Assist the child to make cards with printed words/letter/numbers that cause the
reversals. Then get the child to finger trace the writing while also saying it. Next remove
the card and have the child write it from memory. Repeat this procedure until the child
can read and write it several times without errors.
 Following a written piece of work get the child to mark the letters and numbers that
are incorrect. Then have the child write the correct letter or number under it four
times. Make up additional examples as necessary.
 Many students who produce reversals have poor left-right orientation. To encourage
this:
o Encourage left right orientation by practicing drawing circles counter-clockwise.
o Draw an arrow pointing in the appropriate direction from the start position for
letters that commonly reversed.
o When reading, slide a pencil/finger along the text to keep the eyes moving towards
the right.
Poor letter formation:
 To make it easier to remember the way letters are formed, it is best to teach them in
groups. It is useful to use consistent verbal cues when teaching the letter group – this
should be done through all activities and reinforced between home and school.
Examples have been given below – you may need to adjust the grouping of letters or
verbal cues to suit the chosen handwriting style.
 Magic c letters: c, a, d, g, o, q,
- Start like a ‘c’
 Diver letters: b,h,m,n,p,r
- ‘Down, up and over’
 Straight letters: I,j,l,t
- ‘Start at the top’
 Diagonal/slide letters: v,w,x,z
 Tricky letters: e,u,y,k, s
 Teach only one group at a time, until the child has learnt them properly. Start with the
‘Magic c’ letters.
 Emphasise starting points for letters and the correct direction of lines. You can use
arrows to show the correct formation.
 Each letter should be formed in one movement, not lifting the pencil from the page.
 Remember to use consistent language for each letter i.e. start at the top, all the way
around and bump the line. Talk through
Occupational when you
Therapy are demonstrating the letter.
Advice
Teaching Cursive:
 Teaching order – as with print letters, it may be useful for students to learn groups of
letters with similar movement patterns
- C letters: c, a, d, g, o, q,
- Diver letters: b,h,m,n,p,r
- Straight letters: I,j,i,t
- Diagonal/slide letters: v,w,x,z
- Tricky letters: e,u,y,k,s

 Allow children to practice using different mediums (e.g. chalkboard, dry wipe board,
markers), while they are learning letters and where they join.
 Practice with eyes open and eyes closed, in order to consolidate the motor memory for
each letter.
 Use cursive writing when writing on the whiteboard. This provides a model for students
throughout the day.

Student does not maintain an upright position at the desk:

 Check the desk height. It should be approximately 2 inches above the level of the bent
elbow. As well as checking the desk height, look at the chair height in relation both to
the student (can his feet rest flat on the floor?) and to the desk. If the student’s feet rest
comfortably on the floor but the desk is too high or too low, he will not be able to
comfortably see desktop work. Try a footstool or telephone book under the feet or a
cushion may be required also.
 When the chair and desk appear to be appropriately sized for the student and he still
leans on the desk, the use of a more upright surface for writing can sometimes facilitate
better positioning. You might consider a slant board or other slanted surface. A slant
board can be improvised by using a three ring binder turned sideways with the rings
facing away from the student.
 Movement breaks/periods of standing are important for this type of student to alert
him and allow him a postural change.
 There are times when a student does not possess the postural control required to
maintain an upright position for writing tasks because of low muscle tone or other
physical limitations. Consider core strengthening activities to develop this.

Occupational Therapy Advice

Strategies for left handers:

 Tilt the paper towards the right (approx. 30-35 degrees)

 The left side of the paper should be parallel with writing arm.
 If a student presents with a hook wrist, trial a slant board to encourage a more
neutral position.
 If the back of the hand is kept in a straight line with the forearm the paper will not
become smudged.
 Left handers should hold their pencil slightly higher up than right handers to allow
them to see what they are writing, about 1.5cm from the point.
 Working on vertical when initially learning each movement may make it easier to
see what is written.
 Seat left handers on the left side of the room and not on the right side of a right
handed student as they may bump arms.

If you have any further questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me on the details
below:

Darragh Sinnott
SEN Occupational Therapist
d.sinnott@cambridge.lbhf.sch.uk

Occupational Therapy Advice