Can you improve handwriting?

fluffnutter

liney wrote: »

Sorry, but holding the pen correctly is important. Holding a pen incorrectly effects how quickly one can write, causes cramps, and makes smooth rounds difficult to form.

What evidence do you have for that or is it just something you've been told?

People make do. Lots of people have hand injuries or deformities. My friend has missing fingers and fused ones too. She can't hold a pen 'properly' but she has beautiful writing. People are very adaptive and there are all sorts of weird and wonderful ways of holding things. Sounds like pen-grip fascism to me - the kind of thing that stuffy old teachers banged on about in the 50s.

fluffnutter

Spendless wrote: »

I always thought it was a contributory factor until my friend whose daughter attends same Secondary school but went to a different Primary to son, said her DD doesn't hold the pen correctly either but has neat handwriting. Son only brought it up himself in yr6 and I mentioned it to class teacher at parents evening and she said she'd look at what he was doing the following day. That's what led to him being given one of those 'funny shaped' pens.

It can be a problem if your grip leads you to hold the pen too tightly. If you don't feel confident in the way you hold your pen the danger is you squeeze too much and this can lead to cramps. But this can happen even with a 'proper' grip, and the main cause of writing cramps is too much writing anyway - as anyone in the middle of exam season will tell you!

As long as your grip feels comfortable then it's right for you.

DigForVictory

My lads' writing improves when The Special Pen is used. (It's the Parker fountain pen my husband had at school, and initially he was very unwilling to lend it to a child who might damage it.) So for the single line thankyou notelet, the eldest was allowed under Close Supervision & his handwriting went from shameful to impressive.

I think a combination of pen and time with parent may help - you've already cleared the first hurdle as he want to improve. All the best!

hgotsparkle

I think its just something with men tbh, my OHs writing looks like a 5 year old did it, a guy I work with has horrible handwriting, my stepdad has completely illegible handwriting. I think I've only ever noticed a few men who have nice neat handwriting, and I see a lot of hand filled out forms in my job!

Tish_P

Handwriting can improve with practice, like any skill - but provided one can make out the words, he might be better off concentrating his efforts elsewhere. He's not going to be assessed on neatness of handwriting. In exams very slow writing will be a problem for him, but untidy writing, provided the words are legible, is only a problem for whoever's marking it.

Edit: just read more carefully and realised the teacher does say it's hard to read. So it might be worth putting a bit of practise in, but it perhaps keeping in mind it only has to be legible, not beautiful, will stop your son getting overly stressed about it.

andygb

liney wrote: »

Sorry, but holding the pen correctly is important. Holding a pen incorrectly effects how quickly one can write, causes cramps, and makes smooth rounds difficult to form.

I was told that age 12 by my geography teacher, fortunately he was wrong. I never had problems writing quickly, neatly and legibly, but then I enjoyed it, so practiced it a lot.;)

PenguinOfDeath

andygb wrote: »

Practice makes perfect, and when I left school, I was always asked to write cards at work, and cheques for important clients.
People tend to think that you only need to train for sports, but in life you have to train for everything to improve.

Not exactly - practice makes permanent

You can train for something all you want, but if they way you have been taught in the first place is incorrect or in a way that you cannot learn with, or indeed end up practicing with a less than ideal method, you will never be perfect in that skill!

aileth

Maybe he's just really bright, some of the most intelligent people are known for having awful handwriting! Doctors are renowned for it. I've also seen tonnes of Judge's handwriting and it looks like they're holding the pen with a clubbed first and scrawling all over the page.

My handwriting varies wildly depending on what surface I'm writing on. If it's a hard surface, it'll be an awful unreadable scrawl, but if I write, say, on a mousepad, it's lovely and neat. My husband says it looks like two different people!

liney

OK, poor grip very often leads to cramp, and pressing down too hard on the paper which means that letters do not flow and speed is reduced. No one told me: I witness it in school regularly.

I would recommend some blue tac around the pen instead of a tri-pod gripper. Students seem to find it more comfortable... and i've always got a piece of blue tac handy.

AlexLK

Spendless wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions so far.:)

His handwriting is horrible whether it's in his own ramblings, or schoolwork. HE wants to improve because as mentioned he was worried about the standard of his writing when filling out an application form that it just wouldn't look neat and yes it matters. If a teacher can't read his handwriting, then how can s/he mark his work?

Excellent, get him to practise and it'll improve.

dibuzz wrote: »

... not helped by the fact he is left handed so it always smudged when he used a proper pen.

Utter rubbish, he is simply not holding the pen correctly. Left handed individuals can learn to write without smudging ink.