When printing and drawing skills are delayed

What should parents do when they notice their kindergartener or
first grader has weak or delayed printing and drawing
(sensory-motor) skills? Delayed printing and drawing skills for
this age group are often evidenced by inconsistent letter size of
upper and lower case letters or with children’s drawings — circles
that resemble squares or squares that resemble circles. If one
compares delayed printing or drawing to reading and language arts
delays, he will begin to see the potential for a struggling
student. The review, Research for Children with Writing and Reading
Difficulties, examines the literature on how to teach kindergarten
children with reading and writing difficulties how to write, and
reports that text production is critical in writing development
(Edwards, Journal of Learning Disabilities, V 36, #2, 136-148).
Text production instruction but not drill and kill should include
modeling newly introduced letters, practicing letter names while
writing letters, tracing letters with numbered arrows or dot-to-dot
cues, practicing letters from memory, and asking children to circle
letters that represent their best work. Edwards also points out
that handwriting is not just a motor process, but also a visual
memory process, drawing on the importance of letter recognition.
Visual memory skill is a skill that can be enhanced by repeated
practice with letter production. Edwards also highlights the
importance of explicit spelling instruction for kindergarten
children, and goes on to say that there are only a limited number
of empirical studies regarding how to teach kindergarten children
with reading and writing difficulties how to write and highlights
future direction for research.
However, primary grade parents should not panic if their child
exhibits weak printing and drawing skills. You cannot expect all
four-year olds to ride two wheelers. Therefore, we should expect
the same differences in development with a child’s printing or
drawing skills. Still, if your child’s printing or drawings
continues to be delayed and you also notice delays in reading or
language development then you might need to have an occupational
therapist conduct an evaluation with your child. Occupational
therapists are employed by school districts, county offices of
education and/or privately. An occupational therapist can evaluate
your child’s printing and drawing development and offer suggestions
as to how to address problems before a delay turns into something
more serious such as delayed reading and language arts skills.
In the meantime, here are some strategies parents can employ on
their own at home: begin with the basic pencil grip. For example,
thick pencils are good for students’ little hands and fingers to
grip or hold. Furthermore, a child whose pencil grip is claw-like
(fingers grip the pencil from the top or at the back of the pencil)
places too much stress on the child’s weak fingers, which can
affect writing skills. To address the claw-like grip, parents can
purchase a pencil grip that works with the body’s natural
physiology to gently place fingers in the proper position. Also,
large lined paper should be the obvious choice, since it offers the
child the space within which to write. Other suggestions could be
muscle or finger strengthening, achieved by squeezing a squishy
ball 5-10 times, twice daily, or whatever the parent considers the
child is capable of doing and of course clay.
Again, we must remember that not all children will exhibit the
same printing and drawing skills at the outset of their school
experience. Still, if the child shows little or no improvement by
the beginning or the end of kindergarten or beginning first grade,
then you need to follow some of the suggestions before weak
printing and drawing delays can seriously affect future language
arts skills, particularly with reading and writing.
Dr. David Sortino, a psychologist and current Director of
Educational Strategies, a private consulting company catering to
teachers, parents, students. He can be reached at
da**********@co*****.net.