need tips for hand coordination/letter writing

[AmyinWI]

my 5yo has a hard time remembering how to write her letters/numbers as well as her coordination is poor for forming the letter while she writes it. I have tried her using crayon, marker, a fat pencil. Most times they are barely recognizable. Yet she can identify all letters and numbers, as well as the letter sounds, so I know she is comprehending. I'm thinking maybe some other sensory things? play doh to shape the letters? a dry erase board or chalkboard or magna doodle? any other suggestions?

[Melanie]

We love Handwriting Without Tears. My ds (5) occassionally makes a letter backwards, but not often. We used the slate and it really helped him to learn letter formation.

HTH!!!

[Sue C]

Handwriting is very hard for my daughter and the white board works best for letter forming for her. Worth a try. I think it just gluides so much easier and doesn't take as much pressure. Not sure exactly but it seems to work better.

[AmyinWI]

We love Handwriting Without Tears. My ds (5) occassionally makes a letter backwards, but not often. We used the slate and it really helped him to learn letter formation.

HTH!!!

I bought the HWT beginner book("get ready for school" ), but I wasn't sure what else to get. Can I get any old slate (like at the craft store?) or does HWT have a special one?

[carriejoy]

Amy, I use a white board too and it helped my son SO MUCH.

You may think this is whacky, but if she's got some sensory/brain issues going on have her do crawling on her hands and knees several times a day (see if you can get someone to race her!) and use koosh balls (2 of them) and play catch with her. Throw them both at the same time. It will help develop the eye/hand coordination, visual tracking and such. It's possible that she may not be seeing well up close. If she didn't get much tummy/floor time as an infant, her convergence will most likely be off and that will affect this stuff too.

Once she is reasonably good at catching both kooshballs (throw them at once), have her do it standing on one foot (ok to switch out feet) and then once THAT is going well, start throwing the balls to either side of her. Still have her use BOTH hands to catch the balls so that she's having to cross her midline. Then you can progress to throwing the balls separately. Have her throw WHILE you throw the other. It really does a number on the brain for processing! Great developmental stuff and it is FUN for both parties!

[AmyinWI]

carriejoy- great ideas! no- I don't think you're whacky!! M's therapist has her doing some other activities similar to that (from the Braingym books) . I think there's defiinitely some brain stuff going on, from her early neglect as an infant. thanks!