Scribbling

Scribbles that the child anticipates being writing.

Wavy scribbling

Wavy scribbles that imitate patterns or cursive writing.

Letter-like forms

Shapes and lines that imitate that of actual letters.

Letter strings

Letters that do not form words. Contains a mixture of lowercase and uppercase.

Transitional writing

Letters that resemble words. Children now add spacing in between the letters to imitate what they see in the environment.

Phonetic spelling

The sound of the first or last letter represents the word.

Phrase writing

Words that consist of short phrases.

Conventional spelling and sentence writing

The correct spelling of words usually: Child’s name and short words and sentences such as mom, dad, cat, I am tall. etc