4g. Handwriting

Handwriting as part of the writing process

In Australian schools handwriting is taught from the moment children enter some form of schooling or childcare. It is often informal in the early years, allowing children to create shapes and squiggles that are early stages of handwriting. Handwriting is taught for as long as children need it to create legible letters efficiently. Shape and size is very important in learning to create a legible and efficient writing style. By the later years of primary school students are encouraged to use their own writing style based on what they have learned.

2. Stages of handwriting and important considerations during each include:

children making shapes and squiggles on paper or other with crayons, textas etc with hand gripped writing utensil or paintbrush
learning correct body posture (seated, feet on floor, writing utensils at a good height)
tripod grip - often does not develop until children are 6-7 years
learning to create straight lines and curves in the right direction for letter shapes (many children learn to draw lines up the page when it is crucially important in handwriting to use downstrokes)
learning to put curves and straight lines together to create particular letter shapes - the structure / shape of the letter is very important in early writing, not size, so lined paper should not be used at first
letter shapes should be taught in families that have similar shapes and structures not in alphabetical order - for example in many Australian handwriting styles the following would be appropriate groups a, d, q, g, c (which have a similar writing process), b, p; w, v, x, y; m, n; t, l, k, f If you are using a different handwriting style however (such as one of the older cursive styles, a different grouping might be used.
as fine motor skills develop and the students are more capable of writing letters quickly / efficiently, letters get smaller and they can begin to be joined together, where the join is natural, so that the writing process becomes more efficient overall.
creating the appropriate letter shapes can be practised in any way that builds the picture of the letter in the mind and in the muscle memory, including writing in the air with fingers, writing on the table with fingers, writing in paint with fingers, writing in shaving foam or similar with fingers.

3. Handwriting is a fine motor skill

Many children struggle when learning formal letter shapes where consistency is important (in shape of letter and size of letter). If children are struggling with handwriting because of fine motor skills, a physical disability or concentration there are many supports we can offer, including:

larger writing tools which are easier to grip in the tripod style - felt pens, crayons, fat pencils etc.
a slope board so that they are writing on a sloped surface closer to their body
variations in foot stools and chairs
rubber grips on normal pens and pencils
speech to text technologies for when fast handwriting or note-taking is required.
Apps – Dexteria (Binary Labs) excellent but costs
- - Gives guidance and reinforcement – IWW (I write words) – uses letter names not sounds
  - Writing Wizard – beautiful design and does not let you write incorrectly, says letter name, letter sound then it models the correct method, then you write
  - Gives guidance the first time but you can do it the wrong way and it does not correct - BT Handwriting
  - Some OK for tracing but no direction redirection – Touch Follow Shapes; Touch Follow Free
Online - http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/english/assets/pdf/handwriting/handwritinginfo1.pdf - doc about handwriting with some links to resources

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/documents/49158/49542/nswfoundationstylewritingguide_1314597601947.pdf - handwriting chart of letter and numeral formation

You might also need to improve fine motor skills which might include doing activities such as:

4. Handwriting curriculum and recommended styles for Australian schools

https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/learning-areas/english-year-10/english-k-10/outcomes/table-of-objectives-and-outcomes - to see what is expected in each stage go to the English syllabus for NSW schools and then go to the Handwriting and using digital technologies strand - example of Stage 1 (link below this one)

https://learningplace.eq.edu.au/cx/resources/file/6ec3c227-4ee7-9d60-91cc-1eb43021a9d4/3/index.html - Support for QCursive (Queensland)

Handwriting in NSW - https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/en/home/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/literacy-and-numeracy/teaching-and-learning-resources/effective-reading/phonics/Handwriting-a-guide-for-parents.pdf

https://newcastleearlycareerteachers.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/handwritinginfo.pdf

https://www.schoolfonts.com.au/Fonts_NSW.html

https://www.schoolfonts.com.au/Fonts_Qld.html

http://www.australianschoolfonts.com.au/font-info/qld-font-info/

http://www.australianschoolfonts.com.au/resources/ (all states and territories)

Handwriting and reading

Do not assume that all children will automatically be able to read handwritten documents. We spend much of our time teaching children reading with fonts (letter writing styles) where the letters are not joined together, even though they learn about 5 or 6 variations of some letter shapes such as a and g. Joining letters can be very confusing for some students and it may be appropriate that for some children, letters always stay separate so that they are better able to read the print.