Common Problems with Printing and Writing

1.    Poor spatial judgment. The student is unable to see vertical or horizontal spatial relationships.
2.    Cannot visualize letters or words.
3.    Unable to spell. Usually this happens when the visual system does not record words. The student spells phonetically.
4.    Poor sequencing of thoughts. The student spends so much time thinking about letter formation be forgets how he was going to tell a story.
5.    Poor vocabulary.
6.    Poor hand-eye coordination. The visual system fails to guide the hand.
7.    Poor motor planning. The student doesn’t get any kinesthetic feedback to his muscle memory system.

Any or all of the preceding problems cause writing failure.

The most common problem is poor muscle balance in the hand.  Poor muscle balance in the band makes printing or writing very difficult to execute. The student is so concerned with letter formation he forgets the sentence he was going to write. Printing or writing is then not automatic but rather a ponderous, often impossible task.

Stress causes a student as early as grade one to wrap his thumb around a pencil only using his distal thumb knuckle. This causes the muscles around the proximal thumb knuckle to atrophy. The muscles around the distal thumb knuckle are over developed. This in turn causes a wrap around muscle in the wrist to become tense. This makes the printer or writer to press too hard and to work slowly. There is some pain to this activity.

If the student uses the proper tripod position when using a pen or a pencil muscle memory is enhanced.  If the student must print or write slowly under tension, the muscle memory system does not develop. (the kinesthetic system)

Behavior  Problems That Occur

The student hates to write.
They rarely finish work projects.
He avoids homework assignments at all costs.
His work is inconsistent.

Our Hand Program is perfectly suited to helping children and adults become proficient fluid relaxed printers and writers.

WRITING DIAGNOSIS

Teachers and concerned parents can use this checklist to establish whether there is a printing or writing problem

Letter formation

  • Specify the incorrect letters
  • Note letters that are spidery up and down out of control
  • Note letters formed inconsistently.
  • Note the student who must think how each separate letter must be formed ,
  • Writing is painfully slow.
  • Note  illegible writing.
  • See samples.

Letter Size.

  • Note half spaced letters too large.
  • Note tall and small letters the same size.
  • Note small cramped hard pressed letters

Space

  • Watch for letters and words too cramped to be separate.
  • Watch for the words spaced incorrectly.

Alignment

  • Watch for letters not resting on lines.

Stress

  • Students often put their heads five cm.  or 3 inches from their work.
  • Test to see if the student’s arm is rigid.
  • Watch for poor finger movement.
  • Watch for wrist or arm movement only

Fluency

  • Writing should be fluent.  Note any halting disfluent wring.

INTRODUCTION TO HAND THERAPY

Normal Grasp

In a normal grasp the thumb, first and second finger are in a tripod position.. The thumb and middle finger effect most movement. The second finger provides the pressure. In this position hand/finger muscles move in perfect synchronization.

Stages of Writing

Pre-School

During this stage children colour, draw pictures, and begin to take an interest in letters and numbers.

Grades 1 and 2.

The child learns sentence structure and how to spell. He begins to be able to print using the fine motor muscles in his hand. Fine motor develops during this period.

Grades 3 and 4

The child learns the conventions of writing, capitalization and punctuation. He begins to write/print more fluently.

Grades 4 to 7

Automatization takes place. The student writes his/her thoughts fluently on paper. The student is no longer concerned with letter formation. Writing is automatic.

Now What?

You have read enough. You recognize from reading this page that your child or your spouse has a printing or writing problem that needs to be addressed.  Writing requires a complex integration of higher order skills. It is dependent on reading, thought process, language ability, and muscle development in the hand. If the student experiences visual near-point stress during classroom activities, the workplace, or the university lecture hall, it will cause his/her whole body to be under stress. One of the major problems associated with this is tension in the writing/printing hand. This in turn causes some muscles and joints to be used infrequently or in inappropriate positions.

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