Motor skills and handwriting

Handwriting is a mode of expressing and communicating language using a pencil, pen, digital stylus or other marking instrument. Although we are born with an instinct to make marks and communicate, we are not born with a natural ability to handwrite, unlike blinking or breathing.

In our digital age, it may seem that handwriting is less important. Children see less handwriting in their homes than a generation ago, and it can seem that the very notion of teaching handwriting is becoming increasingly challenging. However, handwriting is very much still the norm in primary schools and is formally assessed in both key stages. Fifty percent of a Key Stage 1 day is spent in handwriting, and research shows that handwriting is inextricably linked to reading acquisition and reading ability. Handwriting, moreover, promotes better conceptual understanding, resulting in a higher quality of written composition.

Handwriting is a skill that must be taught, through formal instruction, usually towards the end of the EYFS curriculum. As adults, it is easy to take handwriting for granted but it is a really complex skill, akin to learning to drive a car. It involves cognitive, perceptual, language and motor skills.

Cognitive elements of handwriting involve knowing which phonemes correspond to a grapheme (for instance, ‘c’ can be made by ‘c, k, ck, ch and q’ as in ‘cat, kid, duck, chord and Iraq or cinq’) and learning about handwriting rules (such as how letters are formed). My book, Scholastic English Skills: Handwriting Reception to Year 2 , is a good source for these rules. The book also contains examples of badly-formed letters to aid the adult in what to do in remediation. Knowledge of phonemes develops from around 2.5 years and knowledge of graphemes from around 3-5 years. At an earlier developmental stage, cognitive development that will eventually lead into effortless handwriting entails doing things such as: