The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010
Ready or Not?
On the Write Track
So how do you know when your child is ready to move from scribbling to actual writing? Good question. Writing readiness is an important determining factor when it comes to steering kids toward writing success. If a child is still working to master foundational skills, stay there until they’re ready to move on. And keep in mind the three most important areas where children need to “get it,” before they get down to the business of learning to write.
Get a Clue
A clue about hand preference, that is. In order to be ready to write, children need a strong inclination toward a more skillful, or dominant, hand. This is the hand that is best at executing precise movements. It becomes the go-to hand for any task requiring coordination and control.
If you are unsure as to whether your child has a preferred hand, observe your child eating. Without any prompting on your part, just check out which hand he or she uses to pick up food, both with and without an eating utensil. If your child favors one hand when feeding himself or herself, chances are your child has developed a preference.
Next, watch which hand your child is inclined to use when coloring. If your child sticks with the same hand that he or she chooses to eat with, that’s good news. If your child switches back and forth between hands when coloring, he or she may not yet have a clear picture of who’s the boss.
Activities such as throwing and catching a ball or cutting with scissors are not ideal for assessing handedness in young children. Kids occasionally approach these tasks with their nondominant hand, which is typically the more powerful hand, at first, switching to their dominant hand, which is more skillful, later on, when the tasks demand better aim or more precise control.
If children seem unclear as to which hand to choose, it is important that we don’t do the choosing for them. What we can do, however, is give them plenty of opportunities to engage in bilateral activities that require them to figure out which hand is better at what tasks. Tasks such as mixing batter with one hand (while holding the mixing bowl with the other), spreading butter with a butter knife (while holding the bread steady), or pouring water from a small pitcher (while stabilizing the cup) give children a chance to decide how each hand functions best.
Get a Grip
Some grasps work (and some really, really don’t). The rule of thumb is: don’t write until it’s right!
When I look at how children hold their pencils, I see grasps that fall into three basic categories: immature, efficient, and inefficient.
The grasp that very young children use the first time they pick up a writing tool is usually a power grasp. They grab a crayon in a fisted hand, with thumb up and the rest of their fingers wrapped tightly around the shaft of the crayon. All the little muscles in their hands work together to squeeze the crayon in place so that it doesn’t move. To make marks, they move their entire arm as a unit, dragging the immobilized crayon back and forth across the page. (Often their other arm, legs, hips, and even their tongue move in unison, going along for the ride.) This difficulty dissociating movements of the hand from movements of the rest of the body is exhausting. No wonder their attention span for this exciting new work is fleeting, at best.
In an attempt to gain more control, most young children soon transition to a pronated grasp. With this grasp, all five fingers are still wrapped around the crayon, but now the thumb and fingertips are pointed down toward the paper. Like the power grasp, everything is locked tightly into place. Again, the whole arm has to move in its entirety in order to get the job done.
As they grow more comfortable holding a writing tool, children may experiment with other transitional grasps, such as a static quadrupod (four-fingered) grasp or a static tripod (three-fingered) grasp. These grasps are referred to as “static” because the fingers still hold very tightly, often high on the shaft of the writing tool, and the whole hand continues to move as one stiff unit.
As children’s skills develop and mature, they are better able to isolate out small movements of their hands while stabilizing their wrist, forearm, and upper arm at the shoulder. They are also able to move one side of the hand separately from the other, giving each side of the hand its own function. The thumb side of the hand becomes the skill side, with the first three fingers holding the writing tool like a tripod. The pinky side of the hand becomes the power side, with the fourth and fifth fingers curling into the palm. This side stabilizes the hand on the writing surface, allowing the skill side to move freely.
When children are able to achieve this grasp, which is characterized by smaller, more refined movements by the skill side of the hand, we call it a dynamic tripod grasp. This is considered a very efficient grasp because it accomplishes the most controlled movement with the least amount of effort. The dynamic tripod grasp is definitely one to grow on. (See “Anatomy of an Efficient Grasp.”)
There are a couple of variations on the dynamic tripod grasp that, while less common, are also considered to be efficient grasps. One is the lateral tripod grasp, in which the shaft of the pencil is held with the side of the thumb (kind of like how you would hold a key to turn it) rather than with the thumb and index finger being tip to tip. The other is known as an adaptive tripod grasp, in which the pencil is stabilized between the index and middle fingers.
What do these efficient grasps have in common? All of them feature some degree of what is referred to as an open web space. That means the triangular-shaped space between the thumb and the index finger (which resembles the “webbing” on a duck’s feet) forms a circle when a child holds a pencil. That open space is what gives the fingers on the skill side of the hand the freedom to make their tiny little movements independent of the rest of the hand and arm.
Some children who are attempting to hold a pencil with a tripod grasp collapse that open web space. In order compensate for a lack of control, strength, or stability, they clutch the pencil too tightly, compromising the quality of their grasp. Examples of these inefficient grasps include the thumb-wrap grasp (the thumb wraps tightly around both the pencil and the index finger), the thumb-tuck grasp (the thumb wraps around the pencil and tucks under the index finger), and the interdigital brace (the thumb and second or third fingers wrap tightly around the pencil). What all of these inefficient grasps have in common is a tightly closed web space. This necessitates large movements of the arm and inhibits small, refined movements of the fingers.
Armed with this basic grasp guide, you now have one very important piece of the writing readiness puzzle on your side. Is your child using an efficient grasp when drawing or coloring? If the answer is “Yes,” that’s one strong indicator in favor of your child being ready to write.
If, however, your child is still using an immature grasp, you have a clear indicator that more writing readiness experiences, including plenty of hand-strengthening activities, are needed.
If your child is using an inefficient grasp, it may be a result of taking on too much too soon. It’s best to intervene before these grasps become a fixed habit. Once writing demands increase and children are expected to write more, an inefficient grasp can take its toll. This kind of grasp can make writing slower, more effortful, and at times even painful. It is stressful to the joints of the hands to clench a tool so tightly, often contributing to tired and achy hands. Not to mention unhappy young writers! If you have concerns about your child using an inefficient grasp, discuss it with an occupational therapist (ask your pediatrician or school district for a referral) to determine the best course of action.
DIY: Pencil Picture
As a reminder to children to use a proper pencil position, consider taking a photograph of their hand holding a pencil using an efficient grasp. Place the picture in their writing area to inspire them to use the “just write” grasp each time they pick up a pencil. They can also refer to the drawing of the “Anatomy of an Efficient Grasp.”
Get in Shape
Children are ready to write when they have mastered the ability to make certain simple shapes. And not before. If your child is still shaky when drawing shapes, it’s a clear sign to have them do more drawing before you introduce writing. You see, they are still working on developing what we call visual-motor control, more commonly called eye-hand coordination. And in this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words.
Emerging writers are able to confidently create vertical and horizontal lines, crisscrossed lines, circles, squares, triangles, and diagonal lines. When you see these shapes emerging clearly in your child’s drawings, you are getting a strong sense of their readiness to write.
For children whose pencil is not yet cooperating in terms of control, present some fun visual-motor activities for practice. Mazes, dot-to-dot pictures, and coloring activities help children coordinate their eyes with their hand movements; they help kids practice taking aim with their pencils until their visual-motor skills are right on target.
READY OR NOT CHECKLIST
Refer to this checklist to determine whether your child is ready for writing. Your child:
Demonstrates a definite hand preference when eating
Uses a preferred hand when coloring
Is able to use his or her non-preferred hand as a stabilizer during two-handed activities, such as mixing in a bowl or pouring into a cup
Holds a crayon, marker, or pencil close to the tip, with the first three (or four) fingers pointed toward the paper when scribbling, coloring, or drawing
Is able to draw simple lines and shapes
Is beginning to draw people and objects
Is starting to make marks that look like symbols
Is able to complete simple mazes or dot-to-dot pictures
Is beginning to show an interest in staying inside the lines when coloring
So now that you have a better understanding of the landmarks to look for on the road to writing, of your own role in helping to guide your young writers along their course, and of the signs that will signal when your child is ready to write, we move ahead. Preparing your child to progress from scribbling to spelling is the next stop. I can assure you there will be fun, new discoveries and accomplishments up ahead, so enjoy the ride!