Writing is a wonderful way to express creativity, thoughts and ideas, and although we live in a world of technology, children predominantly learn to write before they can learn to type. Our world is fast paced, high performance and success driven. This places pressure on parents and children to write before they get to kindergarten or around the age of three and a half/ four-years. But are these little hands ready and meant to write letters at this age?
Ingredients needed for writing
There is more to writing than just paper and holding a pencil to form letters. In this blog we are going to explore a few of the essential “ingredients” needed for writing:
Strong Trunk and Shoulders
One can think of your trunk as the base of a crane - if it is unstable the crane arm’s function and performance will be affected and even limited. The more stable it is, the more precise the functioning will be and the further the crane arm will be able to reach.
This simply means that a stable base (trunk) allows for extremities (fingers) to move. Having a strong trunk not only helps to maintain an upright sitting posture but also assists with focus and being able to attend to a task for longer.
Now you may ask – “but what about the shoulders?” As with the trunk, we need a stable base in the shoulder to allow for the best movement in the fingers. If the muscles in the upper arm and shoulder are not strong enough to keep the shoulder stable, you are left with an unstable joint. This often results in tension of the neck, upper arm and even the elbow using large muscles. I would like you to tense up your arm and then try to write your name. Now relax your arm and write your name again. Which was easier?
Firm base
As humans we need to feel safe in order to perform tasks optimally. The same is true for when we want to perform fine motor tasks like eating or writing. So what does a strong base look like? Feet, thighs and back needs to be supported at a 90-90-90 angle as demonstrated in the image below. A thigh to back angle of up to 115 degrees are also accepted.
There is a great truth to staying grounded – especially when writing. Having your feet flat on the ground is the best start to creating a stable base. Supporting the thighs and back in an ergonomically sound way promotes good posture that allows for optimal space for breathing, and a posture that is energy efficient and therefore allows the brain to allocate energy to learning, concentrating, listening and fine motor output.
Functional pencil grasp
Pencil grasp refers to the way we hold a pencil while writing and is not to be confused with a pencil grip, which is something you add to a pencil to improve or support a pencil grasp. A functional pencil grasp refers to a pencil grasp that allows for good letter formation, acceptable writing speed, and has no pain or discomfort associated with it. The dynamic tripod grasp is the optimal pencil grasp for writing legibility, speed and energy efficiency. In addition to the dynamic tripod there are a few other generally acceptable pencil grasps as illustrated in the images below:
Please note that the lateral-tripod/quadrupod is a grasp Occupational Therapists encourage children with hypermobility of the finger joints to adopt for joint stability and protection during writing.
Pencil control
Pencil control refers to the way a child moves the pencil during colouring, drawing and writing. A child can have a functional pencil grasp and have difficulties with controlling the pencil well enough to produce a neat end product, i.e. legible writing, even colouring within the lines and recognisable drawings.
Hand ready to write
Having a hand ready for writing does not happen overnight. Hands have to experience a variety of different sensory experiences, they need to manipulate different object using their whole hand to only the tips of two fingers, and experience these thing using both hands together and individually. The hand also needs to develop the skills to allow the fingers to be divided into two sides – one side’s fingers (thumb, index and middle) moving while the other side’s fingers (ring and little) are still.
After looking at all these ingredients, it begs the question - when should little ones be writing?
It really depends. Some children are ready earlier than others. There is not one definitive age that little ones should be ready to write. Getting ready to write involves many ingredients that all interconnect and take time to develop.
All of this information has led to an agreement that ‘most’ children under the age of 5 and a half years, have typically not developed enough skills to perform the complex and refined movements needed for writing. Children under this age might be able to write a little, but most likely need to use some compensatory movements to assist them to do so.
If you have any questions about whether your child needs help with handwriting or other fine motor skill development, please reach out for help with one of our Occupational Therapy team members.
More reading
There is more to writing than holding a pencil – Sensational Development
Pencil grasp development – OT Mom Learning Activities
Sensory activities for children – Growing Hands-on Kids
References
Visser, Marieta, Nel, Mariette, du Plessis, Carla, Jacobs, Shame, Joubert, Amor, Muller, Martli, Smith, Bianco, van Heerden, Tania, & van Soest, Renette. (2016). In-hand manipulation (IHM) in children 6 and 7 years of age: A follow-up study. South African Journal of Occupational Therapy, 46(2), 52-58. https://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2016/v46n2a9
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