Difficulties with handwriting
Difficulties with handwriting Where pupils experience difficulties with handwriting, schools are expected to take a graduated approach to meeting their needs. This would begin with support in the classroom, for example, being provided with a writing grip or being supported with the gradient that a pupil writes at.
If further support is required, a school would be expected to implement targeted intervention that addresses the specific skills that a pupil is having difficulty with, for example, letter formation. Interventions should be time limited, subject to clearly defined outcomes and proven by research.
Poor handwriting is not necessarily evidence of a special educational need. Handwriting is an apprenticeship and it can take some time for some children to develop their skills. Specific difficulties with handwriting are sometimes referred to as 'dysgraphia'; whilst a school would not be expected to commission a report by an external specialist, a school would be expected to discuss with you their use of appropriate screening and assessment tools and the results of that work (along with any subsequent actions) as part of an assess, plan, review cycle.
Where a privately commissioned report has been carried out and identifies a specific difficulty with handwriting, schools should discuss and implement any recommendations made as part of an assess, plan, do, review cycle.
It is expected that schools have the training and resources to assess and support pupils with handwriting difficulties. Where schools do not is expected that teachers draw on support, for example, from partner schools or specialists such as educational psychologists.
The following example resources will help schools to plan their response and families to understand the kinds of support available:
- Classroom strategies
- Intervention for letter formation
- Intervention for handwriting fluency and legibility
Plymouth's Local Offer is organised into four main categories covering the following age ranges:
- Early years (0 to 5 years old)
- Primary (5 to 11 years old)
- Secondary (11 to 18 years old)
- Preparing for adulthood
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