• Jul. 24, 2008
Cursive and Dyslexic Children
The best way to describe how a dyslexic child
views their world is to say that it is always
moving always changing. Everything is sort of
floating around for them. Can you imagine a world
where nothing stays the same and changes on you
daily. I have been doing some research on how to teach
a dyslexic child cursive. I have found in my reading that
I should have taught it to her right away. That
children with dyslexia can connect with the flow of
the letters easier than in print style. Since my child
has already gotten down the print style. I suppose
we will now have to start from scratch in learning
our cursive letters. She is going into the
6th grade and although we have been trying
for a long time now she can not get her cursive letters
down. It is probably because the old stand by of
Print that we painstaking learned is now easier for
her to accomplish, but we will prevail.
Dyslexic children have difficulties with lettering
and ordering items. Which for us often leads in
uneven handwriting. Princess also really grips her
pencil and presses down hard to keep control. This
Leads to a very slow methodical writing, Even Painfully
so. I found pencil grips on the net to help
her loosen her grip for a more free flow writing.
We are going to try these and I'll let you know
how they go for us.
It is recommended for the child to use
their pointer finger and their middle finger
to write in salt trays or sand. Using rough
items to help ingrain these movements in their minds. I
don't know why this would surprise me since
these are techniques we used in preschool classes
to get children excited about writing or forming
their numbers. Also suggested was a rough towel
or sandpaper. I am sure there are many many
more tactile experiences a child could use.
Another idea was to use paper or clay for
the child to bend and form the letters.
We will also be using the handwriting without tears
program. I am hoping with all these things
My child this year will learn cursive writing.
I'll keep you posted.
Nikki
