If your child barely makes a mark when he scribbles or writes, most adults assume that grasp is an issue. Today’s post suggests that something else could be the real reason for those faint lines.
Limitations in postural and bilateral control contribute far more to lack of pressure when writing than most parents and teachers realize. For every child in occupational therapy that is struggling to achieve good grasp, I see three whose poor sitting posture and inability to get a stable midline orientation are the real issues.
Think about it for a minute: if you sat with your non-dominant (not the writing hand) hand off to the side and you shifted your body weight backward in your chair, how would you be able to use sufficient force on a pencil or a crayon? Try this right now. Really. You would have to focus on pressing harder while you write and hope your paper doesn’t slip around. That would require your awareness and some assessment of your performance. Children don’t do “awareness and assessment” very well. That ability comes from frontal lobe functions that aren’t fully developed in young children. But they can learn where to place their “helper hand”, and that sitting straight and shifting forward is the correct way to sit when you scribble or write.
If a child has sensory processing or neuromuscular issues such as cerebral palsy, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or Down Syndrome, achieving adequate postural stability may take some effort on the part of the therapists and the teacher. Well worth it, in my experience. There are easy hacks that help kids; good equipment and good seating that won’t cost a fortune or inconvenience the class. Every child can learn that posture is important for writing. But the adults have to learn it first. Kids take their cues from what adults appear to value, and if they figure out that they are allowed to slump or lean, they almost always will.
I am doing a lecture on pre-writing next week, and I intend to make this point, even though the emphasis of my lecture is on the use of fun drawing activities to prepare children to write and read. Why? Because it may be the only time these preschool teachers hear from a pediatric occupational therapist this year, and I want to make a difference. Understanding the importance of postural control in pre-writing and handwriting could help struggling kids, and make decent writers into stars!
For more information, take a look at For Kids With Sensory Issues and Low Tone, Add Resistance Instead of Hand-Over-Hand Assistance and Better Posture and More Legible Writing With A “Helper Hand”.
