Is it normal for - writing

My2Beauties wrote: a 4 year to not write her words in a straight line from left to right...like when she writes Hanna she doesn't write it from right to left, she goes all over the page. Her H will be at the leftmost part of the page, but the A usually ends up on top of the H, then the two N's will be towards the bottom and the other A is clear across under the N's I praise her for writing her letters now and stuff, but just wondered if this is normal?

A&A'smommy replied: I think it is, if your worried about it you can get a writing tablet and work with her on that

thats actually how I taught alyssa to write and so she doesn't do that BUT I think it is normal just is just trying to get the concept!!

kit_kats_mom replied: Yep, normal. Katherine did this for the longest time. Her name would start on the right corner, go left, then down the page for awhile until it took a right. She's doing better now.

luvmykids replied: TOTALLY normal. Even now, after all the writing "rules" they've learned, if they're doing something just for fun they'll still do that once in awhile. I love when they don't have room for a word and continue it on the next line

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Yes, I think it's normal. Wil does this. He is 3.5. I forget LeaAnn, is she in preschool? Wil practices on a tablet at school. But he still goes all over the page if there is no line for him to follow. I think it just takes practice. They are still learning to just hold a pencil correctly, kwim?

lovemy2 replied:
Olivia always does that - and she is still getting the hang of spaces between words too - she brings the definition of run on sentence to a whole new level

luvmykids replied:


And don't you just love the phonetic spelling? Penguin is pigwin I get the best laughs out of those, I'll be sad when they learn to spell correctly

kit_kats_mom replied:
What?!? You mean heart isn't spelled hawart?

My2Beauties replied:
No she isn't in preschool just daycare. It costs too much to send her to preschool...DH and I looked into it .... I don't know why it costs so much. We don't meet the income guidelines to send her for free we make too much money so it wasn't an option...which is kind of sad IMHO. Anyways...I got off on a tangent She normally writes on her DoodlePro thing, with the magic pencil you know that you write something and then it can be erased with that little thing at the bottom like an etch a sketch used to be. She does color in the lines pretty good now so I think she could write her name correctly. I'm going to buy her a big Kindergarten tablet and start writing words with her.

CantWait replied: Anthony does the same thing. We'll write words and he'll write it in the opposite order.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
I LOVE the phonetic spellings! I love it when Tanner brings home more writing projects. I just smile and laugh. It's so cute.

On the OT, it is TOTALLY normal!!!!! Just keep working with her. Practice is all you can do. It takes time. Tanner's habit is starting a word in the upper left corner, and the end of the word is at the bottom right hand corner. You could buy her some lined paper. Just make sure the lines are wide enough for her. You can also get some word tracing workbooks for her to practice in.

Does her daycare do any kind of curriculum with the kids? They should. Even if they aren't a "preschool", daycares should still have a curriculum. Just because a child is in daycare all day doesn't mean they should be excluded from a proper preschool education.

bawoodsmall replied:

This is so true!! We are lucky in that Em's Daycare does so much teaching with her. Unfortunately it is more than what she is doing in preschool. It is normal though. Emily did it at first and pratice will cure it. I also tell her that the letters are all really good friends and like to sit beside eachother to try to get her to put them closer together. It has worked for her. Just work with her at home too. She is a smart cookie..she will get it.

Kaitlin'smom replied: totaly normal, heck even at 5 Kaitlin will still sometimes do this if she does not draw a line for herself.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: Absolutely normal! So are backwards letters! I do love the phonetic spellings right now too! OR when she adds an extra letter or 2 because that is the latest blend we have worked on!

My2Beauties replied:
No, the only thing I know of that they do is art and art projects. Hanna can color really good I mean she "works" with them so to speak on things, but they have no curriculum, they don't sit down each day and say ok, today we're gonna do spelling. It sucks, but for what I pay I can't gripe.