Writing Skills For People with Learning Disabilities

One of my earliest memories in school was watching my teacher write in what I now know is cursive. As I watched her flowing strokes, I asked her in awe, “How do you do that?” Over the next several classes, she showed me. Since then, I have been writing in cursive. I have even studied what I call “Colonial cursive,” the handwriting in early American historical documents, which to me is the most beautiful script. But first things first. Here are some tips for parents to get their child writing in cursive. 

Teaching your child how to write when they are not in school is almost like homeschooling your child, as the parent becomes the teacher. The first thing that you must do when teaching a child with dyslexia or any learning disability how to write is to be as patient as you can with them. Any impatience can cause them to think that they aren’t smart enough, and then they won’t want to put in the effort.

The next step is practice and positive feedback. I have noticed with my daughter that tracing worksheets are the best for learning how to write because they encourage repetition. Once your child or young adult has shown that they can trace the letters with ease, then you can take it to the next level and start having them write the letters by themselves. Instead of having them trace the letters, you write down the letters on one piece of paper and then have them write them down on a separate piece of paper. Then you can move into full words.

Once they are more advanced and able to write words, you should give them fun assignments to do, like writing down the members of their family, or a wish list of things that they want. Every readable letter or word should be rewarded!