Children who try to write before they have sufficient skill to manipulate the pencil tend to develop inappropriate motor memory for writing letters inefficiently.  Learning to write demands complex memory, motor performance and perceptual skills (there can be a large age difference with some children in K).  Writing requires selective attention to and remembering of letter formation, correct spelling, mechanics of grammar, punctuation  and formulation of a sequential flow of ideas.  The level of arousal for attention to writing may vary in students and may be dramatic within one student depending on emotional state.

A child requires sufficient trunk stability in order to develop shoulder stability and grasp for writing, as well as an unconscious sense of arm and body movement and position of the body, hand and arm in relationship to the writing surface.  The child also needs to regulate for arousal/attention to maintain attention to the task.  Stability and position of head is important for maintaining a stable visual field.  Feedback from hand and arm enables the child to sense where the pencil point is on page as well as guide excursion or movement.  Speed of writing develops later with guidance of proprioceptive/kinesthetic input.  Some children do not have adequate perception of their hand and arm, and may use pressure with writing for more feedback, which may result in fatigue, pain and avoidance. 

If there is not adequate touch feedback in the hand it will be difficult for the child to adequately maneuver the pencil, somewhat like writing with gloves on.  Discrimination helps to refine movement and grasp regarding shape and form of the writing materials and surface.  Praxis, ability to carry out skilled, nonhabitual motor acts in the correct sequence is necessary for writing.  Behaviors observed during writing may include: verbal cues and subvocalizing needed, poor organization and use of space on a page, resistance to writing assignments, slow to implement verbal directions that involve sequencing and planning actions, poor performance on timed tests, difficulty learning correct letter formation and inconsistently forms letters.  A child may not form a good mental image of what is wanted or may produce the image but is not able to execute it. Poor visual memory for what a letter should look like may be the problem.  Motor planning depends on ability to consistently retrieve a motor pattern or letter.  There may be avoidance of cursive because words are filed as a long serial chain or motor engram, where printing provides breathers as each letter is separate.  For others cursive may be easier as it is learned as a whole rather than all the separate pieces.   Copying and spontaneous writing are dependent on different mechanisms.  Copying requires monitoring of a model and is feedback dependent where spontaneous writing is dependent up recalling a motor engram and therefore requires feedforward.  Timing of hand movements may be problematic and observed in labored and jerky movements.

The ability to use two sides of the body together or reciprocally in a coordinated manner is essential for development of laterality, the measurable superiority of one side over the other in terms of performance.  Dominance.  Hemispheric maturation and specialization emerges with the left hemisphere for analyzing, sequencing, logic and verbal language;  the right hemisphere for three dimensional space and generates visual images and maps.  Left thinks in words and right relies on images and spatial awareness.  Both must work together when producing words in written form.

Grasp and Hand Strength:  Grasp is dependent upon adequate trunk stability as the body develops from head to toe and from the shoulders to the hands.  It will be important to develop the trunk muscles before the child will have the ability to demonstrate an appropriate grasp.  Pencil grips may position the fingers, but do not provide the stability the hand needs for endurance for writing.  The web space between the index finger and thumb is important to allow flexion of the fingers for writing and if the thumb closes in the web space it is suggestive of poor stability.

Visual Perceptual: Visual perception refers to the ability to interpret visual information to assist us with understanding our environment and for efficient interaction with it.  It includes the ability to perceive, remember, discriminate and give meaning to what we see.  It involves spatial relationships and spatial organization through the ability to tell the difference between items, to find an object from a confusing background, mentally manipulate (turn around) objects, memory, size and shape consistency, sequence visual information, scanning.

Visual Motor: Visual motor skills are the ability to relate visual information motorically and successfully interact with our environment.  It involves the ability to adequately interpret what is being seen and to respond with precise motor output.  In addition to perceptual ability it is necessary to be able to control movements of the hand/s in a precise, organized, sequential manner.  Visual motor control is necessary for eating, dressing, grooming, writing, manipulatives, sports, driving, and our successful interaction with the environment.

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