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Is your child developmentally ready to write?
Learning to write in early childhood is a well debated subject area and many educators and professionals hold strong opinions on the matter. Parents and carers may worry their child is not progressing fast enough in this area, especially for parents of boys! Finding out your child is not grasping writing in reception can be challenging, however we must be conscious that not all children are developmentally ready to write at the same time.
Handwriting is a complex motor skill that can only progress upon the maturation and integration of a number of cognitive, perceptual and motor skills (Hulme, 2023). Multiple skills are required to write; gross motor development, hand-eye coordination, good fine motor development, wrist control, elbow and shoulder pivots being developed…and of course knowledge and understanding of phonics.
As parents, carers and educators, we often place expectations upon children based on their age. Let us consider this through another lens. By considering stage of development instead we can meet the child where they are, offering learning opportunities and provision suitable to their level of development.
Early writing starting points
Before embarking on writing tasks, we must consider whether the child has been exposed to a wealth of physical activity opportunities requiring gross motor movements to include; twisting, hanging, rolling, swinging, pushing, pulling, jumping, spinning, lifting and much more because our muscles develop in the ‘snowflake effect’, from the inside out and from the top to the bottom. Daily movements like walking and running are not sufficient enough as they only occur on the sagittal plane, and do not allow for the flexibility and agility required to strengthen the shoulder girdle. By accessing the frontal and transverse plane we can incorporate a range of activities, including the movements above, which will develop all levels of laterality and rotation (complex movement patterns) to activate ALL muscles essential for early writing skills.
Underdeveloped proximal stability (the trunk of the body) will impact on distal stability (the extremities) and result in poor fine motor skills. If we consider the positioning of the fingers folded around the writing tool, the hand poised in position, the wrist rotated, the shoulder and upper body carrying the weight of the arm and the ability to sit or stand in a ‘still’ and upright position, we can start to see the complexity of the manipulation required to write.
Consideration must also be given to the content of the writing. Spoken language and observation of reading and writing are vital for early writers as they enable the experience and understanding around written language.
The risks beyond early writing
Research suggests many children are ‘falling behind’ in writing skills (EEF, 2022). Research also suggests many children are not reaching the recommended levels of physical activity. Statistics for early childhood physical inactivity and obesity are alarmingly high. In 2018, 91% of UK 2 to 4 years olds were not meeting the recommended levels of physical activity (British Heart Foundation Research Centre, 2018) and 14% of toddlers were recognised as obese (National Child Measurement Programme, 2019/2020). A recent report by The Food Foundation (2023) revealed that children in the most deprived tenth of the population are on average up to 1.3cm shorter than children in the least deprived tenth by age 10–11, suggesting a link between the inequality of experiential learning and accessibility to healthy nutrition choices.
The Broken Plate Report (2022) highlighted that obesity in children starting reception has risen by 50% only in the last year! Physical inactivity and nutrition are factors which are both at play in causing the detrimental effects on young children’s health. Obese children have a 70% higher risk of becoming obese adults.
If we look at the research and our knowledge of early childhood muscle development we understand this is no coincidence.
Early childhood is a period of rapid brain growth, myelination permits fast, complex connections allowing children’s acquisition of learning to become rapid, co-ordinated and highly sophisticated (Dubois et al 2013). Myelination is responsible for the variation of capabilities in young children and acts as a catalyst for synapse connectivity. The primary areas of the brain to myelinate are responsible for motor sensory functions allowing children to refine sequences of skills through repetition (Deoni et al 2011, Stevens, 2013, Battelley, 2021). This hereby identifies further influence of the role of movement on attainment and developmental processes required for early writing tasks. Recent research has identified that children’s level of engagement and enthusiasm in early writing skills increased when participating in free creative movement and mark making cohesively, (Strauss and Baron, 2017; Battelley, 2021).
Conclusion
Movement is our first language, our first form of communication with the outside world. Movement appears to lose more value as we grow older and move into education, where more time is dedicated to educating the brain over the body! As educators and parents/carers we are stakeholders in children’s futures, and we must acknowledge that the brain and body are inextricably linked and use holistic learning approaches to engage learners.
Adults should ensure their provision and activities are focused on an active learning environment rather than a sedentary one to boost proximal stability. We must also acknowledge and be aware of ourselves and adults as influencers on a children’s lives, as children imitate actions from observations of adults around them. We must practice what we preach…or as Rudolph Steiner challenged us “Are you worthy of imitation?” (Scharoun & Bryden, 2014)
To provide children with the best start in early writing skills we must continue to afford the child access to physically active play within a variety of environments, where they can stretch, swing, climb, twist, hang, turn, push and pull. Where they can develop language through play and explore mark making in a variety of contexts using a plethora of tools creatively and imaginatively (Adolph, 2019; Battelley, 2021).
Key takeaways
- Early writing in early years is a hot topic following the release of the DfE, 2021 Reading Framework highlighting children should be seated and writing in reception without the use of white boards. Consideration must be given to each child’s level and stage of development rather than engaging them in developmentally inappropriate activities.
- Educators and carers should hold a basic knowledge of muscle development in order to provide suitable resources, enabling environment and learning opportunities.
Critical considerations
- Does your environment support the child to be physically active?
- Are you putting unnecessary pressure on children in developing their writing skills (including cursive writing)?
- Could you extend writing and mark making activities using sensory motor movement?
- How do you know if your children are ready to be seated and completing writing tasks? Is there a better way of providing writing opportunities than this? Is this necessary? Why do we do it?
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