It seems there are two camps: one that believes we should push handwriting earlier due to the rising expectations of Kindergarten and early elementary school, and one that believes we should let children at their own pace taking the wait and see approach.
But which is "RIGHT"?!
As you might guess, there is not a "right" or "wrong" answer here... and neither camp is the best. What I like to do is take the approach of BOTH!
Let's give students the tools and instruction and build their skills at a developmentally appropriate level AND constantly monitor for signs of struggle so that we can intervene early when difficulties arise.
WHY?
Let's dive in!
1 - Children in preschool are developing at a rapid rate. They go from learning to walk to learning to read and write in a few short years. But we must remember that it is the SKILL BUILDING that is key here. Building a child's motor skills, visual skills, cognitive and language skills, is essential for having a solid literacy foundation. Before we can hold a pencil we must be able to hold ourself upright in a chair with a solid core. Before we can read sentences we must understand letter sounds and rhyming words. THESE are the skills that we need to be focused on during the early years. AND even better, these skills need to be learned through...you guessed it, PLAY! Science shows that learning through play increases learning at over 5x the rate (meaning it only takes 4-5 exposures through play vs 20-30 exposures via non-play). SO COOL, right?!
2 - As children develop in these early years through play, they also need explicit instruction to learn the foundational skills for reading and writing. Children learn to speak naturally through interactions with caregivers and others. However, with literacy, children MUST be explicitly taught letter sounds, letter strokes, spelling rules, etc. So while children are developing their foundational skills through play (see above)... we are also beginning to explicitly and systematically teach them reading and writing skills. We are demonstrating letter lines to encourage imitation of pre-writing strokes, we are singing rhyming songs to allow for practice manipulating sounds, we are building letters 3-dimensionally to teach alphabet awareness and visual processing of letters.
Intentional experiences of both foundational skill-building AND explicit and systematic instruction is THE MAGIC SAUCE of early literacy.
Developmentally appropriate play leads to skill-builiding and better outcomes. Likewise, monitoring progress and tackling struggles head-on rather than waiting is essential in ensuring the continuum of reading and writing.
What are the expectations of a pre-schooler?!
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