Very bad handwriting

[Cinco]

Is there any good way to improve your fine motor skills?
My handwriting has been bad for as long as I can remember, I've always written cursive because it's faster and smoother but it looks so awful I can barely even read it myself, my brain works faster than my hands.
My sentences always curve up and down and the letters change size and shape as I go along
It's not only a problem with my handwriting but and writing or drawing that I do, even capital letter are a problem. I can't even draw basic shapes like without making it look like it was drawn by a toddler.

The picture is my attempt to write some basic greek letters

 

[Suzanne]

My writing is terrible and hate my signature!

If I want to write neat, I have to take my time, but always goes off into another direction.

Also get cramp and that is because I am heavy with my hand.

Much prefer typing.

 

[Progster]

I used to write with a fountain pen for this very reason, I found that my writing improved using a wide nib.

 

[clg114]

The only thing that write in cursive is my signature. I print everything else. Nobody can read my handwriting so I do not have much choice. I am very old and old fashion. I still hand write my service reports, estimates and invoices to my customers. I print everything so that they can read it.

 

[Mr Allen]

Despite poor fine motor skills my handwriting is quite good as it happens, but I was taught touch typing at school a long time ago because "they" said I'd never be able to do formal "joined up"writing.

How wrong they were, about a LOT of things.

 

[Illumination]

Your handwriting is quite a lot better than mine (based on that picture), I'm not sure how you would go about improving your handwriting, all attempts by teachers in the past failed miserably for myself, so I honestly don't have many tips to improve your handwriting. (I prefer typing of course).

 

[the_tortoise]

Practice at tasks that require their use is the only way I know to improve fine motor skills.

 

[FreeDiver]

I have terrible penmanship skills. However, there's is this technique of handwriting that's guaranteed to make your handwriting look perfect, even if you have clumsy motor skills. It's called the Draftsman technique an it involved writing all your letters using only a downstroke movement. There is a catch. With a top speed of about 1 letter every 2-3 seconds or about 180 words an hour. It might put your patents to the test.

 

[mangodude]

hello!
i have almost exactly the same problem; i am right handed from birth and no matter how hard i tried, i wasn't able to improve my handwriting.
so instead i learned how to write with left hand and my left handed writing is neat and understandable!
good luck

 

[DesertRose]

I saw these new adult coloring books appearing everywhere, and thought that would be a great way to improve. But being the extreme tightwad that I am, and being somewhat of an artist, and not caring for the same exact repeating patterns on the pages, I made my own 'doodle pages' to color. That actually did improve my writing while I did it. I can't draw that well, bit I can make random designs. If you're interested, Google 'zentangle' for some interesting design patterns. Those are usually done on small squares, so don't take much time. I do pages sized patterns with a sharpie pen, then color them later. That may help. I think coloring is the key to helping young children write better. However, some of us can only get to a certain level and never seem to improve. In typing class, I had to change out to another class, because I could not get over 30 wpm and a C in class. Years after having a computer I managed to get to 42 wpm, but that took a very long time.

 

[GrownupGirl]

I've been told I have really good handwriting... for a left handed person, anyway.
That was a "left-handed compliment" if I ever heard one.

 

[Nervous Rex]

A friend of mine is working through a book on how to improve your handwriting. I'll ask him for the name.

My handwriting is very bad. In high school, I had so many assignments that I got right, but were marked wrong because the teacher couldn't read my handwriting. So, I started typing out my assignments.

The thing is, I know exactly why my handwriting is so bad - it's because it's just good enough to get by and I don't have the patience to improve it. When I am writing, my thoughts are going 10x faster than my hands. I just want to get it down on paper and move on, so any chicken-scratch that I can read later is acceptable. If I have a hard time reading it, then I may make more effort to improve it next time. When I write notes for others - which is very, very rarely - I slow down and make an effort to make my handwriting more legible.

 

[Judge]

Other than routinely signing my signature to documents, I haven't given my handwriting a thought in decades. When I rarely write, I print. Mostly for grocery lists. And my printing is quite good, going all the way back to high school when printing skills were paramount in pre-CAD drafting.

I suppose if someone insists, well....I do have some rather nice cursive fonts.

Seriously though, my main thought is that handwriting remains something left in the 20th century. I don't see a real need for it other than for those who insist they will survive the global apocalypse.

 

[Mr Allen]

Only thing is, I'd imagine my signature would be quite easy to forge because I just write R Allen in uppercase.

 

[tducey]

I have terrible handwriting as well. People have said I should be a doctor as my handwriting is so bad.

 

[Progster]

My handwriting isn't particularly tidy, but it's just about legible.

 

[Ginseng]

Wow! I thought that was just me. I write in cursive because it is faster. I can read it if I do not write to fast. My hand hurts after a while because I hold my pen to tightly. I don't seem to know how to loosen my grip.

 

[Mia]

My handwriting is all right. Had handwriting classes as a child taught by sisters in a convent, it was painful and difficult, on my own I write exactly the same way as you do.

You could try double ruling your paper, which is how I learned to write script properly and always using a ruler. Nothing is perfect and as long as it's legible, it's fine.

If you want to improve it you could could print out downloadable templates that train your hands to write in those spaces like this:

https://www.printablepaper.net/preview/penmanship-landscape-letter-9

 

[DesertRose]

My handwriting is all right. Had handwriting classes as a child taught by sisters in a convent, it was painful and difficult, on my own I write exactly the same way as you do.

You could try double ruling your paper, which is how I learned to write script properly and always using a ruler. Nothing is perfect and as long as it's legible, it's fine.

If you want to improve it you could could print out downloadable templates that train your hands to write in those spaces like this:

View attachment 46596 View attachment 46597

https://www.printablepaper.net/preview/penmanship-landscape-letter-9

Google homeschool Handwriting and there will be tons of everything from traceable -very handy, to copywork which gives something to copy both with and without lines. My AS son has rejected any Handwriting practice, but I've noticed that as he's gotten older he can write better, but at 13 it looks more like a 2nd or 3rd grader. My other son never improved, while my daughter did pretty well with hers. Both suspected AS. Mine, has always been a bit jerky looking, never smooth, and got worse later in life when I didn't do much.

 

[onlything]

I trained my writing by writing down favourite books, although I wasn't as bad as I could have been. My old friend on the other hand, he couldn't write well at all, as well as draw or even scribble. It helped him a bit after he got a good quality fountain pen, although he was still struggling last time I talked with him.