How to Assess and Improve Your Child’s Handwriting Fluency at Home

Handwriting is more than neat letters on a page. It plays a powerful role in supporting reading fluency, attention, and motor planning, especially for developing readers. When handwriting becomes easier and more automatic, children free up mental energy to focus on decoding, comprehension, and organizing their thoughts. That’s why building solid handwriting habits is an important part of literacy growth.

In my newest video, I walk you through a simple way to assess your child’s handwriting fluency using a helpful benchmark: 40 correct letters per minute. This gives you an easy, clear snapshot of where your child is and how much practice they may need to make writing smoother and more efficient.

You’ll also learn how to model and practice proper letter formation from top to bottom and left to right with the Peterson Handwriting Prompts, and how to use short, focused practice sessions to build both speed and confidence. Proper letter formation isn’t just about neatness—it improves muscle memory, strengthens sequencing and directionality, and makes writing feel more natural for your child.

For children who struggle with b–d confusion, I share quick and effective strategies that use visual cues and directionality routines to build stronger letter recognition. These supports help reinforce letter identity while improving overall reading and writing accuracy.

One important reminder from the video: We use letter names for handwriting practice, but when spelling or reading, we should use sounds—not letter names. This helps children connect the alphabet to the phonics patterns they need for fluent decoding and encoding.

This video is designed to give you clear, doable steps you can start using right away to support smoother, stronger handwriting at home. Even five minutes a day can make a noticeable difference.

For current students, you can also find this video inside our Google Classroom for easy reference anytime.