Childhood development is complex. Between fine motor and gross motor development, and the variability between children, it’s not always easy to tell if your child’s development is considered “typical.” If you’re worried that your child’s writing and pre-writing development may be atypical, here is a tool for you to use. These are the developmental milestones in writing that average children meet by certain ages. Also, there are lists of indications that your child’s fine motor/handwriting development may be atypical.
1. Between the ages 5-6 years, typical children will be able to do the following:
- Draw a person – Draw a person with at least 6 parts and draw a face with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
- Print letters – By 5-6 years old, children should be able to print their own name from memory (without looking at a model), and copy most upper and lower case letters, and numbers 1-5.
- Holding the pencil like a grown-up – Hold a regular sized pencil like an adult does.
- Curved mazes – Draw smooth lines to follow a maze that has curved tracks (rather than just straight tracks).
- Triangles – Copy triangles and trace diamonds.
- Use dominant hand – Consistent use of one hand as the dominant hand.
- Letters and numbers – By age 6, print all letters in the alphabet and all numbers 1-10 without copying.
