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Everyone strives for legible handwriting. But the question should we should be asking is "What is illegible handwriting?"

When we look at the word legible it comes from the Latin meaning readable. Simply put legible means clear enough to read. This is what we should be striving for with handwriting. It doesn’t need to have flourishes everywhere. The name of the game for any student is that their teachers can read it and the examiners can mark it. Put frankly, illegible handwriting is no where to be seen.

Yet legible handwriting is subjective. What you might feel is readable, someone else might determine it is illegible. So how do we bridge this gap?

If we take the concept that legible handwriting is readable. Then the opposite is when it is impossible or difficult to read. As adults, we know what is easy to read and what is not. We know when we have written something so fast then it becomes tricky to read. Honestly, we all have times when we struggle to read it ourselves. But this usually doesn’t matter to us because we’re not needing it to be marked.

At all times an examiner must be able to read students’ work. These examiners are very adept and used reading writing that is difficult to mark. Yet we know from exam boards that difficult to read writing can result in lower grades.

For a child seeking legible handwriting, it is confusing.

Their past experiences of evaluating their own work have probably been negative. Teachers or other adults may have said that they need to improve their writing. But not stated how this can happen. If we do not guide a student how they can improve their work?

Let’s take a step back and think about writing from the student’s perspective. If they can read it, then is it really illegible? Often a student’s understanding of illegibility depends on who tells them this. Even then it can come with conditions attached that you may or may not even know.

Let’s think about this as levels or stages. This will help us understand why some students do not belive they have illegible handwriting.

⬅️ By the time that we get to level five we’re thinking serious action is on the cards. The risk of grades going down. Work being unmarked. A child’s true knowledge not being assessed comes to the forefront.

At level four this is when a dilemma occurs. Often one teacher mentions something either to the child or via parent’s evening. This can often be the English teacher. For that child as only one teacher has mentioned it then it may not be a big issue. For example, they may think that the problem with being able to read their writing is the teachers. I have even had it said to me that the teacher should get their eyesight tested! The reality is that if one teacher cannot read the writing they are not going to be the only one.

⬅️ Level three writers secretly know that their writing is tricky to read. Yet they wouldn’t like to admit it and will only do so if someone asks them in the right way.

⬅️ Level two writers can often hear from their parents that their writing is tricky to read. However if their teacher has not said anything to them then they do not think it needs looking at and improving on.

⬅️ Level one writers find that everything they write is readable to others.

Other more common words to describe illegible handwriting are messy, scrawl and scribbles.

Illegible handwriting is not something that everyone has. We develop it when our brain is trying to write faster than our hands can physically move. Students can use a laptop if their handwriting is significantly difficult to read. Yet they’re not allowed to use a laptop if their handwriting speed is slow.

I often get asked the question by a parent at what point does a child start to want to improve their handwriting? This is so tricky to answer. It is dependent on many variables. We all want that motivational switch to be on. We want them to want to tweak and improve their writing.

There are many ways in which someone with illegible handwriting can turn it around.

Not every suggestion here will be the ideal solution for your child but a combination maybe.

Pen

Finding the right pen is crucial. Some people like writing in a biro and others like writing in a rollerball pen. Pens also come in different shapes and sizes. Long gone are the days when we grab any old pen to write with. We have a dedicated post on how to develop the correct pen grip.

Paper

Most line widths are 8mm in line height. Yet for some students, this is too small. They may prefer writing in a notepad that has a 10 mm line width.

Word space gaps

If the writing is difficult to read increasing the word space gap can be helpful. Forget the concept of finger spaces think about a word space gap being a 5 mm measurement. If this is too small for your child encourage them to have a 7 or 8-mm gap.

Letter sizing

This is crucial the ascenders and descenders need to be clear. Ascenders stand tall but they do not go up to the top of the line they go up to 90% of the line height. The letters that sit on the lines e.g. e, a, n, o, c, and v need to be 50% of the line height.

Before we can look at helping a child improve their ”illegible” handwriting, we have to understand what they believe about their handwriting.

If they feel it doesn’t need changing it is going to be very difficult to encourage them to make changes. If they have heard one teacher make a comment about it. It is wise to explain that this is often the English teacher because it is their role to look at writing. Other teachers may also find the handwriting difficult to read but they may not have said it. When we have their agreement, then it can be all systems go to improve it.

Written by Sheilagh Blyth MSc OT (Hons)

Sheilagh is the founder of Help with Handwriting, a children's occupational therapist, handwriting expert and author.
Her and the team at Help with Handwriting help kids across the world have lightbulb moments about their handwriting. Showing them how to make improvements and giving them back their self confidence to have readable handwriting.

"As usual -great ideas!" and "Brilliant – great ideas and explanation, thank you", Linda B.

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