An Editing Checklist for Kids: What to Check and How to Teach It

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-02

Four things to check

Here is our checklist. It has four lines.

• Does it make sense? Read it out loud. Does it say what you meant?
• Capitals. Does each sentence start with a capital letter?
• End marks. Does each sentence end with a period, a question mark or an exclamation point?
• Spelling. Circle any word you are not sure of.

The checklist on this page is ours. We hold no study that tests it. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding either way.

Teach it one line at a time

In our view, teach the lines one by one. Show each line first on writing of your own. Then check a piece together. Then your child checks alone.

In our view, look for one kind of mistake on each read. Read once for capitals. Read again for end marks.

What the research we hold says about teaching writing

Handwriting, spelling and getting ideas down each get better when taught.

• Handwriting. Santangelo and Graham (2016) pooled studies of teaching handwriting. Handwriting lessons made handwriting clearer and faster than other lessons or none.
• Spelling. In a 2014 review of 53 studies, Graham and Santangelo found that teaching spelling directly works. They also found gains in spelling while writing, not only on tests.
• Getting ideas down. Two reviews support teaching children how to plan and revise (Graham and Perin, 2007; Gillespie and Graham, 2014). The first covered grades 4 to 12. The second covered students with learning disabilities.

Work on handwriting, spelling and composing side by side.

The second review found planning or revising help "only effective when instruction was provided" (Gillespie and Graham, 2014). The review's summary does not say whether any of that help was a checklist. To us, handing over a checklist is not the same as teaching it.

We hold no study that tests an editing checklist like this one. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding either way.

Spelling on the checklist

In our view, a child cannot fix a spelling they think is right. Circling any word they are not sure of is enough. Then help with the fix.

When to use the checklist

In our view, keep the checklist for when the writing is done. It is not for the middle of a sentence.

Our page on writing difficulties has more.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Writing well below your child's other schoolwork.
• A teacher who raises a concern about writing.
• Extreme upset about writing.
• Complete avoidance of writing.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.