Spacing and Sizing: Making Handwriting Readable

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

What does spacing and sizing trouble look like?

Here is what it can look like. These are signs on the page itself.

• Spacing. Some children run their words together. Others leave gaps so wide the sentence gets lost.
• Size. Some children's letters change size inside a word or a line. Tall letters and short letters are not always different heights.
• The line. The writing floats above the line, sinks below it, or ignores it.
• Drift. Lines slope up or down. The margin creeps in. Words crowd the right edge and split in the middle.
• Use of space. A long answer is crammed into a small box. Or three words fill a whole line.

Each item is one sign, not an answer on its own.

What does the research we hold say?

As we read it, of the writing signs, the research is thinnest on spacing and sizing.

We hold no study that tests teaching spacing or sizing on its own. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding that such teaching does not work.

Here is some of what we hold on 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. In our view, page signs are not a reason to put spacing or size work first.

Handwriting improves when it is taught and practiced.

What would we do at home?

In our view, spacing and size are practiced inside handwriting practice. That means real words and sentences, written by hand.

In our view, teaching a letter means three things. Show where it starts. Show which way it goes. Show the order of the strokes. Then your child writes it.

In our view, show spacing and size the way you show a letter. Show it first. Then your child writes it.

Here is one way we would do it. Write a short sentence while your child watches. Point to the gap after each word. Then your child writes the same sentence.

In our view, show one thing at a time, the spacing or the size. Let the other slips on the page go for now.

Our position is that short, frequent practice does more than long, rare sessions. In our experience, handwriting gets worse as a child tires. Stop before it falls apart.

What this page does not recommend

This page recommends no special paper, grid or spacing tool.

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.

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.