Saying the Letter as You Write It

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-30

What does it look like?

You write a letter slowly while your child watches. As you go, you say each step. For example: start at the top, go down, back up, around.

Then your child writes the same letter. They say the same steps as they go. Later, they say only the letter's name. Later still, they write it with no talk at all.

In our view, a handwriting script is the spoken steps for one letter. In our view, you do not need a program for it. Use words that match the letter forms your child is taught. If there is a teacher, ask which words they use.

These steps are our own practice, not a tested method. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Why say the steps?

In our view, saying the steps can help a child keep them in order. To us, that matters most while a letter is new.

In our view, saying the steps also helps you hear a missing step.

To us, the talk should fade as the letter gets easy.

These steps are our own practice, not a tested method. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

How we would teach a letter this way

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.

Here is our way, with the steps said out loud.

1. Pick one letter. Use the letter forms your child is being taught.
2. Write it slowly on paper while your child watches. Say each step as you go.
3. Your child writes the same letter on paper. They say the same steps as they write.
4. Next time, your child says the letter's name as they write it.
5. Later, they whisper the steps. Later still, they write it in silence.
6. Watch where the pencil starts and which way it moves. If a step goes wrong, show it again.

In our view, one fix at a time is enough. If you start in sand or on a whiteboard, end on paper. Our page on multisensory letter practice has more on that.

In our view, keep each sitting to one or two letters. Our position is that short, frequent practice does more than long, rare sessions. Stop before the writing falls apart.

These steps are our own practice, not a tested method. Handwriting improves most consistently with handwriting practice; motor work alone has not been shown to improve it.

Our page on handwriting activities has more ways to practice.

What the research we hold says, and where it stops

A few old, small studies had children with writing trouble talk themselves through writing. Most combined it with other teaching.

Kosiewicz's study. Kosiewicz and colleagues (1982) studied one boy with a learning disability. His handwriting was very poor. He was taught words to say to himself as he wrote. He was also taught to check his own work. His handwriting improved with each part, and with both together. The summary does not say what he said. It was one child, in a single-child study. We could read only its summary.

Robin's study. Robin and colleagues (1975) studied kindergarten children with writing trouble. They were taught to talk themselves through writing. Talking plus direct teaching did better than direct teaching alone. But how much each child talked aloud did not track how well they wrote. The authors also found it hard to teach. We could not read that study. We know it only from another author's description (Graham, 1983).

Bradley's study. Bradley (1981) studied children behind in reading and spelling. They learned words by three methods. One method was a version of saying each letter's name while writing the word. That method did best of the three. It was about learning to spell words, not about forming letters. We could read only its summary.

Schlesinger and Gray's study. Schlesinger and Gray (2017) studied 11 second graders. Six were typical learners, and five had dyslexia. The study tracked each child on their own. It compared multisensory teaching with structured teaching. Both helped. The multisensory teaching did not do better. Its summary does not say the children said letters while writing. We could read only its summary.

Where it stops. No study we hold compared saying letter names aloud with the same teaching done silently. So we cannot say that saying it aloud is what helps. That is a gap in what we hold, not a finding that it does not help.

Nothing in the studies on this page tested a Learning Success program.

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.