Stages of Writing

Stages of Writing

Brittany Clayton

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana

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1. The first stage of writing is scribbling that may seem more like print than artwork. In this

stage, children are just beginning to use their motor skills to hold a pencil and aren’t able to

correctly grasp it to get firm lines. Because of the lack of motor skills, they will scribble on

paper but aren’t forming any type of picture. This stage usually ends by age two and a half.

a. Ways to help the child in this stage include; having a regular time to “draw”

everyday, refer to it as writing and as they draw their picture talk to them about

things that are important to them that they may draw.

2. The second stage of writing is linear scribbles. In this stage, children are getting more used

to using a pencil and are able to begin drawing certain shapes. They may repeat these

shapes multiple times in order to make their pictures. This stage usually ends by age 3.

a. Ways to help the child in this stage include; writing a small letter or message to your

child everyday and as you write the word repeat it and point to it, write sentences that

your child says explaining their day and then read it back to them while pointing at

the words, take their drawings seriously and continually encourage them.

3. The third stage of writing is creating individual shapes. In this stage, children learn to draw

closed shapes. These shapes may be used in situations such as using a circle for a cloud.

a. Ways to assist the child in this stage include; setting up a space specifically for them

to draw, allowing them to observe you while you write letters or make shopping lists

and continue to write sentences and read them back.

4. The fourth stage of writing is creating letter-like forms. In this stage, the child may draw

letters such as b, d etc. They often times will make these letters backwards and they aren’t

used in words, rather simply letters. This stage usually ends by age 3 and a half.
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a. In this stage, you can assist the child by having a letter chart available for them to

see, explaining letters and their sounds and drawing the letters and allowing them to

copy them.

5. The fifth stage of writing is letters are written and can easily be recognized. In this stage, the

letters that are drawn may be upside down, sideways or backwards. This stage usually ends

around age 4.

a. In this stage you can assist the child by continuing to write out letters and words and

sounding them out and having them trace them or copy them, teaching the child the

use their finger as a space between words and have regular writing times each day.

6. The sixth stage of writing is when words are formed with spaces between them. In this

stage, children may be able to write a sentence such as I ran down, but it may not resemble a

sentence because they are so far apart or close together.

a. In this stage you can assist the child by teaching them the importance of writing

different things such as letters, thank you notes, etc., begin teaching the child the

importance of correct spelling and punctuation and help them begin to sound out

letters to form words.

7. The seventh stage of writing is when a child is able to process certain sounds and attempt to

use this to spell the things they are drawing. In this stage, a child may draw a picture of a

truck and beside it write things such as “truk”.

a. In this stage you can assist the child by continuing to teach them the importance of

spelling and punctuation, continuing to help them sound out words they are spelling

and helping them to spell understand how to correctly spell words that may not be

able to be sounded out.

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8. The eighth stage of writing is when children are able to spell words correctly and to form a

sentence. In this stage, children are able to spell most words, they are aware of the amount

of space that is necessary to put between their words and are able to make small sentences.

a. In this stage you can assist the child by writing with them, having a set time each day

to write and spelling words out with them before they write them.