Tactile Discrimination

One reason a student might be struggling to write is because of poor tactile discrimination. A student with poor tactile discrimination has trouble differentiating between how different things feel, including but not limited to his or her fingers, a pencil, a crayon, and scissors. Even with repeated interactions with the same materials the student might be taken a back each time by the feeling of the material. Think about it like this, what is an item you have touched that you have disliked or never touched before. The first time you touched sandpaper, jello, dirt. That is what this child experiences every time they touch a pencil. They struggle to manipulate the pencil because it is always a foreign object to them. New tools are difficult to use, as are old tools. Look out for this student in your class because they will need a lot of help to feel comfortable in writing. (Footnote 4).