Supporting Word Making for Young Writers

A complete guide for parents & teachers of preschool and kindergarten children

Presenter: Matt Glover Channel: Parent to Parent Two-part talk · April 2020

Overview

When a young child asks “Will you write this for me?”, most adults simply write the words. Literacy expert Matt Glover explains why he generally does not write for children, what he does instead, and how to support the natural developmental stages of early writing — which he calls word making.

The talk runs in two parts. Part 1 sets out the stages of word-making development and the five problems with writing for a child. Part 2 gives the practical answer: what to say, what to model, and how to move a child forward one small step at a time.

“Word making doesn’t start with letters and sounds… Knowing this makes us think about the downside of writing for children.”

This page is a detailed, section-by-section synthesis of both videos, with timestamps so you can jump to the source. It is not a verbatim transcript.

Part 1 — Why Not Write for Young Children?

Video: Part 1: Supporting Word Making for Young Writers
≈ 10 min · Parent to Parent · 14 April 2020

1. The question behind the talk 0:29

Children in preschool and kindergarten often bring a page to an adult and ask: “Would you write this for me?” Parents and teachers usually comply. Matt Glover’s answer is different: when he works in schools, he does not write for children. Part 1 explains why; Part 2 explains what to do instead.

A common assumption is that there is nothing a child can do until they know letter–sound relationships. That assumption is the root of the problem. Development does not begin with letters and sounds, and it does not begin with spelling.

2. Word making starts several stages earlier 0:53

Before conventional writing, children move through a series of approximations. Each stage is real writing, not a failed attempt at adult writing. Matt illustrates each one with pages from children’s books.

1. Pictures onlyNo words on the page. The child “reads” the picture; only the child can tell you what it is. A drawing of a house is a house because the child says so.
2. Pictures plus marksWords begin to appear, but may be hard to locate. A fire-truck page has a picture and a line of marks at the top — the child knows those marks say something about the fire truck.
3. Scribble / mountain-and-valley writingContinuous marks that imitate the look of adult handwriting. Children produce this after watching adults write quickly.
4. Mock letters and letter-like formsShapes that start to resemble letters. Some are real letters, some are not. Madison writes her name, then adds letter-like forms below it.
5. Random strings of lettersReal letters, chosen because the child knows them — often from their name or an alphabet chart — but not yet matched to sounds. This is a valuable stage: the child practises forming letters.
6. Beginning phonetic spellingThe child starts to connect letters and sounds. Regan writes M for Mackenzie; Allie writes car with a beginning and ending sound. The letters may not be conventionally correct, but the sounds are.

3. Later spelling development 3:42

From beginning phonetic spelling, children move through beginning and ending consonants, medial consonants and short vowels, long-vowel patterns, and eventually conventional spelling. The important point is direction of travel: conventional spelling is far down the road. It is not the starting line, and word making does not begin with spelling.

4. Copying is not composing 4:29

Once we accept that children have alternatives, there is a decision: the child writes it the best they can, or the adult writes it for them.

Matt shows a page from Allie’s book. The sentence “Arthur’s friends go camping” was written by an adult on a separate sheet, and Allie copied it. Copying looks more independent than it is. Allie is not deciding which letters she needs; she is reproducing someone else’s decisions. In terms of thinking, copying is no different from having an adult write it for her.

5. Five reasons not to write for a child

Reason 1 — The child often cannot read it 4:56

The words an adult writes are usually outside the child’s reading vocabulary. Even a common word like go may not be recognised. When Allie reads her book, she does not read the words at all; she looks at the pictures and remembers what to say. The adult’s print is not helping her read.

Reason 2 — You lose the diagnostic window 5:20

To decide what to teach next, you must first see what the child can do entirely alone. If an adult writes the sentence, you no longer know whether the child would have used scribble, random letters, or one sound per word. Without that baseline, you cannot find the next small step.

Learning happens just beyond what a child can already do independently — what Matt calls the next small step. Writing for the child removes the evidence you need to locate it.

Reason 3 — Conventional print skips developmental stages 6:32

If Allie would have written that sentence with random strings of letters, then handing her the conventional spelling of friends jumps her across many stages at once. Matt describes it as twelve or fourteen stages down the road. That is not a gentle nudge; it is a huge push past everything in between.

Reason 4 — The unintended message 6:59

No one writes for a child to be unkind, but the message that arrives is: I am not comfortable with your approximations. Your writing is not good enough the way you do it. A child writing the best they can is already doing the best they can. Adults should be comfortable with that — while still teaching, and still helping the child improve.

The goal is not to expect perfection from the start. It is for children to put both pictures and words into their books. If they never put words in, they never discover that they can.

Reason 5 — The drawing analogy 8:09

If a child says “Would you draw a dog for me?”, drawing the dog does not help them draw anything else. Instead we teach strategies: think about the shapes you need, the parts — a tail, legs — the colours. Writing works the same way. If we would not draw for a child, why would we write for one?

6. The exception 9:20

There are situations where writing for a child makes sense — for example, a child writing a letter who wants a particular person’s name, especially at home. That is a little different. But by and large, Matt does not write for children, for all the reasons above.

7. Part 1 in one sentence 9:49

Writing for a child does not help them as a reader, does not show what they can do, hides the next step, skips developmental stages, and sends a message we do not want to send. Instead, teach strategies the child can use independently.

Part 2 — What to Do Instead

Video: Part 2: Supporting Word Making for Young Children
≈ 8–9 min · Parent to Parent · 15 April 2020

8. The core response: “Write it the best you can” 0:46

This phrase works on two fronts at once. It addresses disposition — it is acceptable not to spell everything perfectly — and skill — there are concrete ways to get words onto the page. Both are needed; reassurance without strategy leaves the child stuck.

9. Disposition: children think they must spell perfectly 1:11

When Matt asks young children whether they should be able to spell every word perfectly, the most common answer is yes. Adults have to communicate the opposite: writing it the best you can is the right thing to do at this age. What else could a four-year-old do? But being comfortable with approximations is not enough on its own — the child also needs to know how to approximate.

10. Skill: model the options early in the year 1:36

In preschool and kindergarten classes, Matt teaches children the different ways they can get words into their books. He does not pretend to be unable to write; he frames the demonstration honestly: “Let me show you what four-year-olds do. Let me show you what preschoolers do.” The modelling is explicit, brief, and repeated early in the year, before children begin making books independently.

11. A demonstration: Milo, the squirrel, and the word “tree” 2:00

Matt uses his own book about Milo the dog chasing a squirrel. The squirrel is in a tree, so the word he wants is tree. Instead of spelling it correctly, he walks through the options a young child could use.

Option 1 — Scribble writing

Make continuous marks where the word goes. “You can make marks for your words — that’s fine. That is far better than having no words at all.”

Option 2 — Random letters

Write letters the child knows, letters from their name, or letters chosen from an alphabet chart. X and O, or Z and M, are acceptable. Does it really spell tree? No — and that is okay at four. Random letters are still valuable because the child practises forming letters.

Option 3 — Say it slowly, write the sounds you hear

Stretch the word: t-r-ee. The child may hear the opening t, or the final e sound. One sound, or several, is fine. Matt then points out what the child’s attempt does not yet capture: tree also has an r that is hard to hear, and another e that is almost silent.

Option 4 — Pretend to write

Pretending is not a consolation prize; it is how young children enter almost everything. They pretend to be firefighters and princesses. Pretending to write is a legitimate starting point — and many children relax when they hear it is allowed.

12. The same moves with “leash” 4:49

Matt repeats the demonstration with leash: scribble it, write random letters such as A, M and T, or say it slowly and record the opening l. The repetition matters. Children need to see that the strategies are general, not a trick for one word.

13. Normalise the approximation, then nudge 5:38

After each attempt Matt makes the gap visible — “Does that really spell tree? No” — and immediately makes it acceptable: “And is that okay if you’re four?” The child learns both the truth about spelling and the truth about development.

Then comes the nudge. Children may stay at one stage for a while; that is normal. The adult’s job is to keep noticing what the child can do now and offer the next small step, rather than jumping to the final destination.

14. Two more things you can say 6:02

  • “Pretend to write some words.” Useful for children who freeze at the sight of an empty page.
  • “You can find that word somewhere.” Labels, charts, books and names around the room are legitimate resources — copying a word that the child genuinely wants to say is different from copying a sentence an adult composed.

15. The caveat about finding words 6:48

Watch for children who only write words they can find. Matt has seen books filled with mum, dad and love even when the pictures are about something else entirely. The words must match what the child wants to say. Finding a word is a support, not a substitute for composing.

16. Perfectionist children 7:32

Some children want everything spelled correctly and become distressed by approximation. Matt speaks from experience: one of his twin daughters, Natalie, was like this. The aim is not to undo the child’s personality; that conscientiousness can be a strength. The aim is not to feed the perfectionism either.

What helped Natalie was arriving at her own formulation: “All right, I’ll write it in my best four-year-old way.” Once a child can say that, the adult can help them get a little better — without making today’s writing feel like a failure.

17. What independence looks like 8:21

The goal is a child who puts pictures and words into their books on their own, at home and at school, whether or not an adult is beside them. Every strategy above is chosen because the child can use it independently.

Quick phrasebook

Child saysInstead of writing it, try
“Will you write this for me?”“Write it the best you can. I’ll show you some ways.”
“I don’t know how to spell it.”“Say it slowly and write the sounds you hear.”
“I can’t do letters yet.”“You can scribble the word, or write letters you know.”
“It’s not right.”“It doesn’t have to be perfect. What would a five-year-old write today?”
“I don’t know what to write.”“Pretend to write it first, then tell me what it says.”
“How do you spell …?”“Can you find that word somewhere in the room?”

Key takeaways

  • Word making begins long before letters, sounds and conventional spelling.
  • Pictures only, scribble, mock letters, random letters and phonetic attempts are all real stages — not deficits.
  • Copying an adult’s sentence removes the thinking just as surely as having the adult write it.
  • Writing for a child hides what they can do, which makes the next small step impossible to find.
  • Conventional spelling is many stages away; handing it over skips the development in between.
  • The unintended message of writing for a child is “your writing is not good enough”.
  • If we would not draw a dog for a child, we should not write a sentence for one: teach strategies instead.
  • “Write it the best you can” works only when it is paired with explicit teaching of the options.
  • Model the strategies early in the year, name them, and normalise approximations.
  • Watch for children who copy only words they can find; the words must serve what they want to say.
  • Perfectionist children need both acceptance of their temperament and permission to write approximately.
  • The goal is independence: pictures and words, composed by the child.

For teachers: a short implementation note

  • Teach the options before the first book. A short, explicit mini-lesson early in the year prevents months of “I can’t write”.
  • Name the stage, not the deficit. “You’re using random letters — that’s exactly what writers do at this point” is more useful than “good try”.
  • Keep an alphabet chart and environmental print visible, but check that children are composing, not only copying.
  • Record one next step per child. If a child uses random letters, the next step may be one beginning sound; if they use beginning sounds, the next step may be an ending sound.
  • Protect the disposition. Children who believe they must be perfect stop taking risks; approximations are the material of growth.

Original sources

Part 1
youtube.com/watch?v=xtp58ffDyP8
“Part 1: Supporting Word Making for Young Writers” · 14 April 2020

Part 2
youtube.com/watch?v=jOK0cuBHrO8
“Part 2: Supporting Word Making For Young Children” · 15 April 2020

Channel: Parent to Parent
Further resources: authortoauthor.org → Parent Resources

Detailed educational synthesis of Matt Glover’s two-part Parent to Parent talk (April 2020).
Paraphrased for study and home/school use; it does not reproduce the videos or their transcripts verbatim.