My elementary-school teacher Mrs. Buckingham insisted on precise letter formation and penmanship. She used to stress "we are what we write."

Keith E. Berry, PhD, author of the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), explains it more technically. In the VMI Test Manual, Berry says handwriting is "frequently an indicator of children's mental and social foundations. Because it is so visible (in contrast to spoken language), poor handwriting often operates as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a child is allowed to continuously portray his mental and social inadequacies graphically, he may come to increasingly believe that he is an inferior person and to behave accordingly."

In other words, what a child produces is how he sees himself, and that translates into a major influence on how he behaves. It is also important not to underestimate the influence of peer appraisals. The kid sitting next him at school probably has more influence over a child's self-esteem than a parent, teacher or therapist does. Pride in one's work and feeling peer competitiveness is at the foundation of solid social and emotional well-being.

Children with learning disabilities "look" like they understand, they are smart-and yet they seemingly willfully don't do their homework. If they do, the work is often messy. Learning issues are often reflected in motor performance, and the most visible school-based motor performance is handwriting.

Handwriting difficulties graphically confront the child with his inadequate abilities and are often emotionally bruising. When a child has difficulty writing, it happens in school and everyone can see it. Poor handwriting cannot be hidden, ignored or avoided. No wonder homework becomes a fight.

Addressing handwriting issues often frustrates teachers and parents; most of all, however, it impacts the child in many negative ways. Punishment does not help. Often younger students will have to miss recess while older students get detention. And still, the homework remains messy, late and incomplete. The student is subsequently labeled lazy, uncaring, willful, etc.

Homework issues often resolve when issues with handwriting are remediated. There are real neuro-motor reasons for handwriting difficulties that cannot be outgrown and that will not self-resolve. Understanding this neuro-motor connection is key to working with children who find handwriting difficult and painful.

Often children with handwriting difficulties have a real discomfort with a pencil in their hand. We can see these children at a glance in the classroom-they have a "death grip," a flimsy, wobbly pencil, a wrapped hand that hides the pencil, their sitting postures are reflective of their hands: stiff, floppy, squirmy, etc.

There are other concerns as well. Sensory-motor development is intrinsically linked to fine-motor ability, which is necessary to successfully manipulate the environment.

Understanding and identifying these issues are essential for helping children overcome their resistance to both handwriting and homework. Occupational therapists and teachers working closely together can embed regular classroom tasks with simple everyday activities and techniques that can help children write more securely and put their thoughts, ideas and feelings down on paper readily. Related handwriting skills also teach how to visually scan and copy, thus helping the student express his/her full potential and to be more peer competitive.

For children with learning disabilities, facilitating the expression of competencies-physical, emotional, neurological and intellectual-is the essential first step to resolving the handwriting, homework and self-esteem issues.

Transforming a child's handwriting from unreadable to something he, his classmates, teachers and parents can understand can be life-altering.

Susan N. Schriber Orloff, OTR/L, is the author of Learning Re-enabled, a guide for parents, teachers and therapists, and WIN™, The Handwriting on the Wall 12-hour program to penmanship. She is CEO and executive director of Children's Special Services, LLC, in Atlanta, GA. She can be reached on the Web at www.childrens-services.com or through YourTherapySource.com.