On the road to literacy: learning to write

Parents wait for that wonderful day when their child learns to read. But reading words is only part of early literacy; writing is important to literacy, too. And no matter what the child’s age, he or she is learning to write.

“Long before a child can pick up a pencil, the stage is set for the development of writing,” says Jane Kostelc, early childhood specialist at Parents as Teachers National Center in St. Louis, MO.

“When your baby uses her index finger and thumb to grasp objects it is called the pincer grasp,” Kostelc adds. “This skill forms the basis for holding a pencil in a mature writin...