Alex told me: “You do it. I can’t.”

That pretty much sums up Alex’s portion of the review for the Handwriting Without Tears Wet-Dry-Try app. $4.99

I was so excited to have the opportunity to review this app. I have never used a formal handwriting program and I have heard such great things about this handwriting style. I was thinking this is a great Montessori app that Alex can do to get started on forming his letters.

But it’s so sensitive that he got frustrated and gave up.

Even I got frustrated and told my husband that it was futile to try to make Alex practice more than 3 letters on the app because he and I both were almost to the point of tears.

The narrator demonstrates the letter with a piece of chalk and then the child is supposed to erase the chalk and then wipe it with a wet rag and then write it again himself with chalk.

Sounds fun!

If the child strays from the line even the slightest bit, the narrator instructs him to start over. We were ready to throw the iPad across the room, but it’s an expensive toy to replace over one app.

Here is the rationale behind the sensitivity from the Handwriting Without Tears website:

TRACING AND APP SENSITIVITY

At HWT, we believe in always giving a correct model for a child to copy. Students should not copy from their own writing, because they end up copying from their copy, and then copying from that copy, and so on. Their writing can get worse because they don’t have a good model. Here are a few answers to questions you might have about the sensitivity of the Wet-Dry-Try App:

1)     Why is the app so sensitive?

After testing, we landed on the degree of sensitivity that is most helpful for preparing children to write well. It is a little technical, but here is the reasoning behind our decision:

• What makes the mark?

When your finger touches the tablet and engages the writing instrument, the app is tracking a center point (imagine a pencil point). The mark left by the sponge, towel, and chalk is much wider than the center point of the mark.

• Why did it cause a mistake when my “dry” mark was clearly on top of the “wet” mark?

This is the part that makes the teaching tricky. We want to help children with the correct sequence of strokes, but also with steadiness and neatness. The child’s “wet mark” can be wider than the original chalk mark by a little bit and still be “correct.” However, the app is set up to encourage the child the travel on the original chalk mark, not the “wet mark.” Each step off of the original chalk mark could end up further and further away from the correct model, and result in poor formation habits.

As long as the center point of your tool (sponge, towel, chalk) is traveling on the original chalk mark then it is correct. If a student goes too far off three times in a row, Marcy will demonstrate the correct spot again to re-establish it in the child’s perspective.

• Why did it cause a mistake when I was doing the little curves of the B?

Each stroke has to be completed all the way to the frame of the chalkboard (you’ll hear a hollow ding once you have finished the stroke) to make sure there is no space between strokes. Depending on how the child has made the first stroke, sometimes it will appear he or she has gone far enough but may actually not be tracing the original chalk mark. This is similar to the student copying from their copy rather than copying the original well.

All that “technical stuff” is well and good, but if it’s so frustrating that my child doesn’t want to continue, then that’s not success in my book. I’ve never placed much emphasis on perfect handwriting. The app is recommended for ages 4+ and Alex is only almost 3.

Alex was so good to keep trying the letters in the app for Mama. He was so confused that his efforts weren’t good enough. He traced A and B over and over again…and then I looked at the settings to see if I could change the sensitivity. Nope. He’s a busy boy and his fine motor skills do need work, but he wasn’t interested after a few minutes of being told he was wrong, wrong, try again, sorry.

I noticed they have what they term “winning order” which is learning letters in their company’s approved easiest order. It makes sense to write the letters in order their way. I wish the app had lowercase letters too.

We tried F and E. More frustration. Then Alex was done.

A couple days later, Tori came and showed me the app and told me she loves it! She’s 6 years old. We don’t even do manuscript handwriting with her much anymore. She’s beginning cursive already and her handwriting is gorgeous.

She was able to maneuver the chalk, sponge, and wipe on the app rather well because she is such a perfectionist. But she still veered off a bit here and there. And that narrator told her so. Tori didn’t get too frustrated, but she did ask me if she wasn’t doing it right and I could see her confusion. That B is the toughest letter on the app, I think!

The idea is awesome, but I wish they gave the option of setting the sensitivity levels, even with all their research saying their way is best. I do respect the research. I wish they included lowercase letters too. Perhaps older preschoolers or even school-age kids would be able to succeed with this handwriting app with less frustration. This app wasn’t right for my almost 3 year old son. Tori liked it, but she’s a little beyond needing to practice handwriting.