In this November 2023 blog we have three of our district Occupational Therapists as guest authors!
The digital age has made many things obsolete or something considered more of an art form. For many, they may think of handwriting and printing as one of those things, but everything we know about developing printing and handwriting skills tells us that there are great advantages to numerous other skills when we can learn to physically write effectively and efficiently.
Pentucket has been using the program Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) for several years. This direct instruction program provides teachers with scaffolded instructions that allow educators to differentiate lessons for various learning styles. Multisensory strategies to reach every learner are integrated in every lesson and provide explicit techniques to teach the proper form of writing letters. Our students use white boards to practice and then they use the grade level corresponding practice books that are specifically setup with guiding prompts, precisely spaced lines and multiple opportunities to practice. The student workbooks feature child friendly language and a clean, simple, and intuitive approach that invites personalization and fosters handwriting success. Every page has large step by step models that show students how to sequence the letters. Double lines and line generalization activities promote legible writing that will transfer to success on all paper styles.
The Handwriting Without Tears uses a wide range of thoughtful and purposefully created manipulatives to engage multiple modalities while bringing learning to life. The HWT’s hands-on manipulatives are proven to stimulate and strengthen visual, tactile, kinesthetic, and auditory learning styles, while teaching children to build and sequence their letters prior to writing on paper.
Teachers are using the Interactive Digital Teaching Tool (IDTT) which includes pre-loaded lesson plans which include a variety of step by step lessons, songs/movement, interactive tools for the students to practice as a class. Teachers also have the ability to assign digital letter formations, teaching videos, and fun animations that the students can access from home. PRSD kindergarten and 1st grade students can access their student HWT digital app. They just need to log into their PRSD google account and click on the HWT icon
At the earliest phases in our PreK classes, the students learn about Mat Man which helps them learn readiness skills, including size recognition, placement, and sequence skills all through a multi-modal process. Our Kindergarten students and 1st graders continue on with daily lessons on letter formation which supplement our sentence writing components in Wit and Wisdom.
Most students do not learn to write intuitively and require direct instruction with scaffolded opportunities to practice. Like learning to read, some students need just a little bit of instruction and practice, while others will need much more, with tracing and spacing aides to help them form the letters correctly as they move beyond individual letter formation and into full word and sentence creation.
The support from our Occupational Therapists
The district Occupational Therapists (OTs) have been strong advocates for a consistent Tier 1 classroom handwriting program. They are well versed and trained in the methodologies that Handwriting Without Tears is based on and are able to provide some initial direct instruction to our PreK and kindergarten students, side by side with the classroom teachers. They will also provide more intensive initial intervention for students who may need that support, then utilize the same language and techniques for students who require more specialized instruction through an IEP.
Grapho-Motor Skills in development
There are many variabilities in people’s handwriting and this can be explained by the multiple aspects of handwriting. Many experts will categorize these aspects as: motor, visual perceptual, executive functioning, and sensory. The Essential Toolbox for OTs provides this visual to demonstrate how the different aspects are connected.
Developmental Norm Visuals
Structural Hand Development
As a child develops, they hit various milestones that help them to function more independently. These milestones are a guide for us to understand the developmental stages. While keeping in mind that individuals develop at different rates.
While the rates vary, we focus on function and how each individual completes activities. In the image on the right, you will see the developmental stages of the hand. Some individuals will reach the marks right on time while others continue to take time to develop. We use this data to help support the various stages of grasp development. Hand dominance develops by the age of 4-6 years old.
Grasp Development
The image on the left shows the different levels of grasp development. A child’s grasp will start to develop while playing with different objects and toys. Exploring through play is very important for grasp development, it will help increase their hand manipulation skills and strengthen their hand muscles. Students are observed for having a functional or non-functional grasp. A quadrupod and tripod grasps are considered to be functional grasps. Some grasps are more unique but still provide functional fluidity and control while writing. A non-functional grasp puts wear and tear on the joints and causes increased fatigue due to the inefficiency of the grasp.
Pre-Writing Designs
Pre-writing designs are simple shapes that we learn before writing letters. Most of these designs make up our letters of the alphabet. The diagonal lines are in “A” and the vertical lines make up “H”. The HWT curriculum follows this developmental chart when introducing the letters in a certain order. It is important to establish these shapes before introducing letter formation. If the student is able to complete these designs then it demonstrates that they are able to have the motor control to start forming letters.
Connections to the science of reading
Beyond letter formation, numerous research studies have proven how important handwriting is to the development of orthography (spelling) and sentence writing. While students may often use keyboards and digital tools, most writing at the younger grades is done in conjunction with learning to read, spell and write. The Grapheme and Phoneme connections are well documented and serve in a reciprocal manner for students learning early decoding skills. Learning Without Tears, the parent company of Handwriting Without Tears, recently published a guide on this very alignment.
How can I help at home?
One of the best ways that parents can help their children develop handwriting skills is through play. When children are completing preferred, play-based activities, they are more motivated to participate and persevere. Handwriting practice at home can integrate the components that are necessary for handwriting, such as hand strength, fine motor precision, and letter formation, without requiring pencil to paper practice. Students can practice forming letters in multisensory formats, such as in flour, in sand, or with Play-doh. They can complete large gross motor tasks that develop arm and hand strength, such as wall push-ups or wheelbarrow walks built into an obstacle course. Playing with fine motor manipulatives, such as Lego or small blocks, is also a good way to develop skills.
Common Misconceptions
As school based occupational therapists we cannot emphasize enough how important direct handwriting teaching is for children. Children need direct instruction from the beginning how to form each letter with the correct start point, sequence, and stroke directionality. Not given worksheets to trace and left to figure it out on their own as this just leads to them piecing letters together with no instruction in proper sequence or stroke direction. Repeated errors in formation only further reinforce reversals and leads to more difficulty with repairing them down the road.
OT’s are asked often, “Why are my kindergarteners or first grade students reversing b and d’s?”. It is important to understand that it is common for young children such as preschoolers and kindergartners to reverse some letters, and it can even be a normal part of development. However, by age seven and at the latest age 8, children should be infrequently or not reversing letters at all. If they are doing it frequently and with little success despite remediation, it is important to consider if there are other issues that need to be addressed first such as, a visual processing problem, dyspraxia, dysgraphia or dyslexia may be present, impacting letter confusion in written work or reading.
If your child or student is having trouble with b & d and other letter reversals there are many ways of helping them. Below are some multi-sensory activities that work on letter recognition as well as formation using visual cues, verbal cues (auditory cues), and kinesthetic input to practice lower case b and lower case d in isolation as well as together.
Ensure a child first has solid left and right discrimination on themselves, others, and in space. Incorporate visual spatial relations with movement. Understand that spatial awareness impacts handwriting in many ways. Letter reversals are just one aspect.
Teach letters in groups. For example, teach the letter that has similar stroke patterns. The Handwriting without Tears program does this. For example, they call the first group the “magic ‘c’ letters” this includes: ‘c’, ‘a’, ‘d’, ‘g’, ‘o’, and ‘q’. They all begin with a letter ‘c’ stroke. Then they have a group called the “diver letters” and this group includes: ‘b’, ‘h’, ‘r’, ‘n’, ‘m’, and ‘p’. They all begin with a line down and then swim up and over strokes. Using this approach coupled with the visuals provided helps a child to build a better mental image of some commonly reversed letters.
Use your finger and form the letter on a child’s back. Have the child guess what letter it is. Follow with having the child air write the letter. End with the child writing the letter on paper. You can place a textured material under the paper such as sandpaper, plastic canvas, window screen material, etc.
Create textured letter cards for letters. Have your child finger trace over the letter forming with correct sequence and directionality. Have them try to do so with their eyes closed and then their eyes open. This builds the motor plan and muscle memory of each letter for the child.
Develop consistent use of left and right direction using a variety of media and intervention activities.
If a child reverses multiple letters such as: b/d, m/w, p/q, u/n then be sure to address one discrimination at a time. Be sure one set is solid before moving to the next. Note: Be sure to over-teach one letter in each set before addressing the next letter in the set.
Use multisensory materials to teach letter formations such as,
Play dough
Shaving cream
Wikki sticks
Puffy paint
Hair gel
Glitter glue
Rice
Sand
Yarn.
Be sure the child associates letter forms with the actual letter name so as they form the letter have them state the letter name.
As a district we are grateful for the work our classrooms teachers do to collaborate with the OT's to ensure there is high quality and evidence based handwriting instruction being provided to all of our students. Practices and structured guidance is always of the approach. When students do demonstrate some difficulty, it is made much easier for the OTs to help problem solve when when the classroom instruction is supportive of any intervention.
References
Pre-Writing Shapes. (2021). The Kids First Blog . Retrieved November 2023, from
Skeletal Age. (2020). Radiology Key . Retrieved November 2023, from
Typical Pencil Grasp Development for Writing (2021). Typical Pencil Grasp Development for Writing. Retrieved November 2023, from
Cindy Carroll MS, OTR/L
Pentucket Regional School District
Melissa Gilbert MS, OTR/L
Pentucket Regional School District
Alyx Warner MS, OTR/L
Pentucket Regional School District
Brent Conway
Assistant Superintendent
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