OT Advice - Handwriting Hints These activities are designed specifically for improving the presentation of handwriting. By the last session, students are expected to incorporate all the aspects of legibility into handwriting when copying text. This provides sustainable alterations to their writing conditions. It is encouraged to be used daily in class during the program and after the program’s completion. Week 1: Colouring Activity & Pencil Grips Any suitable picture for colouring, the students pencil grasp is analysed and a variety of pencil grips and adaptions are trialled. Week 2: Tracing Activity Using colour changeable markers, a variety of lines and curved paths are drawn by the instructor and the students trace with the marker in order to change the colour of the paths. Finally, trace the path in lead pencil using pencil grips as required. To make this harder, have thin paths with frequent change of directions. Week 3: ‘Copy & Own Drawing’ Activity Prepare some simple picture of people, houses etc to copy onto paper. Use pencil grips as required. Week 4: Pencil Pressure • Using the paint & brushes, talk about pressing softly and forming thin lines versus pressing hard and forming thicker lines. • Have the pacers leads extended 10cm. Writing their name, try not to break the lead. • Write on carbon paper. See the difference between hard and soft pencil pressure. • Write with paper on top of a flannel. Excessive pencil pressure may tear the paper. • Put putty or playdough around the barrel of the pencil. Too tight a grip will produce deep finger marks in the dough. Week 5: Placing Words on Lines Prepare bumpy lined paper by using a ‘glitter glue’ along every second line of an A4 page. Allow to dry. Practice patterns and writing name on the lines. Week 6: Sizing Letters & Words The lined paper is coloured blue (sky) for the top line, green (grass) for the middle line and brown (dirt) for the bottom line. Use a variety of different sized lines. Group the ‘Tall’ or ‘Sky’ Letters together e.g. b d f h k l t. All capitals are considered ‘Sky’ letters. Repeat for the ‘Grass’ letters e.g. a c e i m n o r s u v w x z and ‘Dirt’ letters e.g. g j p q y. Week 8: Spacing on Paper Use enlarged graph paper when writing and leave a box ‘empty’ between words. Use dashes or squiggles between words for spacing. You can also use tiny stamps, finger spacing and paddlepop sticks that you can call “Spacing Buddies”. Week 9: Copying Sentences Practice copying sentences from the same page and from the board. Use modified paper and strategies throughout. Try the following additional strategies for copying text: 1.Enlarge print for better view. 2.Highlight or underline text to be copied. 3.Teach students to ‘chunk’ letters when copying, i.e. 2-3 letters at a time. 4.Use alternate colours for words to increase visual contrast and frame important information. Week 10: ‘Handwriting Olympics’ This final session will require the students to attempt to incorporate all the strategies used throughout the program. The students will copy a paragraph from the board and then make up their own sentence. An individual checklist for each child will be used to mark areas of alignment, letter size, spacing, pencil pressure and letter formation. All participants receive a sticker (or medal) for competing in the ‘Handwriting Olympics’.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:50:06 +0000
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