Handwriting Resources

Pre-Writing Skills 

Before we teach students to write letters, they need to have their basic pre-writing lines and shapes

Setting Students Up For Handwriting Success

• Posture: A student's feet should be flat on the floor or on another support under their desk, and their desktop should be level with their elbows when bent

• Paper Placement: A student's paper should be slanted to the opposite direction from their writing hand to promote a natural arc of the forearm when writing. This allows students to write more quickly because their arm moves naturally with the paper. 

• Pencil Grasp: As seen on the fine motor resources page, there are many different functional and appropriate grasps for students. It is important to teach and encourage functional grasps during the early writing stages as it is harder to change when a child gets older. 

  • The pencil flip trick can be useful for encouraging functional grasp- have the student place their pencil with top pointing away from them on the table and pinch the pencil where the point meets the wood, then have student hold the eraser with their other hand and turn the pencil around. Now the student is using a functional grasp!

  • Using a smaller golf sized pencils and short/broken crayons are the most appropriate for little hands because they elicit using their finger tips to hold the writing tool 

  • Some grips may appear awkward, however if the student is comfortable and it doesn't impact speed or legibility, just let it go

• Writing "Rules": Make sure students understand where their letters start, follow the letter formation sequence accurately, and know to "bump" the bottom line when writing their letters 

• Use Common Language: When teaching letter lines and parts, make sure you are using common language in your class

  • For example- big line, little line, big curve, little curve

    • Use different colors to visualize different strokes

  • You do not have to use the Handwriting without Tears names, but you do need to be consistent!

  • Review spatial concepts- top, bottom, left, right, above, below, next to, middle

• Steps in Teaching Letters:

  • Step One: Direct Instruction- explicitly teaching and demonstrating the steps for forming the letter, students are watching and listening to instruction

  • Step Two: Guided Practice- multi-sensory strategies to trace and copy letter formation, then copying letters on their own page, all with guided step-by-step verbal modeling of the steps to create the letter and supervision 

  • Step Three: Independent Practice- only when a student can write unassisted, without a demonstration or model

    • Student is ready when...

      • They can write their name correctly

      • They can write their letters and numbers from memory

      • They can write dictated words (with spelling assistance)

Writing Paper

Using an adapted or different writing paper may lead to increased writing success for your student(s)

If you would like a physical copy of a certain type of paper, feel free to reach out to the OT/PT in your building