As an Inclusion Leader (and occupational therapist) I get a lot of questions about handwriting. My first response is often, is your lesson about handwriting or something different? Often, the response is ‘something different’.
I remember spending hours at school developing a beautiful cursive handwriting style, and now I spend my entire time using technology, unless I am writing a quick post it or a to do list. I know that there is an expectation around handwriting, and I am not disputing this (well, not in this blog!). I am really referring to our SEN learners who spend so long writing and rubbing out, that they don't actually get to grips with the intended learning. So, I want to share some top tips with you all.
- Get an understanding of the stages of pencil grasp development. This will help to guide you when you are working with young children, or children who have not developed good grip yet. This is a good resource. http://www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/developmental-pencil-grips.htm
- I saw Carol Allen present at a conference a few weeks ago, and she shared an excellent tip, which I will know share with you. If you have an interest in SEN, I urge you to google her or find an event where she is speaking. She asked us to think of how we felt when we saw this picture.
If you are anything like me, this would keep me occupied for at least half an hour, testing all the pens, often buying at least three! She challenged us to offer the same to the children that we work with. Set up a pen amnesty box in your staffroom and ask all staff to go through draws at home and donate pens that they don't need. The next time you are sent a ‘struggling writer’ open the box, and with a lovely notebook let them start doodling. Create a good and bad pile as they go through. Then go through the good ones again, repeating the process until finally they come to their most perfect pen, and this is the one they get to use in class. As a side note, if you don’t want the children using bright pink,then make sure you take these out of the box before you start!
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