In 1977, Jan Olsen set out on a mission to help her son. Responding to John’s tears over handwriting in first grade, Jan used her occupational therapy training and background to develop strategies to facilitate his handwriting. John’s teacher noticed his progress and asked Jan to help other students in the class. Soon Jan became known in the area as the tutoring solution for handwriting, and her ideas became the basis for the first therapists’ guide, Handwriting Without Tears®.
Thirty years later, the HWT® product line has grown to include workbooks and teachers’ guides from preschool through fifth grade: hands-on materials, music, assessments, and more than 500 annual workshops to train educators throughout the world in the HWT teaching methods.
At Handwriting Without Tears, our mission is to make learning and teaching easy and fun by providing superior educational products, training, and promotional materials to educators and parents.
We are the leaders in providing easy-to-learn, easy-to-teach, developmentally appropriate, and inclusive materials to preschool and elementary students throughout the U.S. Last year, more than two million students learned to write successfully using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. The Get Set for School™ preschool program is used by thousands of public and private preschools to develop handwriting and other school readiness skills.
Meet Jan Olsen
Jan Z. Olsen, OTR
Occupational therapist Jan Z. Olsen is the founder and developer of the Handwriting Without Tears® program. The 2008 curriculum is the culmination of successes over the past 30 years, plus many new ideas from collaborations with teachers, occupational therapists, and administrators across the country. Understanding the challenges in the classroom and the gaps in educational offerings, Jan and her staff work to create materials and books that meet educators’ needs in a way that is fun and engaging, while developmentally appropriate and effective for all students.
Jan co-created the Get Set for School™ preschool program in 2003, with Emily Knapton, Occupational Therapist and Director of Product Development for Handwriting Without Tears. Get Set for School is an award-winning complete school readiness program that prepares young children for kindergarten using play-based, developmentally appropriate activities and materials. It won two of the most prestigious national education awards: The Children’s Curriculum Winner from the Association for Educational Publishers and The Teacher’s Choice Award from Learning Magazine.
Each year, Jan leads a team of certified presenters that delivers over 500 Handwriting Without Tears workshops to train teachers, therapists, administrators and parents to teach handwriting and school readiness skills. These dynamic presentations are widely regarded as the most inspiring and relevant professional development opportunities available to educators.
National media, including Newsweek, “CBS Evening News”, National Public Radio, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Enquirer, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times, Parents, and Parenting have tapped Jan’s expertise. She has been featured in trade magazines, such as OT Practice and OT Advance. Jan has presented at numerous conferences, including the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), International Dyslexia Association (IDA), and the National Autism Association. Many homeschooling resources have named Handwriting Without Tears the best handwriting curriculum for their families.
You will find more information on the parent website www.hwtears.com
