Frequently Asked Questions

Why Does HWT work so effectively?

• Multi-sensory- using playdough, wooden shapes, sand tray, music and actions
• Providing many opportunities for sensory feedback-
• chalk, wet sponge, dry cloth
• Doesn't require fine motor skills initially
• Step-by-step and repeated activities
• Fun activities for everyone to enjoy
• Visual perception problems addressed
• Begins with capital letters, which are easier to form, are the same height, all start at the top, are easy to recognise and identify
• Helps children with Down syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Cerebral Palsy and low vision

Why do you start with capitals when teaching letter formation?

It just makes sense! From a developmental perspective some letters are more difficult than others. Capital letters are much easier to form than lower case letters, and here are some of the reasons:

• All capital letters are the same height.
• All capital letters start at the same place - the top!
  QWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM
  
• All capital letters occupy the same vertical space.
• All capital letters are easy to recognize and identify.

Consider the lower case letters a b d g p q. They all look very similar, and they all start at different places. Some go above the midline, some go below the baseline; and they are easily reversed because of their similar appearance. Now, consider the same letters as capital letters: A B D G P Q. They all start at the top! They have very distinct formations, with no two letters being easily confused.

Capitals are big, bold and familiar!

Consider the child's world in our community. Children see very important capital letters that they learn to recognize and identify at a very early age. For example: STOP, EXIT, DANGER, H (hospital), SLOW, BEWARE OF DOG. At home or in school, children need to know their capitals before they start to keyboard.

Handwriting Without Tears teaches the capital letters in a developmental sequence, in order of difficulty. The harder ones are those that have diagonal lines, are reversible, or change direction during a stroke. When taught in this sequence, children learn to master skills and build on what they have learned. The result is beautiful letter formation.

We introduce lowercase letters halfway through kindergarten when students are developmentally ready for the task. By this time, the hands-on teaching of capitals and numbers, combined with the development of motor skills, has prepared the children for lowercase success.

Some children start Year One writing their name with a capital first followed by lowercase letters. Teachers should recognize the writing demands of lowercase letters as well as children??s desire to learn to write their names in title case. For the children using title case, the teacher should ensure they are using the correct starting place for each letter in their name, and understand letter size and placement. Otherwise, they will be practicing poor handwriting habits that will have to be broken in the future. We recommend using capitals exclusively for writing names in preschool.

By the end of Year Two, children should be quite comfortable writing in both lower and upper case. 

Why is the grip so important?

Teaching Grip
By Tania Ferrandino OTR/L

If you observe children writing, you will notice a wide variety of pencil grips, many of them awkward. Children may hold the pencil with too many fingers or place their thumbs on top of fingers, or their fingers on top of thumbs. Some of these grips cause fatigue, cramping, and even pain, making writing difficult. This problem can be prevented by giving children early activities and instruction to develop efficient, comfortable pencil grips. The foundation starts with general upper body strength and fine motor skill activities.

Babies in high chairs naturally develop fine motor skills by picking up finger foods such as raisins. Active play on monkey bars and outside games encourage upper body strength and large motor skills. Toys that require children to use their hands to pull apart, put together, and snap help develop eye-hand coordination and strength.

Children are ready to be taught how to hold the crayon as soon as they want to scribble and color with it, not throw it or eat it! Start with crayons rather than pencils and show children how to position their fingers properly. Start with small bits of crayon because children naturally pick up the pieces correctly, just like they pick up raisins. Children eagerly manipulate the crayon to change colors. For children??s small hands, broken crayons are best. Compare the size of a child??s hand to yours. Have you ever used a big, heavy novelty pen or a fat primary pencil? They??re awkward and heavy. It??s the same for children. Writing tools should suit the child??s hand size.

 

Adult role modeling is as important as the instrument. The adult should use a correct grip and gently help children to do the same, patiently helping them place their fingers correctly.

The optimal pencil grip is called a tripod grip: The thumb, index and middle fingers support the pencil; and the last two fingers are bent into the palm. An alternative hold is the quadrapod grip: The thumb, index, middle and ring fingers hold the pencil; and the little finger is bent into the palm. With both the tripod and quadrapod grip, the fingers are able to move, which is the basic function crucial to handwriting development.

Children love to please teachers and parents. If teachers and parents demonstrate and reinforce appropriate grip, then students will actively try to master it. Here are a few helpful tips for your Preschool or Year One students.

Pre-K Classroom
Have your students practice picking up the  broken crayon. Have them practice flipping from one end to the next. As children colour in, observe their grips. Don't be afraid to get involved, bend their thumbs and reposition their fingers until the appropriate grip is achieved.

• Hold On...You Have to Teach Grip

Kindergarten Classroom
Pencils generally are introduced in kindergarten. Use golf size pencils to teach and reinforce grip; they are in correct proportion to the child's hand. Teachers can still sing the "Crayon Song" from the Get Set For School music CD by changing the word "crayon" to "pencil." Encourage children to demonstrate their grip for you. Ask them if they can see a 'tunnel' while observing their grip. You should see a hole or tunnel between their thumb and index finger. This analogy helps children visualize and reinforce current habits while promoting the appropriate grip.

Try these exercises to help students and other children with grip:

Keep the little finger and ring finger in the palm.
Have children hold a small sponge or penny in the palm with the little finger and ring finger. This keeps those fingers out of the way while the thumb, index, and middle fingers hold the pencil.

 

Use the rubber band trick.
Loop two rubber bands together. Place one around the wrist and the other around the pencil. This helps the pencil slant naturally in the child??s hand.

Good habits begun in the early years will last a lifetime. Here??s how you can help:

• Provide children with toys and activities to develop their upper body strength and fine motor skills.
• Observe their readiness when they are interested in scribbling with a crayon and demonstrate good grip.
• Provide the appropriate sized tools: broken crayons

Are There Any Strategies To Prevent the "b and d" Confusion?

Everyone knows the difficulty that children have with b and d. Well, not the HWT children! HWT teaches lower case letters in groups of similar strokes. The lower case letter "d" is taught early on with the group of "Magic c" letters. The letter "d" begins with a "c" stroke. When the child masters the "c" stroke, four other letters are immediately learned (c a d g o).

HWT saves "b" until the "diver letters" are taught. The letters in this group have the "dive down, come up, swim over" stroke. Children learn this stroke and they master six letters, "b" being one of them (p r n m h b).

Teaching b and d separately, in their respective groups, helps children master the formation of these letters. This eliminates confusion and letter reversal.

If a child has not had the luxury of being taught with the HWT techniques, you may want to approach b and d using another strategy. For some reason, most children do not reverse the letter "h". Use your phonetic creativity and ask your children to think of "h for honey". Guide them in forming the letter h and say, "Let's turn it into a "honey bee!" Form the "h", pulling the last stroke around to form a "b" ( b for "bee"). Having the visual reminder of the formation of "h" can help them remember the directionality of "b".

Why the use of double lines around the lowercase letters?

The HWT double line paper provides many benefits:

So many lines, so many styles
Inevitably, children in elementary school will be bombarded by different styles of paper: no lines, single lines, double lines, dotted lines, solid lines, colored lines, triple lines, quadruple lines. Typically, there are 6 to 10 different paper styles in use per classroom in all curricula.

Learning to place letters
To survive let alone succeed in this environment, children must learn correct placement and positioning of letters. The HWT double lines do exactly that! They help children adapt their placement skills to all forms of paper. The "Molly" case study in the brochure demonstrates this concept.

Start with two
Starting with two lines is the easiest way for children to understand how to write tall, small, and descending letters. You will notice on the back of the brochure that we have given formal names to lines and spaces. It is our hope that this clarification will help you, teachers, OTs, and students to use and explain double lines easily. Using consistent names for the spaces and lines during teacher demonstrations on double lined paper helps solidify placement skills for children. Small letters fit exactly in the middle space. Tall letters fit in the middle space and go up to the top space. Descending letters fit in the middle space and go down to the bottom space.

Instruction and practice
Instruction and practice using the HWT double lines develop an innate sense of where letters fit. Thus, children intuitively learn to place their letters correctly on lines. Additionally, they learn the skills of pencil control, start-and-stop in letter formation, and visual memory of correct letter placement on the lines. These placement skills transition to any style of paper.

Demonstrate
When introducing new paper styles, teachers need to demonstrate how to place letters correctly to help children catch on quickly.

Where do we start?

If your child cannot write  at all, not very much, or can only do hand-over-hand, then begin at Level 0

If your child can write but not with confidence then begin with Level 1

If your child just needs practice with style, shape, speed and consistency of style, and writing words then begin with Level 2

If your child needs to learn to write sentences with speed and fluency then begin with Level 3.

If your child needs to learn cursive, then begin with Level 4

My child/student is now a teenager with terrible handwriting that is barely legible. What can I do?

 

To help you make a better informed decision I suggest you do some research into a condition known as 'dysgraphia'. This is an inability to form letters.

If you have your child formally assessed by a Speld tutor or educational psychologist, he can qualify for a writer to assist him for all his exams.

I also suggest you take him to an educational Occupational Therapist who can assist him with his fine motor skills.

The HWTears programme has exercise books and notepaper that has very narrow lines that form as a guide for the body of the letters.  People with dyslexia and other handwriting difficulties very much appreciate this close support and can see the black lines easier than the faint blue. They say the blue lines tend to swirl around in their vision.

People with dysgraphia also prefer to write cursive style writing- the linked writing because they do not have to think where to begin each letter, but rather one letter flows easily to the next.

This information will help you decide with him where to go from here. 

Where his preference is still to print, then the 'Printing Power' and 'Can-Do Print' books would be appropriate.

Where his willingness to try Cursive, then the Cursive books will teach him how to do this.  Initially it will be slow, but his speed will improve.

Using HWTears lined books, checking his pencil grip, forming of the letters, his posture and type of pen/pencil will help.

 

A website with a great deal of information is www.ldonline.org.

 

Teach him word processing on a computer. Your school can apply through the Assistive Technology Grant for a computer. The Principal or Learning Support Centre at your local school will know how to help you.

Why is teaching handwriting so important?  http://www.ldonline.org/spearswerling/10521

Some great ideas for sensory integration and fun activities for many children in your school. http://www.ldonline.org/article/6206

 

Shipping and Handling

Orders are processed within 3 days of the payment being received.  Schools receive the order and make payment by the 20th of the calendar month as per usual business practice.

Your order is sent via Courier and requires a delivery address, not a P O Box address. 

The shipping fee is calculated by the website.  You will find that the more you order, the cheaper the shipping becomes.