Hi,
Does anybody here use Handwriting without tears? It looks sensible to me, without all the loop de loops of regular handwriting and the “Q” actually looks like a “Q” instead of a “2”.
—des
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
The occupational therapists generally use this program to teach and practice handwriting. It is to printing and handwriting what O-G is to reading instruction. There are a few other things out there that can also help, color coded paper, etc.
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
well i am glad i checked this board, my sons teacher wants me to work with my son on his handwritting and i was just reading about the programs too. i think i will give it a try. I will let you all know what i think.
djl
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
I started using HWT with my six year old son. He has his letter formation all off, although no other LD signs. I have told him to start at the top until I am blue in the face. The exercises in HWT though did it—he has to draw a straight line and then jump back to the starting position to learn what letter to write!! He loves it and he is finally forming his letters correctly.
Too bad I didn’t know about this program when my LD 10 year old was 6!
It also has clever exercises teaching right and left.
I am very impressed and would recommend it for any child for whom handwriting isn’t clicking easily.
Beth
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
I went ahead and got the program. It looks great. I think they should use it with NT kids. It looks like quite a sensible way to write.
—des
Love HWWT
I am an OT who works in the school system. I’ve used this program for five years and have not worked with a single student that did not have success. I taught my own daughter who is ADHD/LD to write in cursive using the HWWT program - I love it. Thank goodness for Jan Olsen the OT who developed the program after her own son had diifficulty learning to write. She deserves an award. :D
HWT
It’s a great program. I learned about it last year from the OT of my student who had sensory integration issues. It has lots of “tricks” and they really work well. I can’t recommend it enough!
Handwriting without tears
Hi Everyone,
I have been so busy with tutoring and am exhausted when I finally return home at 6:00 in the evening. Wish the schools would start teaching reading, would make my job easier. I am thinking about using HWT with a few high school students. I was on their site and I don’t know what products to buy. Any suggestions? Should I buy everything as if he was a six year old? :?: :?:
HWT for hs students
Shay,
I would be reluctant to use the HWT products for High school age students as they look as though they are for younger students. You can use the principles and make your own lined paper in MS Word which appears more age appropriate.
More importantly, I want to ask what skill are you trying to teach? Is it cursive writing? If so, the life skill is to be able to read cursive and sign your name. Most teachers allow students to print, write cursive or use word processing to complete written work. The 21st century skill especially for a student who is in highschool is to know how to touch type or use voice recognition.
Please let us know what your goals are for this student in terms of written output.
Karen
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
I’m with KTJ on this. She has a lot of stuff really aimed at preschoolers. It would be nice if she came out with stuff for a little older kids. For example there is a puppet, large wooden letter shapes,etc. great for very young kids. The books have cute little pictures of heliocopters making the letters for example. Still the basic principles would be applicable. I would get the teacher’s guide for teaching cursive and the one for printing. You might get one copy of each of the books (Printing Power and Cursive Success)— though I don’t think they are entirely necessary— are a bit easier to follow re: sequentially, imo, than the teacher’s guide and some of her lined paper. Her paper is different in that it has two lines, and there is a wider lined one for less skilled and or younger writers and a narrow line one.
Otherwise they look normal and actually look less juvenile than regular
wider lined paper.
I also think a HS kid should have a choice as to what they want to learn, as I don’t think a kid who hasn’t figured out some way of writing at this stage will ever find handwriting being their first choice in communicating in writing. Still I do think it is a valid thing to teach, as there are times when you just can’t use a computer, tape recorder, etc.
(If it’s just to sign their name— then I’d just teach the letters in their name.)
—des
Shay
I agree. I would just buy the teacher’s manuals first and see if you could apply the principles there. Reading the manuals were very helpful for me. I then decided what products I need to order and what products I can make on my own. :lol:
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
Well the principles are quite applicable to HS kids. There are even stories on her pages of people wanting to remediate themselves as adults. I very much believe it would work.
BTW, the “wet dry try” thing is very cool. Not used in the cursive and I doubt HS kids would like it. But I have played around with it. It is a very strong and appealing multisensory approach.
I don’t think Shay has to be too cautious with this, as if it were an unknown quantity. I think it is terrific all the way around. It is also not an expensive
program. I think I bought 3 manuals (the first one HTW manual is not very necessary except for young kids— would be great for K classroom); two of the student workbooks; a bunch of paper and it was about $45. This is just a great priced set of materials imo.
—des
Handwriting without tears
The high school students that want to learn to write are considered dysgraphic. I have them in my reading class since their reading and spelling skills are also poor. I want to see if I can teach them how to write so that they don’t have as many accommodations. After all, they won’t have a computer all of the time. Many jobs now test writing skills before a job interview and don’t supply a computer or word processor. Also these students have a hard time typing as well. I think that I will buy the supplies and then change them for age appropriateness. I have to do something. :D
HWT
Shay,
Since their “reading and spelling skills are so poor” in addition to their keyboarding skills, they will be better served by improving their keyboarding skills. (See Richard Wandeman’s excellent article, “How computers change the writing process for people with learning disabilities” at his website www.ldresources.com)
Greater long term independence and success is possible through learning how to touch type/word process/identify and correct mispelled words using spell checkers, etc., etc. There are many appropriate methods but I’ve had greatest success using Diana Hanbury-King’s alphabetic approach in her manual “Keyboarding Skills” (available at EPS).
It’s all about independence - which skills will these dysgraphic kids with other LDs require for THEIR futures?
Handwriting without tears
I don’t think that you know me. I remediate their deficiencies: reading, writing and spelling and now I will also be remediating their handwriting skills as well. Remediating these skills will better serve these kids so that they can pass their state tests, receive a diploma and go to college if they so desire. I have beenremediating high school kids’ deficiencies for the past seven years with a great deal of success. I don’t accommodate, I remediate. I am not teaching mentally challenged kids just mostly kids suffering from dysteachia in the guise of learning disabled, so I am not teaching handwriting as a life skill per se, I’m teaching it so that they will have this skill so that they can take notes and write without a computer if they want to. I will let the computer science department work on their computer skills. :)
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
I definitely see KTJ’s argument here. I would like them to learn to at least print, but if you have x amount of time it might be better served doing something that will give them greater fluency. With palms and so on, I think handwriting is less required (if still useful). I doubt if the computer science department will be able to teach keyboarding as severely ld kids have a great deal of trouble with it. The common programs may not work well. I think these programs should work fine with kids who are not so disabled.
Still I think printing (or cursive) is definitely a useful life skill. Maybe not for notes as there are better ways to take notes for a severely ld kid, however, there are all sorts of occassions when the use of memos, etc. is not easily done by computer (at least with current technology).
In which case, I think HWT is an excellent approach. I think the recommended time spent on the program 15 minutes a day, with only 5 minutes of the student writing, is workable more so than maybe some other approaches.
BTW, I recently found out about keyboarding and why this is hard for dyslexic kids. This all explains why my nephew has used just about *any* excuse to not work on the typing programs. (It’s boring; it’s dumb; I don’t like the program; why type when we can just talk anyway; etc.)
—des
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
des,
I think I recall reading about the difficulty with keyboarding in Mel Levine’s “A Mind at a Time” book. I recall that he said that kids with rapid motor sequencing problems will have a tough time typing. I agree that there are just times it is necessary to be able to write semi-legibly.
Janis
Handwriting without tears
:roll: Boy this topic sure did take on a life of it’s own. I never said that the students that I were teaching were severely LD, they’re not. They are doing quite well with accommodations. Unfortunately, when they graduate from school and go out into the workforce, they won’t be accommodated because they can’t print or write. Also, I agree with Janis, some kids have a hard time with computer skills. We have a very good computer science department and most of our LD kids do take the different courses. In fact, they are just like other kids, better at computers than I am. Actually, we have very few severe LD kids in our high school of 1400 students, most are suffering from dysteachia. :(
HWT
Shay,
You are right, it has generated alot of discussion!! For me, it raises the remediation/accomodation issue. Sometimes I see teachers so focused on the remediation they lose sight of what’s best for the student. They forget about combining remediation with accomodations especially for students with significant LDs.
Doesn’t sound like you are one of those teachers!
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
Gosh, I only wish I knew ANY who knew how to remediate!
Janis
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
[quote=”Janis”]des,
I think I recall reading about the difficulty with keyboarding in Mel Levine’s “A Mind at a Time” book. I recall that he said that kids with rapid motor
Janis[/quote]
I didn’t read a “Mind at a Time”. Read some other places, maybe on interdys. It would be nice where I to know where I read different things then I could ah be more knowledgable sounding. (wink, wink)
—des
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
Oh yeah and just because someone is “better at computers than their teachers” doesn’t mean they might not have trouble with keyboarding. That’s my nephew, although sometimes he’s better at breaking computers!
Keyboarding no, but other stuff way way better. I think the typical way of teaching keyboarding is to throw the software at them, then they will learn it. It doesn’t always follow.
—des
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
Richard Wanderman’s article on “How Computers Help the Writing Process for People with Learning Disabilities” is awesome. It truly changed our lives. My daughter has been keyboarding since 2nd grade and now her handwriting is as good or better than most other 5th graders (thanks to public and private OT (HWT) for 2-1/2 years).
Problem is board copying. After 2-1/2 years of SI OT, she still cannot accurately copy from the board with any speed. Touch typing helps because she doesn’t have to keep looking up and down.
She prefers manuscript to cursive. In fact, she “just mentioned” to her OG tutor that she’s “forgotten” how to write in cursive. Yikes!
Accommodations without remediation are worthless. Hopefully, as the remediation takes effect, the accommodations will be fewer and fewer. That’s how it’s been in our case. BUT, back in 2nd grade, the keyboard made all the difference for a kid who was being teased b/c of messy handwriting.
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
Richard Wanderman’s article on “How Computers Help the Writing Process for People with Learning Disabilities” is awesome. It truly changed our lives. My daughter has been keyboarding since 2nd grade and now her handwriting is as good or better than most other 5th graders (thanks to public and private OT (HWT) for 2-1/2 years).
Problem is board copying. After 2-1/2 years of SI OT, she still cannot accurately copy from the board with any speed. Touch typing helps because she doesn’t have to keep looking up and down.
She prefers manuscript to cursive. In fact, she “just mentioned” to her OG tutor that she’s “forgotten” how to write in cursive. Yikes!
Accommodations without remediation are worthless. Hopefully, as the remediation takes effect, the accommodations will be fewer and fewer. That’s how it’s been in our case. BUT, back in 2nd grade, the keyboard made all the difference for a kid who was being teased b/c of messy handwriting.
Accomodation vs remediation.
I tried to push for accomodations for my child. The school’s answer was dumbing down the curriculum. They didn’t use the term accomodation and when I used, it they acted like I was talking in greek. They used the term modification (dumbing down).
So in the end he is mostly remediated and we don’t need the accomodations they couldn’t do anyway. We also don’t need the modifications that were mostly demoralizing for this bright child. I honestly think with younger children that have involved parents you should shoot for remediation first.
This often involves things that aren’t done in school such as SI OT, vision therapy, or interactive metronome. You have to treat the deficit and not just the symptoms. Handwriting without tears is great but all the HWT in the world would not have done it for my son without dealing directly with his visual motor deficit.
I don’t even mind that schools don’t do these things but it would be nice if they had a clue about them.
Re: Handwriting without tears-- comments?
I think that HWT does deal some directly with a visual motor deficit and that’s part of the beauty of it (I’d say especially the printing). The program was created by an OT who understands these things. I think the “wet/dry/try” is a very powerful sensory motor exercise. For those not familar with it, the teacher writes on a largish surface blackboard, the kid then wets it using a little sponge, and drys it a couple times and writes over it. You have a neat combo of a larger hand movement (then you normally get with handwriting), some very nice tactile/kinesthetic stimulation, direction (up, down, etc.) etc. And you end up with a practical skill.
I don’t see any reason that some of what Linda F says is mutually exclusive of say SI, auditory training ala Fastforword, etc. In fact, may compliment it nicely.
—des
My son has used HWT and was not frustrated like he was with other handwriting. We went straight to cursive since his print was so horrendous. He still has a problem or two but is so much better. I think it is a great program. Jan