Ready Set Grow Occupational Therapy offers:
1. Foundational Developmental Pre-Reading and Pre-Writing Readiness sessions in preparation for Preschool and Kindergarten using the Handwriting Without Tears ® (HWT) curriculum
Sessions emphasize on:
- Body Awareness
- Use of Age Appropriate Developmental Grasp Patterns required for Writing and Coloring
- Pre-Drawing, Counting, and Matching Skills
- Top, Middle, Bottom, Left/Right Directionality Concepts
- Ability to recognize, identify, and label basic colors, shapes, uppercase (capital) letters A-Z using auditory (music), visual, and tactile input
2. Handwriting Sessions for Print and Cursive (Script) Writing for Children that are in Kindergarten through 5th Grade (also using the Handwriting Without Tears ® curriculum)
Sessions emphasize on:
- Review of Foundational Pre-Writing and Pre-Reading Skills
- Use of Age Appropriate Developmental Grasp Patterns required for Writing
- Posture and Body Mechanics
- Self-Correction Techniques for common Handwriting Errors such as: Number and Letter Reversal Writing
- Positioning of paper and use of “Non-Dominant Hand” to Stabilize paper
- Accurate Lowercase and Uppercase Letter Formation and Orientation
- Directionality and Sizing of Letters
- On the Line Placement-ability to write on the line using a variety of paper
- Use of Sentence Conventions (i.e., beginning capital letter, appropriate spacing between words/letters, and ending punctuation)
- Speed and Neatness
- Type of Paper Used
- Near-Far Copying Skills
- Memory Recall
Wooden pieces from Handwriting Without Tears ® (HWT) program provide children with visual and tactile input making it easy for them to understand concepts such as “Big Lines” vs “Little Lines”, “Big Curves” vs “Little Curves”, “Top” vs “Bottom”
Use of Play-Dough to make Big Lines and Little Lines requires ideation (having an idea) and visual-motor integration skills (rolling of the playdough is a motoric act that requires us to use our visual system to match what we are seeing.
Kinesthetic feedback from playdough, chalk, or a wet sponge makes the learning of foundational concepts fun and easier to recall!
Finally, the child is ready to write the letter independently and successfully!
Click Here for: Handwriting Success: Before and After Pictures & Videos
