Handwriting SEN Parent Network Meeting 4 th December 2017 This - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Handwriting SEN Parent Network Meeting 4 th December 2017

This session will cover • The basics of handwriting development • What the curriculum expectations are in each Key Stage • What causes problems with handwriting? • Strategies and interventions to support handwriting difficulties Parent Network meeting guidelines: • This is a supportive forum and solution focused • Individual issues should be raised with your child’s class teacher. • Sharing of ideas and strategies is encouraged! You are all experts! • Suggestions for improvements or further training should be passed onto school staff. • Information about children should remain confidential – this is a safe space to share experiences.

Key terminology Gross motor skills: larger movements made with arms, legs feet and body. Balance, control and co-ordination are all essential to these movements. Fine Motor skills: The co-ordination of small muscles and movements, mainly in the hands and fingers. Hand-eye co-ordination is an important part of this.

Pencil grip development

Print to cursive • Print is where letters are not joined • Cursive is where the letters are joined. • The ‘links’ in between letters are called ‘ascenders’ (a whoosh up!) and ‘ descenders ’ (a flick down and up to join the next letter)

Dysgraphia Children who show significant difficulties with handwriting may be exhibiting signs of a condition called dysgraphia. Dysgraphia affects a child’s ability to write with a pen, pencil or crayon. It also affects other tasks that require fine motor skills such as using scissors or buttoning a short. Dysgraphia often overlaps with other learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD, but not always.

Signs of Dysgraphia • Awkward pencil grip and body position • Illegible handwriting and letters of a different size • Unfinished words or sentences • Inability to write for very long • Avoidance of drawing or writing activities • Difficulty organising ideas on paper

But these could describe many primary school children … so what is ‘expected’ development?

What is expected in each year? Year 1 • Sit correctly at a table holding pencil comfortably • Begin to form lower-case letters • Form capital letters • Form digits 0-9

Year 2 • Form lower-case letters of correct size • Start using diagonal and horizontal strokes to join letters • Write capital letters and digits of the correct size • Use space in between words

Year 3 and 4 • Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of handwriting

Year 5 and 6 • Be able to write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed • Choosing when it is appropriate to join certain letters • Choosing the most appropriate writing implement for the task • Stamina in writing and consistent quality.

Common problems and strategies to help Incorrect pencil grip Develop muscles around the arm and shoulder – as these improve the control will improve in the hand, wrist and fingers. To develop arm and shoulder muscles • Dough Gym • Arm wrestles • Pushing/ lifting objects • Catching games • Bunny hops, wheelbarrow races, playing with hoops etc To develop pincer grip and hand muscles • Using pencil grippers • Squeezy stress balls • Peg boards • Beading and threading activities • Pick up sticks game • Playing with droppers • Putting clothes pegs on a board/ piece of string • Using jumbo tweezers or chopsticks to put items in a bowl • ‘Operation’ game

Common problems and strategies to help Spacing and sizing Children often struggle with either huge or tiny letters, big gaps in between letters or not enough space in between words. Strategies to help Handwriting lined sheets Put finger in between words to space out words on the page.

Common problems and strategies to help Letter or number reversals Writing letters and numbers backwards isn’t something to be overly concerned about in children in infant school. If the problem persists into junior school, the child may display dyslexia tendencies and additional strategies would be used to assess and support the child. Generally, writing letters and number the right way round simply takes practice. Strategies to support Practice, practice, practice! Trace over letters or numbers (there are loads of sheets on the internet) Multi-sensory methods: Try writing letters and numbers in other forms such as sand, flour, paint etc

Common problems and strategies to help Messy or illegible writing Messy handwriting is very common in children (and adults!) Little or no spaces between words, or a combination of cursive and printed letters are common issues. Strategies to help • ‘Editing’ work – self correction of mistakes – at St Mark’s children use a purple pen to correct their work. • Practice timed writing – it could be copying out a short passage from a book. Repeat the task a few times over a few days and compare the quality of presentation.

Interventions Theodorescu Handwriting Pack (Write from the Start) Write from the Start offers a radically different approach that will guide a child through the various stages of perceptual and fine motor development, to lay the foundations for accurate handwriting. There are over 400 activities over 8 separate booklets. These develop the intrinsic muscles of the hand alongside the following perceptual skills: • Hand – eye co-ordination • Form constancy • Spatial organisation • Figure-ground discrimination • Orientation and laterality. Best results occur when the child practices for 10 mins 5 x per week.

Interventions SPARK Pack for KS1 and KS2 Pack of resources available to schools developed by Occupational Therapists for Wiltshire. This allows schools to deliver a set programme of tasks that work on gross and fine motor skills, and life skills such as cutting with scissors, tying shoelaces, using cutlery etc.

An example activity lesson from the SPARK pack Equipment: Mats Jars Hoops Beads Beanbags Flexion: Bunny hops – start in straight lines then move into zig zag lines. Extension: Crab walking – backwards, forwards and to the side. Try putting a bean bag on the tummy and see who can walk without dropping it. Rotation: Each child sits inside a hoop facing the centre. See if the whole group can move into the next hoop by putting both hands into the hoop next to them and then moving over completely into the next hoop. Girdle Stability: Two children kneeling on hands and knees alongside each other. Without taking hands or knees off the mat – see who can push each off the mat using their body. Bilateral integration: Clapping games Fine motor: Open jars of different sizes and place beads inside jars.

Interventions Daily Writers A small group intervention, lead by the teacher or teaching assistant to work on specific issues with handwriting. These often involve repetitive tasks, tracing letters or words, or re-writing sentences to practice the skills needed for legible handwriting. All children at St Mark’s have hand writing practice daily as part of their curriculum.

Any questions? The remainder of the session is for you to network with other parents. Please feel free to give feedback or ask questions to staff. Please pass on any suggestions to Mrs Corley or Miss Scammel. Thank you for coming! Next SEN Parent Network Meeting: Friday 12 th Jan, 9am – 10:30am, Hub 3 Informal coffee and chat lead by Parent Support Advisors