My Life's Work

CESA 1 Wisconsin School-Based OT PT Conference!

Next month I'm going to be presenting my work on the automaticity of handwriting to a group of 150 Wisconsin school-based occupational therapists. A big group!  I am stepping out of my comfort zone here, but at the same time I am thrilled to be able to share what I have discovered with this group of my peers!  

The backstory

Handwriting is my passion. I have been thoughtfully developing my skills in the treatment of handwriting for 25 years.  I have worked to develop curricula for classroom-based instruction utilizing universal design for learning, for over a dozen years. Five years ago I decided to go back to school for a Master's degree with a emphasis on studying all the academic research that I could find in all content areas about the contemporary importance of printing skills and the effectiveness of different types of interventions. Then in the past couple years I have devoted my energies to applying what I had learned through my deep dive into academic research to the practical implications of teaching handwriting to regular elementary education children, as well as developing handwriting treatment protocols for children with dysfunctional handwriting skills. 

Classroom instruction with Capitals First book and Lowercase at Last book which are both found in the Handwriting Intervention MegaBundle.

There have been big payoffs in terms of the effectiveness of classroom based instruction, and occupational therapy interventions for the children on my caseload. Children that I had previously believed would not be able to substantially change their handwriting patterns are now making significant gains with legibility, speed, and confidence, not only with their handwriting skills, but also in all aspects of written communication.  So presenting my model of handwriting instruction and intervention at the Wisconsin school-based therapy conference is going to be a debut of my life's professional work!

This 2 times per week, therapy-based intervention was accomplished in part with a review of formations from Winged Writers which is found in the Handwriting Intervention MegaBundle, and heavy use of intervention strategies and tools found in Handwriting Repair.

I would like to give you a little sneak preview of the Print Path model of handwriting intervention here on my Capitals First blog.  I am very excited about sharing this model with other OTs!   It offers an easy to apply developmental approach to the application of motor learning principles for therapeutic interventions.  

Yes, I sell things.  I create products to meet the needs of my students but I love polishing them and offering them to the world.  Then I know that it is not just my students who benefit, but many children. 

This one page inventory gives specific information about
the extent that handwriting interferes with school tasks.

Also, in thanks for sticking with me to the end, I have a new handwriting evaluation tool for you, as a limited-time freebie!        The Functional Handwriting Inventory of Classroom Performance is a essential part of an occupational therapy evaluation that includes handwriting!  

An InLinkz Link-up