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Special Needs
breezy0629
member
IEP Handwriting Goal??
breezy0629
member
DS's IEP is next week. I have been so busy and not on the ball at all this year preparing, but I do still have some time.
DS writes just about anything. However, he forms about 1/2 of the letters incorrectly ('o' is clockwise, 'p' is one continuous line starting at the bottom). He does not get his b/d backwards or anything like that, it's just simply the way they are formed. We work on this in private OT and at home, but I honestly think it also needs to be an educational goal as well. I am unimpressed at how awesome the new school OT thinks it is that he can write because I imagine there's a reason we need to form our letters a certain way. When he gets to K or 1st or whatever grade they start learning to write all their letters, he is going to battle strongly against changing his habits and how HE thinks he should write because at that point, he'll have a few years under his belt.
Anyway, how would you want that goal written? Any good examples I can take with me of why it is not ok that he writes his letters incorrectly?
I am prepared for them to say, no, they won't work on it and I can just work on it at home and our private OT is on board. But, if he's writing at school, I really would rather them be aware of his need for correction. The repetition really does reinforce his learning across environments.
Please don't tell me this is a lame concern 
. I know it's small compared to so many other things, but honestly it will impact his learning down the line IMO.
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Re: IEP Handwriting Goal??
I am a first grade teacher and I deal a lot with parent concerns with handwriting. There definitely is a correct way to form the letters and kids do get in bad habits. It is not easy to re-train their brains on how to make the letters the correct way. In your case, with your DS being on the spectrum, it is probably more important since he will argue to the end that his way is correct. I would definitely bring it up. I will let you know though that many kiddos form their letter incorrectly past 1st grade. So, the IEP team might not be willing to put it down as a goal, since they might deem it developmentally inappropriate for his age. I would just make sure to explain where you are coming from and why you are concerned.
Good luck!
Thanks for making me feel better about bringing this to his team. It is very hard to explain the difference between 'age appropriate' and 'Individually appropriate for MY son', but it sounds like you know exactly where I'm coming from. Thank you!
I have talked with his teacher and she wasn't willing to begin with, but when I explained it to her this way, she really seemed to at least start to understand. She said she would help me explain that he would be very rigid about his writing the longer he is allowed to do it wrong.
I took a sheet I had him write of his letters and showed the directions of the wrong ones & then showed what a regular sentence looks like (very very sloppy and much much worse than when he concentrates on each individual letter). I hope that piece helps. It's so hard to get past the 'strength' piece and advocate that he still needs help and now...not later.
Of course, in reality, I am going to help him, so I almost feel lame for making a big deal about it. Oh well.
Thank you! We use Handwriting without Tears in OT and he does like that, but I don't have access to the materials at home to continue the same stuff at home. What is 'block practice'? I really like the chalkboard idea!
I'm also thinking you are going to struggle to get this as a goal because of the age. At best I'm thinking you could put something about him conventionally writing his name - does it have any letters that he has a problem with? I assume you don't mean the way he holds the pencil since that would be easy to put on there. Is his handwriting legible? That would be the biggest deal to me.
I think talking through this with you gals is very helpful to me. Like you said, Auntie, it was very laborous for him to write his alphabet (he wrote it out for me b/c I was taking notes), but then when he wrote a couple of sentences for me, he paid zero attention to any of the HWT rules and just wrote like he always does. It was quick, painless and enjoyable to him.
For refrence, auntie, was your son writing early (too early) as well? I do think his low tone/self teaching is the cause of how he forms his letters and also, to be honest we were so anxious about working with him at 2 years old on such an advanced skill, we left it alone. Now, I wish I had just gone on and worked on proper skills.
When I brought up the cursive issue, DS teacher asked if they even teach cursive anymore? That seemed like an odd question, though I do understand typing is widely more imperative these days.
I also sit back and wonder...... other than the direction we write (L->R) is the formation really THAT important? Is there a big emphasis because of reading skill progression? I wish I knew more behind the science of it.
Just as a side note, many of my "spectrumy" kids have bad handwriting and try to get out of writing in any way possible. I have heard that sometimes writing with a pencil for some of these kids is like nails on a chalkboard to them. The fine motor and sensory issues for these kids is usually very taxying on them. So, the fact that your son is writing early on and "enjoying" writing, although without correct formation is definitely a positive. I would hate for handwriting practice to get in the way of his positive experience with writing. I agree with all of the multi-sensory approaches, especially because of his age. As PP said, many of these kiddos end up "drawing" the letters when in an instructional situation and it is very laboring on them. Learning how to truly write the letter the correct way is less laboring and very different from "drawing the letters."
Also, if you are going to do the instruction on your own, I would try to stick with the same "verbage" when coaching him through the correct formation of the letters and make it fun. Like for the letter "h", you could say start at the sky, down to the ground, back up to make a hill and back down to touch the ground. I use "sky," "grass," and "ground" for the lines when I teach handwriting in first grade. We also practice in the air and on each others backs.
As an OT in the public schools letter formation and directionality is very important. As previously stated, it is important to start correct directionality as early as possible, although I don't teach writing letters that early. Around age 3, I look for a student's ability to form prewriting strokes/shapes and then around 4-5 we look at them being able to copy their name. As you stated earlier, they teach handwriting in kindergarten and although your son is hyperlexic, it doesn't always mean that they should be writing letters yet. There are age levels by which kids are motorically and perceptually ready to form certain strokes and encouraging these strokes on a child who is not ready for them, can often cause them to form them bottom up or right to left. It is important for them to learn the correct way so their speed and legiblilty with the handwriting demands increase, doesn't become an issue. As far as a goal goes, I typically would write:
Student will copy upper case letters using correct directionality and formation in 4/5 trials.
However, I would not write this goal for a student who is in preschool as it should not be a preschool expectation. I would focus on prewriting strokes, strength, coordination, grasp, etc. It is important to look at what a child is developmentally ready for. That is why we have developmental milestones. "Typically developing children" are not ready for writing letters until age 5, that is why it is taught in kindergarten. Hope that helps!
This is all by his choice. He was writing his name and other short words at about 20 months old (all on his own, I stress. We never introduced anything other than paper and crayons). He draws amazingly now and writes anything he wants (emphasis on the WANTS because it's a struggle to get him to write anything else, not that there are many opportunities for that...but it is nice to have DS's handwriting on a Father's Day Card since he can).
So, I hear what you are saying, and all of the developmentally appropriate age range information is helpful to me. But, this is my problem. Because I honestly never taught him any of it & at 2 years old struggled just thinking about helping him do it right and decided not to. But, he writes anyway. All. The. Time. So, he is practicing incorrectly (probably for every reason you state above).
I would never even think about this as a goal if it wasn't something he was already practicing incorrectly on a daily basis on his own. The 'Air Writing' he does further impacts the incorrect practice
So, what would you do in that situation? Our private OT feels justified in working on it and I'm glad.
About 10 months ago, he found a notebook & pen and jotted down this message off the tv, "Call Now 1-421-412-1421 for Boniva"
I am a first grade teacher and thought I would share my thoughts on your situation....
In my District, we use the Handwriting Without Tears program. However, in my opinion, it's a waste of time because, by the time children reach first grade, they have already developed habits that are going to be very difficult to break. I have found that, we doing the HWT lessons, students will follow the "rules" and form their letters the way the are asked to. However, to get them to transfer that correct formation to their everyday writing is next to impossible. In my school, we have, basically, adopted the idea that, as long as the writing is legible, correct formation is not much of an issue (our OT was the person who helped bring this to our attention).
As far as cursive is concerned, D'Nealian handwriting is really the only writing that lends itself to cursive. Zaner-Bloser/HWT letter-formation does not connect to cursive because cursive is "flowy" and starts from the bottom, whereas Z-B/HWT is more "circle-stick" and starts at the top. So, why we expect children to transition smoothly from Z-B/HWT to cursive is beyond me.
So, IMO, as long as his writing is legible, I would say to let him go and enjoy his interest/talent. If pencil grip, muscle tone, or endurance are in question (which it doesn't seem like they are), then I would definitely address those issues.
Thanks for the many many replies. They have all been very useful to me.
I also agree since he already has the reading and some math parts this issue may not even be worth fighting. As with all things we do, I think I'll still mention it and since he does like to learn, if he picks up and loves writing correctly, fine. If not, we'll drop it and more likely advocate for less emphasis on formation in K-1st.
We ended up leaving it off his IEP. I have been working with DS since this post and it really is true that the difference between a worksheet and his regular penmanship is night and day. I am going to continue working at home - since the focus at school is really on the legibility of his work.
I found these books at Staples (real fancy, huh?!)... and I LOVE them.
https://tinyurl.com/2858sm9
I think these may make a difference, if anything will because it prompts him to write more individual ideas down instead of just copying letters, but in a way that gives him boundaries better than just , 'Ok, write a sentance'. I love the visual shading (Blue, Green, Brown) which it never says to call Sky, Grass and Dirt...but it lends VERY well to that & he is loving it. I'm just going to stick with allowing him to dictate how long we work since it is not an age appropriate task and if he's done, fine.
If it doesn't help, no biggie... his handwriting is legible.
Thanks for the other suggestion. That looks very useful for printing our own worksheets.