Classes

Handwriting Without Tears Class

Scribbles & Giggles

(Ages 2.5-4 years)

Jump Into Writing

(Ages 3-5 years)

Writing All Stars

(Ages 5-7 years)

Creating the building blocks for successful handwriting

We believe handwriting is an important skill that can be fun if taught correctly. Children who are able to easily produce written work in school often do better academically since they are able to express their ideas and answers in writing clearly.

We understand handwriting can be a complex skill for many kids, which is why we offer both group and individual writing classes. For younger children working on a typical developmental progression of writing skills, the group class can be a great option.

Group classes allow students to learn in a playful way with their peers. Older students and those who have identified sensory, motor, or developmental challenges may have the most success in an individual session where instruction can be individually tailored to their unique needs.

Our handwriting instructors work with children aged from 2.5 years to 15 years on both typical and more complex writing issues. While some children benefit from 1:1 attention, others do great in a group setting when they are being motivated by their peers. Our team would love to help you determine the best approach for your child.

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“My daughter has learned how to write upper and lower case alphabet. She started with difficulties in tracing, so she has progressed well in this fun program. Engaging class and instructor worked great for my daughter. Play based, student lead activities. Homework and in class rewards all worked well. Very happy with Andrea and the program.”

~Veda’s Parent

Getting Started

Getting started with a handwriting class can be as easy as 1-2-3!

Identify strengths & weaknesses
Select the correct class & frequency
Contact our office

Handwriting success is like a road trip; it is important to know where you are starting and where you are trying to go. Before we start any of our programs, your child will be evaluated by a trained handwriting instructor who can determine your child’s current skill level. The instructor will also work with the child and their family to determine the level of success or proficiency desired based on the child’s age and current abilities.

Evaluation

The evaluation process is composed of a few parts to identify the factors that are preventing the child from successfully writing. We will review some of the child’s past writing samples to see how they are writing at home or in school. We will also assess their performance in our clinic during the evaluation. When assessing their performance, we will be looking at 8 different areas specifically associated with handwriting.

Handwriting Skills Evaluation

Handwriting is a complex task that requires the combination of several skills, in order for it to look right. There are 8 major areas that we look for when assessing a child’s handwriting success. Collecting information on these 8 areas can give us objective data on how well or how much help a child needs related to handwriting skills.

Memory: Remembering and printing of letters and numbers that have been verbally dictated.
Orientation: The directionality of letters and numbers.
Placement: The location of letters and numbers on the baseline.
Size: How large or small a letter or number is written.
Start: Where each letter or number begins.
Sequence: The pattern or order of strokes of each part of the letters.
Control: The neatness and proportion of the letters or numbers.
Spacing: Amount of space left between letters within words and the spacing between words in a sentence.

Recommendations

After each child is evaluated, the handwriting instructor will recommend the student for individual classes or the appropriate group class.

If the child is not currently appropriate for a group session, the instructor will work with the child and caregiver to develop an individualized learning plan to help them reach their handwriting goals. This individualized plan may also include recommendations to other professionals who can help with any additional challenges the student might be facing related to handwriting.

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“My child’s pencil grip has improved.“

~Advik’s Parent

Visual & Motor Skills Evaluation

In addition to handwriting specific skills, we will assess for any underlying visual and motor skills need for handwriting success. While this class is not designed to remediate significant visual and motor skills deficits, we do screen for them and work closely with our occupational therapy team to help improve these skills in relation to handwriting. If these areas have been identified to have significant difficulties, a referral for occupational therapy will be made to specifically address these areas of concern.

Hand strength: The pressure that the hand can produce which is needed for maintaining the grip on the writing device.
In-Hand Manipulation: The ability for the hand to independently move objects within the hand, such as the ability to shift the pencil to the correct place and rotate from eraser to tip.
Visual Perception: The ability for the eyes to track the letters as they go across the page, knowing where the end of the page is and how the letters compare to the lines on the page, etc.
Visual Scanning: This is divided into near and far copying. Being able to see the example provided and then shift their eyes from the model to the paper to reproduce. This can be a model directly on the desk or a model given at the front of the room on the white board.

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“My daughter is beginning to learn to write inside the boxes and lines. Instructor is very knowledgeable, patient and on point. Highly recommend the Handwriting without tears program.”

~ Abigail’s Parent

Group Class Descriptions

**No Group classes schedule at this time. Please call to speak with our team about individual lessons.

Scribbles & Giggles (Ages 2.5-4 years)

Pre-Requisite: Attention and willingness to participate in a small group setting to learn and have fun.

Children at this young age are taught the joy of learning to help prepare them for their academic future. Handwriting basics such as grip, body position, and shapes are taught to help get children ready to learn letters and numbers.

Preparatory skills are important as they teach children the skills they will need later for successful handwriting and other academic skills. Children are taught using developmentally appropriate and fun multi-sensory activities to help enforce learning.

Children learn to recognize the way each letter is formed using 3-dimensional activities. Capital letters are always taught first because they are developmentally easier for children to learn and it will help children find success early in the handwriting process.

By the end of this group children will be able to produce a variety of shapes, color within a designated space, hold a pencil/crayon with accuracy and start to trace and produce capital letters and numbers that are recognized by most.

Jump Into Writing (Ages 3-5 years)

Pre-Requisite: Previous exposure to shapes, letters, numbers, able to color within a designates space, fair tracing skills and some ability to produce shapes.

This is where the Handwriting Without Tears® program often will begin with formal instruction of handwriting. The program incorporates hands-on activities and multi-sensory teaching strategies that build good handwriting habits early. Handwriting instruction incorporates playing and singing into letter building activities. Once children have learned to properly use capital letters, lowercase letters can be taught. As children gain the skills of proper handwriting, they will begin to learn combining letters into words, sentences and paragraphs.

Young children should not be left to practice forming letters alone. Perfect practice makes perfect performance so children should have perfectly formed letters and numbers as a model during the early stages of learning. This class will focus on the child’s ability to remember and produce letters and numbers. There will also be an emphasis on the starting point of the letters and the sequence that is used when producing the letter or number.

By the end of this group students should be able to copy words, understand basic spacing, understand the difference between uppercase, lower case and numbers, and stay within a designated space.

Writing All Stars (Ages 5-7 years)

Pre-Requisite: Students should be able to copy letters

Once children have learned the basic skills of writing such as letter formation, grip and spacing, they are ready to begin writing words, sentences, and paragraphs. Lower- and upper-case letters are both taught in printing. There will be an increased focus on the areas of handwriting that make a visual impact on the writing such as orientation, placement, size, case, control and spacing.

This program continues to focus on hands-on learning and multi-sensory activities with a focus on mastery of printing. Activities are designed to be developmentally appropriate and fun so that the children want to learn.

After completing all 3 levels of handwriting students should be able to easily and effectively produce written printed materials. Students should be able to write on the line with clear spacing between words and minimal reversals.

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My son shows improvement in fine motor skills.

~ Mitchell’s Parent

My son has gained confidence in holding the pencil correctly.

~ Bentley’s Parent

Schedule

Individual classes can be scheduled with the office based on the current instructor availability. Once students have been scheduled for the month it is recommended that there are no changes to the schedule until the end of the month. Individual classes are 30 mins long and students are recommended to come at least 2 times weekly.

Group classes are 45 min long and can be scheduled based on the current availability. If you do not see a group time that works with your schedule individual sessions are available during regular business hours. Students are recommended to attend 2-3 times weekly on non-consecutive days. Group attendance will vary from class to class but classes will be capped at 5 students with a ratio of 1:3.

Students can schedule to attend classes 1-3 times per week. It is recommended that most students attend class at least 2x weekly, so they are able to make the fastest progress and prevent a “back slide” of skills between classes. We have found that having a week between classes can be too long which often causes students to lose skills that were previously gained. We also do not recommend that students attend more than 3x weekly since we want them to have time to integrate the skills they are learning at home.

Once registered in class the student’s registration will continue each month until cancelled. As students make progress in one level, they will graduate to the next level so they can continue to make success in writing.

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My son has improved in letter formation, attempting to write on paper now and a bit of improvement in coordination with his fingers and strength in the hand muscles.

-Javier’s Parent

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“My daughters handwriting is more uniform and understandable. I am very pleased; her instructor has techniques that are easy to follow and fun so she can continue to improve her writing.”

~Frieda’s Parent

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“My daughter is willing to write, trying to write lower case letters. Very satisfied with the program.”