Handwriting Without Tears
Handwriting Without Tears: A developmentally based writing program
www.hwtears.com
The ability to draw various geometric forms is developmental, and has “average” milestones, just like walking and talking. The ability to draw a horizontal line, vertical line, circle, cross, square, left to right diagonal, right to left diagonal, triangle, “X”, and diamond, occur sequentially, with the ability to draw a diagonal stroke developing, on average, around 4 years 9 months. Thus, the Pre-Kindergarten child is not ready, developmentally, for handwriting. Especially when the first letter of the alphabet, “A”, has opposing diagonal strokes. It is important to teach pre-writing skills, and to develop age appropriate visual and spatial skills which underlie handwriting, in order to build a strong foundation and instill good habits from the start.
Jan Olsen, OTR, created Handwriting Without Tears (HWT), a simple, yet fun program that takes developmental abilities into consideration when teaching writing, both manuscript and cursive, at any age.
The Pre-K (HWT) program is a no paper/no pencil approach that helps to build the following skills in the Pre-K child:
● Body awareness
● Imitation
● Language
● Social skills
● Size, shape, color
● Posture
● Crayon grip
● Position-in-space awareness
● Counting skills
● Gross and fine motor skills
● Perception/perceptual-motor skills
The Pre-K HWT program uses age appropriate songs, manipulatives, imitation and finger play, so the child learns while having fun and developing a wide variety of readiness skills. Visually attractive pictures and playful manipulatives quickly engage the child, who then becomes an eager and cooperative participant in the learning process. The HWT Pre-K program utilizes a sensory motor approach (feel, hear, see, visualize) to increase exposure and learning, which reinforces sensory integration, and helps to teach appropriate letter formation patterns, which will later influence speed of writing and overall legibility.
The HWT program teaches capital letters first, within “boxes”, as they are all the same size, and all start at the top. The program teaches straight line letters, followed by center start letters, followed by letters with a diagonal component, and incorporates specific, consistent verbal cues.
Learning letters on a vertical surface helps with directional concepts. When a paper is on a desktop, or in the horizontal plane, “up” and “down”/ “top” and “bottom” do not refer to the direction of the “sky” and “floor”, and therefore are more difficult to grasp.
When teaching lower case letters, HWT uses specially designed 2-lined paper to limit visual confusion, and all small letters sit in-between or “bump the lines”. Letters are taught based on similar letter formation patterns, starting with lowercase letters that look like their upper-case counter parts, followed by “magic C” letters that all start like the letter “c”, followed by “diver letters” that go “down, up and around”, followed by “tall” letters and “basement” letters.
When teaching cursive handwriting, HWT also incorporates developmental expectations, utilizes specially designed 2-lined paper, and teaches vertical strokes rather than slanted.