Letter Formation Games are a fun way to motivate students to work on writing and letter recognition. Develop critical fine motor skills
Teaching young children to form letters properly is an important skill. Check out these correct letter formation tips from occupational therapists!
Learn about the two fine motor skills, in hand manipulation and fine motor precision, that research has proven to directly affect writing legibility.
Our team of therapists created Shape Book Activity Worksheets that target individual occupational therapy goals and incorporate unique learning style.
Use these 10 games for handwriting practice, allowing kids to improve legibility, sizing, placement, and more as they play.
This blog post on handwriting tricks from November 2016 has been updated to include more handwriting tips and tricks that school based OT professionals use every day. You’ll also have a handwriting email series and free handwriting handouts available in this blog post that you’ll want to grab. Handwriting Tips Handouts Handwriting is a struggle ... Read more
Introducing our Handwriting Warm-up Sheets (Pack of 7) – specially crafted for Occupational Therapy (OT) and early education enthusiasts! These engaging sheets are designed to make learning a fun and interactive experience for young minds. These worksheets are great for targeting handwriting goals, early finishers, and table top activities in early education, such as pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade. Additionally, these sheets are great for parents to encourage carry-over of OT and handwriting skills at home or through homeschooling without instructions and prep. This product can be used as printable, paper handouts, or as laminated sheets to use over and over for future children and other sessions. Key Features: 1. Tracing Practice: Develop fine motor skills and handwriting precision with carefully curated tracing exercises. Children can trace over letters, numbers, and shapes, providing a hands-on approach to learning. 2. Fill in the Pictures: Spark creativity and imagination! Our sheets include delightful images with incomplete sections, encouraging kids to fill in the blanks. This activity not only enhances artistic abilities but also fosters cognitive development. 3. Diagonal Lines Matching: Strengthen hand-eye coordination and pencil control through diagonal lines matching exercises. Connect the lines to complete pictures, adding an extra layer of challenge while ensuring an enjoyable learning process. 4. OT and Early Education Focus: Created with the guidance of Occupational Therapists, these sheets address specific needs in motor skill development. The content aligns with early education curriculum standards, making them a valuable resource for educators and parents alike. 5. Engaging Images: Say goodbye to boring exercises! Our sheets feature vibrant and captivating images that capture children's attention. Whether it's animals, shapes, or everyday objects, the visuals are designed to make learning both enjoyable and educational. 6. Simple Instructions: Easy-to-follow instructions ensure that children can independently engage with the activities. This fosters a sense of accomplishment and boosts confidence as they navigate through the exercises. These Handwriting Warmup Sheets are not just educational tools; they're a gateway to a world of creativity, skill development, and joyful learning. Perfect for classrooms, therapy sessions, or home use, our sheets are a must-have for anyone involved in the early education journey. Get ready to witness the magic of learning as your little ones embark on a handwriting adventure with our specially crafted warm-up sheets!
Use these 10 games for handwriting practice, allowing kids to improve legibility, sizing, placement, and more as they play.
When frustrated with a child's handwriting, take the time to evaluate if they've been provided adequate visual boundaries for their developmental needs.
Teaching young children to form letters properly is an important skill. Check out these correct letter formation tips from occupational therapists!
These pencil control exercises use colored pencils to help children establish pencil control in handwriting and fluid pencil motions.
Does your kiddo struggle with having neat handwriting? Use this easy 8 step guide to start improving their writing today!
This OT month freebie is an occupational therapy equipment list for working on handwriting and promoting the profession!
Use these 10 games for handwriting practice, allowing kids to improve legibility, sizing, placement, and more as they play.
Common handwriting problems like spacing, letter formation, sizing, illegible writing impact learning for students. Here's how to help.
These pencil pressure writing tips are strategies for when kids that press too hard in writing or write too lightly. Awesome for handwriting legibility!
Squigz are a fun toy to use in your Occupational Therapy sessions. I share my top 5 favorite ways to use them and have a freebie with 20 more!
DIY weighted pencil for best comfort and weight distribution. Learn its benefits, uses, and find out answers to frequently asked questions.
Help your child get ready for school with a range of fun and easy visual perception activities.
Kids use visual perceptual skills to understand what they see in the environment. Visual perception is needed for writing, reading, and copying from the board. There are many different ways to work on visual perceptual skills. Visual perceptual worksheets can be fun way for kids to improve visual perception. As a special thank you to my readers, I am providing these free visual perceptual worksheets! For free visual perceptual worksheets, click on the following links: http://drannezachry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Visual-Perception-Sheets_Shape.pdf http://drannezachry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/VP_DC.pdf http://drannezachry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Visual-Closure.pdf http://drannezachry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Arrow-Worksheet.pdf Click HERE for more free worksheets!!!
Free essays, homework help, flashcards, research papers, book reports, term papers, history, science, politics
Tips, tricks suggestions from an Occupational Therapy Assistant on how to improve handwriting skills with kids of all ages and abilities.
Use these free apps for occupational therapy activities to build skills in handwriting, fine motor, visual motor, executive functioning, and regulation.
This past fall we made the decision to seek out occupational therapy (OT) for Caroline. She was struggling a great deal with the act of writing and we also suspected she had some midline issues. With her permission, I'm going to write about our experience with occupational therapy for dysgraphia or writing problems. We strongly
This packet makes GOAL TRACKING EASY for occupational therapists, special education teachers, paraprofessionals and other members of the team! This focuses on pre-writing lines / shapes, uppercase alphabet, lowercase alphabet, name, and numbers! This includes tracing, copying, and composing each of these areas. This can also be used for a quick assessment! Students trace 9 prewriting lines/shapes, (pages 4 – 5), imitate (pages 6 -7), and copy (pages 8 – 9). Students trace the uppercase alphabet, copy the uppercase alphabet and compose uppercase alphabet (10-18) Students trace the lowercase alphabet, copy the lowercase alphabet, and compose lowercase alphabet . There is also a page to record the current words per minute of the lowercase alphabet to measure orthographic motor integration (visual memory) (pages 19-31). Pages 32 -47 focus on sentence copying and writing. This is to track spaces, letter formation and words per minute. This includes 2 different sentences that have all letters of the alphabet. Pages 48 – 51 focus on name writing. Pages 53 – 57 focus on tracing, copying and composing numbers 0 -9. This is NOT intended to replace medical advice, or to treat or diagnose. This should only be used appropriately within your practice law and services. If you are unsure, stop activity immediately and do not recommend anything. Reminder, this is ONLY 1 license for the person who purchased this. Please buy additional licenses for more than one user This is perfect to help guide discussions with teachers, staff and other personnel who work with students. This is perfect for general education students but also students with Autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, ADD, sensory processing disorder, and other special needs. This can be used with general education, RTI, MTSS, special education, school psychologist, school counselor, occupational therapy OT, speech language pathology SLP, and social work SW. I am a school occupational therapist who has a doctorate in occupational therapy. I work closely with special education and general education staff adapting material. This is where I get my inspiration for this material. I have used my materials with a variety of children with different disabilities including learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, sensory processing disorder, ADD, ADHD, visual impairments, deaf/hard of hearing, cerebral palsy, down syndrome and more. DISCLAIMER: By using this, you agree that this activity is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or occupational therapist. Information provided should not be used for diagnostic or training purposes. Please speak with your physician or OT if you have questions. Stop any activity if you are unsure about a child’s reaction or ability. You should discontinue anything if you do not know your child’s reaction or ability.
Zoo themed cryptogram activity incorporating visual perceptual, visual memory, handwriting, and problem solving skills to decode the zoo words and phrases. This activity is great for occupational therapy, speech therapy, or classroom activities. No prep print and go! Includes 4 Worksheets: 2 Decode the Zoo Animal Words 6-8 Words Per page 2 Decode the Zoo Jokes/Riddles 3-4 Jokes per page Questions and comments are always welcome!
This article discusses the pincer grasp, its importance, and how occupational therapy can help. Plus 30 pincer grasp exercises.
These super fun crossing the midline exercises can be used in the classroom, in OT, and at home to improve brain communication and fine motor skills!
A poster presentation at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting researchers reported on a small study using a digital tablet to record precise handwriting metrics of 12 boys with autism, 8 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 12 controls. The tablet measured pen pressure, strokes, speed and precise letter formation while the children copied an eight-word phrase that uses every letter in the alphabet. Three experiments were conducted - copying letters from the phrase written, tracing the letters in the phrase as carefully as possible and tracing the letters as quickly as possible. The results showed the following differences in handwriting kinematics: children with autism and those with ADHD were faster but less accurate than controls at each task children with autism performed poorly on the copying and tracing task children in the ADHD group struggled with copying but traced as well as controls. in all three experiments the children with autism who were worst at reproducing the letters scored lowest on working memory sub-scores of an intelligence quotient test the ADHD group and the control group did not show an association between letter reproduction and working memory The researchers concluded that it is not only motor performance but higher cognitive centers as well that contributes to handwriting difficulties in children with autism. Reference: Hughes, V. Handwriting study points to motor, memory problems in autism. Retreived on 12/28/12 from Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative at http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/conference-news/2012/society-for-neuroscience-2012/handwriting-study-points-to-motor-memory-problems-in-autism. Check out Your Therapy Source for handwriting activities.
This 15-page printable occupational therapy evaluation form was designed by pediatric occupational therapists for busy OTs who evaluate children in the areas of fine motor, gross motor, visual motor, sensory processing, and/or activities of daily living skills. It would be appropriate for both clinic and school-based OTs. Recommended supplies to have on hand when completing this evaluation form include: Pencil, crayon, pair of scissors, tweezers, bottle with twist off cap, small and large beads with string, 3-6 blocks, paper for handwriting sample, large and small balls, and practice clothing fasteners (button, snap, zipper, shoelaces) Lines and shapes to copy and cut out are provided within the packet. This evaluation form is not a standardized assessment and cannot act as a standardized assessment. The ages listed for the various skills are a guide and not a replacement for standardized assessments or clinical judgement. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or if you have a problem downloading the packet after purchase. Visit our website for educational blog posts and gift guides at www.otonthespot.com!
Use these free apps for occupational therapy activities to build skills in handwriting, fine motor, visual motor, executive functioning, and regulation.
These handwriting warm ups will get those fingers moving so dexterity and endurance is possible during writing and fine motor tasks.
These creative writing practice ideas support letter formation and automaticity in written work. OT ideas for working on writing skills.
These theraputty exercises are fun and engaging ways to build pinch and grip strength in the hands using therapy putty.
