A Historical Journey Through the Development of Handwriting Instruction (Part 2): The Occupational Therapists' Role

Handwriting Without Tears versus Teacher-Designed Handwriting Instruction in First Grade Classrooms

“…Literature has reported that the amount of learning expected during the school day to meet student outcomes continues to increase, burdening an already crowded daily classroom schedule (Asher, 2006;Donica, 2010;Roston et al, 2008). HWT teachers were not consistent in implementing the lessons when the school day was altered by special programs or other lessons that were highly valued.…”

“…Traditionally, teachers are responsible for providing handwriting instruction and identifying those children who need additional assistance in learning handwriting (Hammerschmidt & Sudsawad, 2004). Donica (2010) cites four reasons handwriting instruction must be an important aspect of curriculum in the elementary grades: (1) Handwriting tasks strengthen the connection to kinesthetic memory; (2) handwriting must be spontaneous and automatic;…”

“…However, handwriting instruction often requires an extensive amount of individual/hands-on time from occupational therapists. Movement toward a more consultative model with teacher implementation and handwriting knowledge and support from the occupational therapist has been suggested to address this issue (Donica, 2010).…”

Effectiveness of Handwriting Readiness Programs on Postural Control, Hand Control, and Letter and Number Formation in Head Start Classrooms

“…Performance components associated with handwriting include postural control, hand control, and letter/number recognition and formation (Cornhill & Case-Smith, 1996;Shore, 2003). Handwriting is a skill traditionally taught by the teachers in the classroom, but this phenomenon has decreased over the years (Donica, 2010a(Donica, , 2010b. During this decline of classroom handwriting instruction, more studies indicating struggles with handwriting skills have been noted.…”

“…Throughout the past century, the dynamic tripod grasp has been identified as the gold standard for achieving handwriting proficiency (Donica, 2010a(Donica, , 2010b. This grasp allows for adequate flexion and extension of the muscles to provide the right amount of pressure and tension when holding a writing tool (Ferriell et al, 1999).…”