Handwriting to Writing:one leap or many hops?

Angela Webb22nd March 2014

A FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION…

“How is it that a child can write well in a handwriting lesson but does not transfer

that skill into classwork?”

What can we do about it?

The Simple View of Writing

Working memory

TranscriptionHandwriting, keyboarding,

Spelling.

Executive functionsPlanning, review

TranslationWords, sentences,

paragraphs.

Adapted from Berninger & Amtmann (2003)

2.How do we solve this?(A two-pronged approach)

1. Modify the expectations of the teachers while you work

(particularly in the short term)

2. Move the child forward in a series of graded and highly structured hops.

Suggested ‘hops’

Assess: •The process – how the child writes•The product – the written script

Target intervention only to those parts which need fixing.

4 ‘P’s (Process)

1. Posture2. Paper position3. Pen grip4. Pressure

7 ‘S’ Rules (Product)

1. Shape2. Size3. Spacing4. Sitting on the line5. Slant6. Speed7. Sustainability

A Case-Study

“Billy”•Age 12 years •Mainstream secondary school•Left-handed•Problems of legibility (but not of speed)•DASH percentile ranking = 64%•Copy Best-Copy Fast difference = 12 wpm

Hop 1. Look at the finished product. Use the ‘S’ rules.

1 Excellent

2 Good 3 OK 4 Not so good

5 Poor

Shape/legibility

Size

Spacing

Sitting on line

Slant

Speed

Style

Evaluation of Billy’s handwriting

1 Excellent

2 Good 3 OK 4 Not so good

5 Poor

Shape/legibility

Size

Spacing

Sitting on line

Slant

Speed

Style

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

Prioritise what to work on

1. Extending the writing horizontally.2. Rounding the curved letters.3. Correcting mis-alignment.4. Keeping ascenders and descenders parallel.

You can’t achieve everything at one go: practise by building

1. Begin with the most important and practise.2. Add a 2nd element.

Practise on its own then add it to No.1.3. Add a 3rd element.

Practise then add it to 1 + 1.4. Add the 4th. Practise on its own then add 1 + 2.

Hop 2. Lesson 1 Moving across the page

Hop 3. Lesson 2 Rounding letters

Hop 4. Lesson 3 Correcting mis-alignment

Hop 5. Lesson 4 Making vertical strokes parallel

Further ‘hops’

Set him/her a series of graded tasks in which the cognitive load of each (in terms of spelling, sentence length, composition, etc.) increases gradually.

(N.B. Ensure that the correct handwriting is used at each stage. If it is not, do not proceed to the

next level of difficulty).

Hop 6. Most common bigrams (in order)

th he in ennt re er anti es on atse nd or aral te co deto ra et edit sa em ro

…and tri-grams (in order)

•the and tha ent•ing ion tio for•nde has nce edt•tis oft sth men

Hop 7. 100 most common wordsthe of and a to in is youthat it he was for on are aswith his they I at be this havefrom or one had by word but not what all were we when your cansaid there use an each which shedo how their if will up otherabout out many then them these so some her would make like him into

100 most common words (cont.)

time has look two more write gosee number no way could people mythan first water been call who oil itsnow find long down day did get come made may part

Keep writing tasks simple

• Copying (but move on quite quickly).• Short dictation of CVC words better (see

below).• Simple close exercises (see below).

Hop 8. CVC sentences for dictation(from Alpha to Omega)

Gradually increase task complexity

• Simple stories – cloze.• Simple narrative.• More complex narrative.• Free writing.

Hop 9From Headwork 2

JO AND HER RADIO

Jo had a radio. She got it in a jumble sale. It was a very strange radio. One day when Jo was listening to the six o’clock 1 a very strange thing happened. A hand came 2 of the radio and got hold of Jo’s face. Jo was very 3 . She 4 the comic she was reading. She 5 her cup of tea off the arm of her chair. Jo picked up the 6 . She stared at it. Then the 7 came out again. This time is got hold of Jo’s left 8 . Jo jumped back. Jo got very upset. She grabbed the radio and ran into the kitchen . She put the radio in the sink and turned on 9 taps. The water filled the sink. Jo heard a voice coming out of the radio. It said, “Help me! Help me! Please help me. I’m 10 .

The child reads and selects words. Then retells the story orally.

Writes the story using clue words

Hop 10.

• Ask the child to create their own narrative.• You scribe.• S/he chooses the key words.• S/he writes it.

10 hops = 1 leap

Billy six months later