OT takes Sarah’s writing from hard-to-read to clear and well organized
Eight-year-old Sarah was familiar with the alphabet. But the Grade 2 student’s printing was messy with letter formation and sizes that were all over the place. She also had problems maintaining attention and coordination. As a result, she was not finishing her school work on time.
An OT assessed Sarah and found she had problems with motor planning – that is, she found it hard to understand, organize, and perform actions in a certain order. To fix this problem, the OT created a cursive writing program based on a developmental structured approach and order.
Working with Sarah’s parents and teacher the OT applied the program, which included putting visual cues on a page and getting Sarah to say aloud the letter or word she was writing. The teacher used the program with the whole class and spent 15 minutes each day teaching students how to form letters and words. Sarah agreed to practise at home as well.
As she followed the program, Sarah learned to write her name, spell out words, and got better at organizing her work on the page. She learned to control letter sizes and her writing became clearer and less messy. Sarah felt proud when her teacher asked her to write the letter of the day on the blackboard. She was able to complete shorter assignments in her workbook on time. For other tasks she was able to use the classroom computer. Now she can read her handwriting and get her work done on time.