Children with co-ordination difficulties and very young children who cannot yet form letters properly, need to develop what it known as the "Pre-Writing Shapes". These lines and shapes form the basis of all of the letters in the alphabet, and it is useful for a child to master these shapes before they attempt to write letters and words. The shapes are: A vertical line, horizontal line, cross, diagonal slants, X and triangle.
Occupational therapists have found that it can be useful to use all of the senses in encouraging these skills. This can make learning these important shapes a lot of fun for the child. Therapists include the senses of touch, sight and smell, as well as the kinaesthetic sense, the sensation of movement, to reinforce these concepts. This article discusses some practical ways that this can be achieved.
Using the Sense of Touch
This method focuses on using different textures to stimulate the child and encourage them to form the pre-writing shapes. Techniques include drawing letters in wet sand with the finger or a stick, and also using a variety of writing tools to form the shapes, such as pens, paint, and chalk and to focus on how these different tools feel to use. Methods that do not require any equipment include writing the shapes in the air with the index finger, or pressing lightly on the child's back with a finger and making the shape and letting the child guess which shape it is. A chalkboard, easel, or even a large sheet of paper on the wall will encourage the child to use whole arm movements to form the shapes, and reinforce the skills they are learning. It is also useful to purchase scratch-art boards which are available from stationery shops, which have a black layer which has to be scraped off with a tool to reveal rainbow colours underneath. This is a really fun way to encourage the child to write.
Using the Sense of Sight
This method incorporates bright and bold visual stimuli. The caregiver can use different types and colours of paper, as well as using glitter pens and bright neon gel pens. The child could also write the shapes on the paper in glue and then add glitter. Aluminium foil is also a great medium to scratch shapes onto with a pencil. "Magic painting" books can be bought very cheaply, and the child can make the colours in the book appear as if by magic by making the shapes with a wet finger or paintbrush. The same concept can be used with an Aquadraw mat, which is a large white floor mat that changes colour when water is applied to the surface. Children really enjoy the "magic" and will think that making the shapes is a game. Making shapes with big chalks in the pavement is also lots of fun.
Using the Sense of Smell
This is perhaps not such an obvious option, but the sense of smell can be used effectively to help develop pre-writing shapes. The child can make the shapes with scented markers and pens, or the caregiver can add a little lavender or another essential oil to finger paint to make it smell nice when the child applies it to the paper or card, or the child could use a scented body lotion to make the shapes with the finger onto their arm or hand.
Proprioception. The Sense of Movement
Incorporating weight or resistance to movement provides extra feedback to the brain about the movements that the child is making. With this method, the child could be encouraged to use heavy pencils or a weighted brush to make the shapes. The could also wear wrist weights. If the paper that they are writing on is placed on an uneven surface, such as sandpaper, this also encourages the child to think about how the pen is moving. Some shops sell "wobbling pens", which again, make the child think more about the sensation of movement when making the shapes.
Encourage Your child to Write
By using some of the methods above, children will hopefully master the pre-writing shapes, and will then be able to move on to forming proper letter shapes. There is no reason why the techniques cannot be continued as the child masters the letter shapes too. By using imaginative ways to encourage special needs children to write, they can be helped to make real progress with life skills.
Source: Information sheet from Walsall Community Health Occupational Therapy Dept.
Louise Jones - I have always enjoyed writing as a hobby, but started writing reviews online in February 2010 for Dooyoo, and later Ciao. In the beginning ...
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