Multisensory Writing

Happy Handwriting!

Did you know that tomorrow is National Handwriting Day?! Learning to write letters can be challenging and frustrating for children, so why not make it fun. Check out one of our Occupational Therapists work on letter formation using a fun, multi-sensory approach! Click below to watch the video.

Click here for the video!

 

Why Use Multi-Sensory Writing?

Multisensory writing is not only fun, but it also increases the likelyhood for a child to remember the skill they are working on. Therefore, encorporating a variety of senses will help target different areas of the brain and help children process information. Also, children learn best through play so the more fun it is the more they are going to want to participate and learn!

 

The Importance of Formation:

Working on making sure a child writes their letters in the correct way is important because it increases overall legibility, as well as, speed of writing. Formation must be taught in a developmental sequence and it always starts with pre-writing strokes. Remember to make sure to always start letters at the top!

Click here to learn more about formation and pre-writing strokes.

 

Activities to Try at Home:

  • Shaving cream: Using shaving cream to work on letter formation encorporates touch, smell, and visual sensory systems.
  • Play doh: Roll out the playdoh and try pairing it with visual and verbal supports.
  • Sugar/Salt: This is similar to the shaving cream and will activate touch, smell, and sight sensory systems.
  • Food: Using verbal and visual supports place the food in the correct formation and then eat it!!
  • Sounds: Try using verbage such as “big lines, little lines” or “big curves, little curves“. For example when writing the letter “F” you would say “big line down, little line across, little line across.
  • Music: Check out this fun song to help children remember where to start their letters.
  • Air Writing: Have a child use full body movements to write their letters or pre-writing strokes in the air. Get creative and pretend that they are using lightsabers or that they are an air traffic controlman.

 

The possibilites for using multisensory writing to work on letter formation are endless. Just remember to have fun and that it’s okay to get a little messy!

 

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