HWT Question - Where to Start?

[tdbates78]

Hi again! One of my first grade twins has high-functioning ASD. She had an OT eval last week and, although we haven't yet sat down for the formal review the results, she suggested HWT because DD has low muscle tone in her hand and still holds a pencil with a fist.

 

I just got my box of materials today. I went with HWT 1st Grade. Because we just started homeschooling in early January we haven't used a handwriting curriculum yet other than Draw Write Now, which both girls love. Anyways I'm going through the HWT teacher's manual and I'm not sure if I should start from the beginning or jump ahead? She does know how to write. She can write all of her letters and numbers, both capital and lower case. The issue is that her sentences are kind of all over the place. She writes the letters but some are oversized, some are tiny, and some words in the same sentence are oversized and some are tiny. She gets very frustrated when I correct her. So in a way it seems odd to start at the beginning, teaching letters that she already knows how to write, but on the other hand she hasn't had instruction in the HWT method and I don't want to cause further frustration. So I'm confused! Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Tracy

[EKS]

If she is holding the pencil in her fist, she is going to need to relearn how to form letters using a proper grip (unless her OT has another idea).

 

I used Printing Power (which I think is the 2nd grade book) with my then 4th grader who needed to relearn how to form letters.  I watched him like a hawk every time he wrote anything for a few months until the new way was internalized.

[tdbates78]

If she is holding the pencil in her fist, she is going to need to relearn how to form letters using a proper grip (unless her OT has another idea).

 

I used Printing Power (which I think is the 2nd grade book) with my then 4th grader who needed to relearn how to form letters.  I watched him like a hawk every time he wrote anything for a few months until the new way was internalized.

 

Thank you for responding. I will go ahead and start from the beginning. We could always move quicker if need be, but I really want her to focus on her writing more.