Handwriting/HWOT question

[Wheres Toto]

Hello,

 

I did a search through the old threads but didn't really find an answer.

 

My son is 5 years old. He actually has pretty decent handwriting for a 5 year old but he writes everything in capitals. I've been printing out tracing pages for him and showing him correct formation to avoid bad habits but

he is very resistant to lowercase (he says its harder:confused:) and forms a lot of letters from the bottom.

 

I'm thinking of buying HWOT. He did it for Pre-K when he was in Early Intervention and did okay with it. I don't really mind the funky paper or the font. I would like to start him with the 1st grade book which is lowercase letters since that is his main "problem" area, but he doesn't always form his uppercase letters correctly either, although they are pretty neat. If we do the K book, I think he will be bored pretty fast and complain. I know both books do the letters in an order based on how they are formed. So, I assume that the letter order for uppercase isn't the same as for lowercase? Or do they match up? If they do, I was thinking of buying both the K and 1st grade books and doing them together. Any thoughts?

[ReidFamily]

I am not sure on the formatting for HWOT since when deciding upon the two my daughter chose Getty Dubay italic. However, even though my daughter knew how to form all her letters (even lowercase) I still started her at the beginning so that she could practice proper letter formation (starting from the top, not reversing, etc).

 

She is whizzing through this book doing at least 3 letters a day and sometimes she'll do 10 or so in a sitting. We are almost done with the first book and it has helped a lot in proper formation. She is looking forward to being able to copy words which is what is in book b.

 

I'd say buy both and try to get him to do the first book first. You want to really focus on getting proper letter formation down.

 

I thought my daughter might be bored but she likes it. She especially likes searching for her "best" one all by herself and circling it.

 

ETA: our first book teaches both lowercase and capital letters.

[FairProspects]

Your ds sounds very smart! The OTs who wrote HWOT would say that he is right (from the TMs) in that it easier to write capitals, and lowercase letters are more difficult because they start at multiple places and each of those has to be remembered. Also, from our OT experiences writing in capitals is developmental and completely normal so no worries there.

 

I think the K book would work out well for him. It includes both uppercase and lowercase letter formation. You may also want to get the CD with the song "Where do you start your letters? At the top!" if you think it will help him remember that they start at the top (my 4 y.o. loves it).

 

One of the biggest strengths of the HWOT program is how they teach letter formation with the rhymes & tricks, it would definitely be a big help to a kid learning the sensory motor planning of writing and where to start. I can still hear ds saying sometimes "Start with magic c, go up, and come back down." (For lowercase d, for example) Good luck!

[MerryAtHope]

Your ds sounds very smart! The OTs who wrote HWOT would say that he is right (from the TMs) in that it easier to write capitals, and lowercase letters are more difficult because they start at multiple places and each of those has to be remembered. Also, from our OT experiences writing in capitals is developmental and completely normal so no worries there.

 

I think the K book would work out well for him. It includes both uppercase and lowercase letter formation. You may also want to get the CD with the song "Where do you start your letters? At the top!" if you think it will help him remember that they start at the top (my 4 y.o. loves it).

 

One of the biggest strengths of the HWOT program is how they teach letter formation with the rhymes & tricks, it would definitely be a big help to a kid learning the sensory motor planning of writing and where to start. I can still hear ds saying sometimes "Start with magic c, go up, and come back down." (For lowercase d, for example) Good luck!

 

WSS!

[Ariston]

I agree with the other posters that the K book would probably be good for him. The first half of the book is upper case, the second half is lower case. You're right that they're in a different order, but since he already knows the capitals, maybe you could start half way through and go in order of the lower case, but then jump back and do the corresponding capital on the same day? Just a thought...

Elena