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Improve Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills

E-BOOK NO.3

“As a mother of a lefty, FYI I am right handed, I have struggled over the years to translate the teaching that came so effortlessly with my right handed children. The tips in this eBook would be helpful for any parent who wants tips for helping their children have writing success.”Elaine Shannon, Professional Organizer, Mother of 3 Children

BY: Christel K.A. Seeberger

BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg.(NB)

2 Improve Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without the permission of the copyright holder.

Copyright ©2013Christel K.A. Seeberger Professional Corporation Inc.

Table of contents03 Introduction04 Chapter 1: Get Ready to Print, Write, Color, Draw and Cut with 25 Guidelines. 06 Chapter 2: My Favorite 15 Pre-Printing and Handwriting Readiness Activities. 08 Chapter 3: Pre-Printing Shapes to Master BEFORE Printing. 11 Chapter 4: Happy Strokes for Little Folks: Help your child learn to Color. 13 Chapter 5: Fine Motor Skill Hand Games in the Kitchen for Rainy Day Fun. 15 Chapter 6: The Best Fine Motor Fun. 17 Chapter 7: Childrens’ Favourite Homemade Toys and Games. 19 Chapter 8: Odd and Ends; a few of my favorite fine motor things. 21 Chapter 9: Efficient Pencil Grasps. 23 Chapter 10: Inefficient Pencil Grasps. 25 Chapter 11: Handwriting: 20 Best Occupational Therapy Tips and Tricks. 27 Chapter 12: Handedness: Right or Left-handed? 29 Chapter 13: Handwriting Checklist for Left-Handedness. 31 Chapter 14: Upper Case-Capital-Letter Formation. 32 Chapter 15: Lower Case Letter Formation. 33 Chapter 16: What to draw today? 19 Solutions for your child. 35 Chapter 17: Draw a person and learn a lot. 37 Chapter 18: Handwriting Success Part 1 Refresher. 39 Chapter 19: Handwriting Success Part 2 Refresher. 43 Upper Case Printing Worksheet56 Lower Case Printing Worksheet 68 Chapter 20: What is Dysgraphia?

Improve Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills 3

Dear Parents, Educators, Therapists and Caregivers,

After almost 20 years practicing occupational therapy with children, I decided to share my best tips and tricks to help you and your child learn to print, write, draw, color and master fine motor skills in everyday life. Children, from toddler to teen, need to spend a lot of time, every day, having fun mind you, to develop and master fine motor abilities.

This eBook is designed to help guide your child through the typical development of fine mo-tor skills, including handwriting. I also created this eBook to help trouble shoot if your child is experiencing difficulty because of a challenge like a disability or skills delay that makes fine motor mastery unsuccessful.

I love to remind myself, my team of occupational therapists along with parents, educators and caregivers to always go for a just right challenge when helping children. A just right challenge means your child succeeds but learns and works to do so! That means matching the fine motor activity that helps your child to learn and practice just a little bit more than what they are easily able to do. So avoid fine motor and handwriting activities that are so easy they are boring. And also avoid fine motor and handwriting activities that are so hard, your child struggles too much and doesn’t experience any success at all. Have fine motor fun and be creative, because it is in doing that we all learn.

Christel

IntroductionImprove Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills

Christel K.A. Seeberger BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg.(NB), Occupational Therapist


Does your child struggle with printing, writing, coloring, drawing, and cutting? Here are 25 occupational therapy strategies to help.

1. Ensure your child’s feet reach the floor!

2. If not, have their feet supported by a stool or couple of phone books.

3. Collect phone books and tape them together for that foot support.

4. See how hard it is to do “fine motor” work, when you are attending to the “gross motor” task of sitting and also keeping your balance, raise your feet off the floor, hold them there and try to write!

5. Encourage your child to sit with his/her bum all the way back in chair.

6. Use a chair with back support, in particular if your child struggles with these types of tasks.

7. The correct desk or table height is about 2” above bent elbows.

8. A surface that is too high or too low will make fine motor activities much more difficult.

9. Hips and knees should be bent to about 90 degrees when sitting.

10. TAKE HOME MESSAGE: printing, writing, coloring, drawing, and cutting are 2-handed activities. Two handed by the same person, not a child hand and an adult hand.

11. Your child should have a working hand and a helping hand.

12. The working hand is the dominant hand, the one that holds and moves the crayon, pencil, pencil crayon, paint brush, scissors or the like.

C H A P T E R

Click here to post this success strategy to your Twitter account.

1 Get ready to print, write, color, draw and cut TWEET NOW

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13. The helping hand is the one that holds or stabilizes the paper.

14. Experience how awkward and hard it is to develop skills by using only one hand; try to cut with one hand while another person holds the paper.

15. Or color as someone else moves the page along for you.

16. Help best by teaching your child to print, write, color, draw and cut with their own two hands.

17. Fine motor fun doesn’t just have to be at a table or desk.

18. Use easels, wall mounted chalkboards, dry erase boards, the back of doors, windows or mirrors.

19. Establish good fine motor habits from the start.

20. Draw on the paper (not the wall itself).

21. Or use a slanted surface, like a binder or a slant board; they often help with visual challenges too.

22. Vertical and slanted surfaces are great at developing a stable shoulder, elbow, forearm and wrist.

23. Floor work helps develop core trunk muscles; try chalk on pavement, or large-scale coloring books.

24. The best ways to sit on the floor are with legs extended, curled to the side, or crossed.

25. Do not W-sit (legs make the shape of the letter W on the floor). W-sitting “freezes” your child’s pelvis and trunk and that hinders good development of posture and trunk control.


C H A P T E R 2

1. Have your child trace, imitate, copy and draw shapes and letters using broken crayons, or broken pieces of chalk to promote a mature grasp.

2. Use any writing tool that interests the child:

a. Markers, pens, pencils, crayons and chalk come in many shapes and sizes: thick, thin, short, long, squat, triangles, bulbs.

3. Try novel tools to draw and write, for example: glue pens and bingo markers.

4. Go beyond paper and pen and have your child trace, imitate, copy and draw with finger paints, pudding, yogurt, shaving cream, gels, and jello.

5. Trace, imitate, copy and draw in sand with fingers or any “tool”.

6. Place inedible media in a clear, sealable bag and trace the shape or figure through the bag.

7. Use many writing surfaces: color paper, construction paper (works well for chalk too), chalk-board, dry and wet erase boards, wipe-off books (create your own by putting clear, sticky-back sheets over your own paper), cardboard, newspaper, onion paper, etc.

8. Work on the floor; prop arms over a pillow or rolled towel.

9. Working at an easel or on the wall is great for developing strong shoulders and arms needed for stability so that the small muscles of the hand can print well.

10. Make shapes and letters out of pipe cleaners, wax string, sticks, twist ties, toothpicks, marshmallows, and string. Have your child trace over them with a finger when completed.

My favorite 15 pre-printing and handwriting readiness activities TWEET NOW

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C H A P T E R 3

Work first on pre-printing shapes and printing will be easy!

Mastery of pre-printing shapes before printing is another occupational therapy tip for successful printing and then cursive handwriting.

Why is it important for a child to master pre-printing shapes before learning to print the letters of the alphabet or numbers?

Because it would be like trying to teach a child to read a sentence, without first teaching them the individual words!

Pre-printing shapes are the pre-cursors to printing letters and num-bers.

What are pre-printing shapes?

Here they are in the most common order of teaching and learning.

Pre-printing shapes to master BEFORE printing TWEET NOW

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Before 24 months, your child will

Between 24 and 36 months, your child will

Between 36 months and 5 years, your child will

Adapted from Marsha Lee Dun (Marsha Dunn Klein)’s “Pre-writing skills” 1982

What are the steps of typical pre-printing development in children? TWEET NOW

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1. First teach your child to TRACE the shape you are teaching. The child can trace directly over the shape you have made or one in a book.

2. Start big then go small.

3. Avoid dot-to-dot when teaching pre-printing shapes. For example, 4 “dots” in four corners

to start and stop and how to create a shape.

4. Next show your child how to IMITATE the shape.

5. Demonstrate how the shape is made with a verbal description, then ask the child to imitate it “make a line just like mine”.

6. Then ask your child to COPY the shape.

7. Provide a copy of the shape, but do not demonstrate it first as you did with imitation.

8. Last invite your child to DRAW the shape.

9. Ask the child to draw the shape without a model.

10. Children need tons of pre-printing shape practice.

11. Your child may spend a long time on each step before getting “good” at it! Children need to practice shapes thousands and thousands of times.

REMEMBER:A. TRACEB. IMITATEC. COPY D. DRAW

Teaching pre-printing shapes TWEET NOW

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C H A P T E R 4 Happy strokes for little

folks: help your child learn to color TWEET NOW

Here is a list of 6 questions I developed to help remind my team of occupational therapists and parents of coloring skills progression in young children.

Step 1. Is your child able to cover a large paper with random lines?

Step 2. Is your child able to cover an 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper using single stroke direction; large strokes? Is color use random?

Step 3. Is your child able to color a medium-sized area using consistent direction? Does your child start to use several colors?

Step 4. Is your child able to color a small area, moving paper to stroke direction? Does your child use some appropriate colors?

Step 5. Is your child able to color a medium-sized design?

Step 6. Is your child able to color a small design with attention to detail? Keeps paper still; adjusts stroke. Does your child use appropriate colors?

I intentionally haven’t added ages; they can vary considerably with typical development. And each step takes months to years to master!

How to best help your child to learn and ENJOY coloring:

1. Reuse before you recycle. Coloring can be more interesting when it occurs on things other than plain paper or in coloring books. Reuse your recycling such a wrapping paper, news-paper, the underside of any papers, cardboard, Styrofoam, etc.

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2. Keep a scrap box of samples to re-use before recycling. Different sizes and materials will help with motor skills, perceptual skills and creativity all while learning to color.

3. There are many different types and sizes of coloring tools to help engage your child: chalk, crayons, markers, pens, pencils and pencil crayons along with paints.

4. Remember “small tools for small hands” is key to helping your child develop grasp and control. Keep in mind that grasp and handedness develop over a long time. Practice play-ing with and holding different tools and toys in many, many different ways.

5. It is important to remember that coloring is a two-handed activity. Your child should have a working hand (holding the tool used to color) and a helping hand (stabilizing the object being colored). Don’t hold for your child. Always help him/her to work and hold on their own.

6. Find an appropriate spot to color; try on a table, the floor, an easel or the wall (tape the paper to the wall; and give some clear rules). What OTs call “vertical work” – on an easel or the wall – is a great way to promote good grasp development too! Coloring doesn’t always have to be at a desk with a coloring book. Although the variety of coloring books available make them interesting too!

7. Include mazes, dot-to-dot, paint or color by number, along with activity pages that incorporate coloring with other skills to keep it interesting for your school-aged child.

8. Try pencils or pencil crayons on onion skin paper, chalk on construction paper. Make your own designs to color by drawing over carbon paper, outline a shape with glued down string or waxed covered string.

9. Waxed covered string will stick to paper and other surfaces. Occupational therapists use it to help children learn to color in the lines. Outline a shape in waxed covered string; it provides an added visual and kinesthetic cue to stop the stroke.


Here are some occupational therapy games to promote fine motor, visual-perceptual and cognitive skills using every day kitchen tools, when you can’t think of anything else to do on a rainy day.

1. Play “Simon Says” with spoons. Spoons up, spoons down, spoons in, spoons out. What spoon positions can your child imitate?

2. Do something fun with water in the sink: practice pouring! See if your child can pour fast enough to fill a colander or sieve. How many table spoons does it take to fill one cup? You can sneak in a little math too.

3. Another water game is to have your child carry a dish with water. Use plastic! Fill a small dish right to the brim with water. Now have your child:

o balance it on his/her finger tips (palms up)o Try to rotate it…clockwise, counter-clockwise…can he/she do it? o Try it again with eyes closed. o Hold the bowl close to her/his body, now move it further away. Did any water spill?

4. Collect a variety of spoons and balls (or food that will balance on a spoon). Walk around the whole house while balancing the object on the spoon. A fun rule is the child must visit every room in the house without dropping it. Now have the child try holding the spoon with his/her non-dominant hand!

5. Tea towel scrunch. Place the towel lengthwise on a table/counter or over its edge. Have your child rest her/his forearms with palms facing down. Have your child use just fingers to gather the towel up under the palms. See how much of the towel your child can fit under her/his hands. Once the towel has been gathered up, have your child push it out again.

C H A P T E R 5 Fine motor skill hand

games in the kitchen for rainy day fun TWEET NOW

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6. Keep the chopsticks from your take-out orders. Use them for a fun and challenging snack time. And if using two is too hard…I always allow “spearing” food with one chopstick when hungry.

7. Keep plastic cutlery for an interesting snack time. Especially when snacks aren’t as appealing on low groceries days. The added challenge of eating yogurt with a fork can be enticing.

8. Put your child to work anytime you have to seal a plastic bag. Both the grooved ridge-style and the sliding lock style make index fingers and thumbs learn to work well together.

9. Break out your collection of tongs. Learning to successfully manipulate tongs of different sizes is a terrific pre-cursor to cutting and pencil grasp. Practice controlled pick up, carry and release. And if you use food, your child can release it right into her/his mouth.

10. Have your child play waiter or waitress with plastic or paper dishes. Show them how to balance the tray over her/his shoulder The wrist extension of the hand under the tray is great for promoting good pencil grasp.

11. I have never met a child who didn’t enjoy washing and drying dishes when tools were added to make it fun: extra soap bubbles, a spray bottle to rinse, rules like wash with only one hand dry with the other hand, a variety of scrub brushes or sponges; you can break out a new toothbrush too for a novel technique.


Here are some fun activities to promote and develop your child’s fine motor skills:

Play dough activities

Coin activities

coins with your hand. See how many can be picked up without dropping any!

Cookie cutter activities

C H A P T E R 6 The best fine motor fun!

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Sticker activitiessticker off with the working hand; (this helps with hand dominance)

Clothes pin activities

different directions really helps with hand and arm skills)

Dice activities

magically disappear).

using thumb and fingers

How many more fine motor fun ideas can you think of?


“Kim’s game” from my Girl Guide Leader days. The original game is from Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim.

Instructions:1. Empty out the junk drawer! Collect those odds and ends. 2. Keep them together for an impromptu memory game that also helps with visual

perceptual skills. My speech language pathology colleagues advise this game can help build vocabulary.

3. Lay the objects out for a set time, such as one minute. Adjust the number of items and time with the age and abilities of your child.

4. Then cover up the objects or remove them from sight. How many objects can your child remember? Increase the number of objects and decrease the time allotted if you like.

5. Have your child write out the objects s/he can recall. This is also a great way to get extra handwriting practice into your child’s day. Or your child can simply say all the things s/he remembers as you write them out. Keep track and see if you can improve your memory too!

C H A P T E R 7 Childrens’ favourite

homemade toys and games TWEET NOW

Hide and seek-The Visual VersionInstructions:1. Fill a small clear plastic container about 3/4 of the way with dried legumes, rice, pasta or

small beads. 2. Place small toys and objects inside and close the lid. Glue the lid down if you are worried

about spillage.3. Shake it about to discover what is inside. How many different objects can your child see

and find?4. Keep a list of what is hidden and compare to what is found!

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Tennis Ball Mouths These are great for developing the small muscles of the hand, all so important for fine motor skills. An adult should do all the cutting and with extreme caution. Children should do the coloring!

Instructions: 1. Cut a tennis ball in half or make a 1/3 circumferential slit.2. Color a face with markers around the cut mouth or invite your child to make a creation of

their own. 3. Make the tennis ball talk...or eat...or swallow by picking up small objects that fit inside its

mouth. These can become puppets and part of fun pretend play all the while improving fine motor skills.

Hide and seek-The Tactile VersionInstructions:1. Fill a large plastic container about ½ way or so full with dried legumes, rice or pasta. You

can also use small non-food like materials such as beads. 2. Bury and find other small objects and toys like dice, paperclips, coins, larger beads, blocks,

keys and so on. 3. To make it more sensory interesting combine different textures and colors of the dried

foodstuffs to bury the treasure in. 4. Scooping through the dried food stuff or beads on their own is great fun too, as is pouring

them through a funnel. For a child who dislikes messy hands, the smooth, hard textures of larger legumes are a way to introduce sensory play and tactile exploration without being overwhelming.


C H A P T E R 8 Odds and ends:

a few of my favorite fine motor things TWEET NOW

Help your child’s fine motor skills with things you never thought would help fine motor skills develop!

1. Plastic “bunny ear” spoon type tongs and small plastic eggs that split are a great combination. These toys are two of my much loved fine motor activity tools and are certain kid pleasers as well in my occupational therapy practice! Hide the eggs around a room and have you child find them all, picking them up with the bunny ear spoon tongs and putting them in a basket. Sometimes they carry the basket, and sometimes they have to bring the egg to the basket, keep-ing hold of it in the tongs. That takes more strength and planning. Trust me; you don’t even have to hide chocolate or candy in the plastic eggs the thrill of the hunt is fun enough! When I do hide objects in the plastic eggs, like stickers, opening the eggs up is another terrific two handed activity. Sometimes we shake and rattle the eggs first to guess what is inside.

2. Another good theme for play is to be a bug hunter. Use tongs and hide plastic insects around the room to find and collect with the tongs. A magnifying lens in one hand, tongs in the other, a container for collection and your budding entomologist is all set. I do really suggest sticking to plastic insects for this one.

3. What to do with those wire coat hangers from the dry cleaner’s? Open one up (untwist the top). With a little adult arm strength you can re-shape the wire to a funky design. Thread a bead or beads onto the wire. Close it up again (by re-twisting or covering with tape. Now, move the bead along the wire. Try each hand or hands together. This is a great activity for eye-hand coordination and visual tracking. Visual tracking is really important for successful reading. Try to make the bead stop and go at the corners. Eyes also have to stop and go to read words in a sentence or on a page.

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4. Using a toy hammer, hammer golf tees into a hunk of foam. Apologies for any chagrin this may cause golfers. Remember my adage “working hand and helping hand” and use two hands, one working the hammer and one holding the tee or foam to stabilize. Watch those fingers, thus plastic hammer is suggested.

5. Find a new use for all those spare keys that you no longer have any idea what they open. And clean out the junk drawer. If you find matching objects (they don’t have to be identical) bonus. Hide one set of the matching objects in an opaque bag. Find the match just by feel. Don’t have matching objects? Well, add your words! Hide the con-tents of your junk drawer in the opaque bag. Find all the objects that are soft. Find all the objects that start with the letter “A”. Find all the objects you use in the kitchen. And so on. Don’t forget to take turns for all the activities suggested and have your child come up with the “rules” and direct you.


Improper pencil grasp is often overlooked, resulting in children needlessly struggling with printing and cursive writing.

Having an efficient and effective grasp of a pencil (pen, crayon, marker) is important to be successful at printing, cursive writing and drawing.

Know that good posture is critical.

Hand dominance doesn’t necessarily develop before Kindergarten and can develop as late as 7 years.

Everyone has a working hand (dominant hand) and a helping hand (non-dominant hand) regardless of right or left handedness. One hand should be working (by holding the pencil with a good grasp) and one hand should be helping (by stabilizing the paper). If you are worried about your child’s posture, hand dominance, or grasp, an occupational therapist can assess, treat and advise.

Caveat: This is for school-aged children, not toddlers and pre-school aged children.

Good grasp development needs time and practice.

Forcing a grasp pattern on a child who hasn’t gone through the developing stages will not help!

C H A P T E R 9 Efficient pencil grasps

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Tricks to make adopting good tripod grasp fun:Who is driving the pencil? Thumb and index finger are in the front seats and should be near to each other on the pencil. There is a passenger in the middle seat who wants to see out the front car window (middle finger) and sits behind them on the pencil. Ring and little fingers are passengers in the back seats.

Point-Pinch-Flip-Set: 1. Point pencil tip towards your belly button. 2. Pinch with index and thumb. 3. Flip the pencil up into the middle of the tear drop formed by your thumb/index. 4. Set your 3rd, 4th, 5th fingers underneath.

Pencil grips should be the LAST thing to help with grasp.

The FIRST one to help with good pencil grasp is: do the work/play/practice to develop good grasp.

If that doesn’t work in a timely manner, then TRY a pencil grip that is the right fit for your child.

Pencil grips easily get lost. But if you do the work and ensure good grasp, your child won’t lose his/her ability to handwrite with ease.

Here are the three common “good grasps” that typically develop between the ages of 4 and 9.


Do any of these inefficient pencil grasps look familiar?

C H A P T E R 10 Inefficient pencil grasps

TWEET NOW

While some of these grasps are more often seen in left-handers, they are all unfortunately too common among both right and left- handed school-aged children and lead to unnecessary struggles with printing and cursive writing, drawing, writing figures for math and tool use in general.

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What to do if you child has an inefficient pencil grasp?

Prevention: encourage good development of hand skills and an efficient pencil grasp FIRST. a. For infants, that means tons of tummy time on the floor both with and without toys.

Bearing weight through arms and hands is paramount.

b. Occupational therapists often say: “proximal stability leads to distal mobility”. In layman’s terms, a good, strong, stable core will enable your arms and hands to move like they should to do the things you want to do with them.

c. Weight bearing is also critical to develop and strengthen the small muscles and ligaments

of the hand.

d. For toddlers, that means play, play, play on the floor too and introduce lots of toys that require manipulation.

e. For pre-school children, provide many opportunities to play with crayons, markers, pencils, paint brushes and anything that makes a mark. There can never be too many opportunities.

f. Our most recommended occupational therapy “tool” is broken crayons (as long as your child doesn’t eat them) because they do encourage the small muscles of the hand to work.

g. Avoid over-correcting the grasp of pre-school aged children, let them experience and

experiment.

h. It is far better to encourage a working hand and helping hand than to correct grasp for a pre-school aged child who hasn’t developed it yet.

i. For school-aged children who have an inefficient grasp, have an occupational therapist figure out the underlying cause.

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1. Warm up the body, arms and hands with exercise first.

2. Set-up for success by having appropriate sized furniture.

3. Have visual or use verbal reminders about good posture.

4. Provide lots of extra practice of fine motor skills throughout the day, not just handwriting.

5. Ensure your child has mastered pre-printing shapes before teaching handwriting.

6. Use vertical or slanted surfaces too: chalkboard, easel, paper posted on a wall, window, door, binder or slant board on a desk or floor.

7. Make letters with pipe-cleaners, wax string, sticks, toothpicks and marshmallows, twist ties, string, strips of paper, strips of wood, etc.

8. Start with an 8.5” by 11” paper. Write a letter the size of the whole page. Gradually decrease the size of the paper and the letter on it.

9. Use golf-sized pencils or pencil crayons for small hands.

10. Use a stamp pad, sticker, candy, etc. to put between words to remind the child of spacing.

C H A P T E R 11 Handwriting: 20 best

occupational therapy tips and tricks TWEET NOW

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11. Keep lined paper selection consistent.

12. Teach and demand consistent letter formation (left to right, top to bottom).

13. Try a mechanical pencil if the child presses too hard.

14. Place the paper on top of Styrofoam if the child is pressing too hard.

15. Put a dot of liquid paper, piece of tape or the like on the pencil/pen to remind the child where to place fingers.

16. Place a small piece of sponge, eraser or marble tucked into the palm with the child’s fourth and fifth finger as a reminder to bend these fingers.

17. Use pencil grips with caution, always have an occupational therapist evaluate and treat the underlying cause of immature, inefficient pencil grasp.

18. Encourage visual as well as kinaesthetic learning: draw without looking, draw in the air, trace over a raised surface.

19. Remember the trace-imitate-copy-draw sequence when teaching handwriting.

20. Take gross and fine motor movement breaks between pages.


What is handedness?Handedness is the ability to perform skilled fine motor movements with one hand, your dominant, while your other hand, your non-dominant, remains relatively inactive in comparison.

The working hand performs the skilled fine motor movements, using the small muscles of your hand, finger and thumb, while your helping hand stabilizes, braces or holds.

A few handedness facts!

* Yes there are more right-handed people than left-handed ones in the world.* About 10% of the population is left-handed.* If you do some skilled fine motor tasks better with your right hand and some better

with your left hand you have a mixed dominance (you are not ambidextrous) Some left handed people are forced to develop mixed dominance because it is a right- handed world.

* If you are ambidextrous then you truly can do all skilled, fine motor tasks equally well with either hand

Did you know that handedness or hand dominance can develop as late as 6 to 7 years old and possibly later for left-handers?

Did you also know that your eye dominance, your hand dominance and your leg dominance are not all necessarily on the same side?

Fast facts for your reference: what do I recommend as an occupational therapist to promote the appropriate development of handedness?

C H A P T E R 12 Handedness: right or

left-handed? TWEET NOW

Good, efficient pencil grasp can be developed.

Don’t go to school without it! TWEET NOW

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Toddlers and pre-schoolers1. Provide lots of opportunities to use both hands symmetrically, with both hands doing

similar things. Play with musical instruments like cymbals, interlocking beads to push and pull together, push a rolling pin with both hands or rip paper into strips.

2. Then try toys to help young children alternate their hands in play such as using drum sticks to create a rhythm, clapping games, high fives or my favorite alternative low fives and side fives.

But for school-aged children3. The non-dominant hand will not develop into a helping hand and the working hand will not

differentiate from the helping hand if both are doing the same thing or if one hand is just mimicking or copying the other in play.

What tells me as an occupational therapist that a child is not developing hand dominance? 4. If a 4, 5 or 6 year old child isn’t learning to use their helping hand to steady the paper while

coloring, cutting, drawing or writing.

5. I watch to see if the child is switching hands during the activity. A child should start and finish an activity like cutting out a shape with the same hand.

BONUS: Here are some more occupational therapy and kid favorites to develop handedness or a working hand and a helping hand with these two-handed activities:

1. Open and close jars and containers with lids.

2. Use stencils (make your own first!) to color in.

3. Use a ruler to make drawings.

4. Sharpen pencils with a manual (not electric) pencil sharpener.

5. Put together and take apart nuts and bolts

6. String beads

7. Play with a windup toy (Jack in the box, racing cars)

8. Hide things in a drawstring bag and pull the string, zip closed a “slide-lock” plastic bag

9. Stack flat round objects like poker chips one at a time on a table with your eyes closed, you need to use your helping hand to stabilize the stack and substitute for vision.


C H A P T E R 13 Handwriting checklist

for left-handedness TWEET NOW

Step 1: Check your child’s body position Is he/she sitting like the girl in Figure 1? Are the feet flat on the floor or supported by a foot

stool? Are the hips and knee bent at around 90 degrees? Is he/she sitting back in the chair? Is the back supported? Is the desk or table the right size? Is the desk or table height just above (about 2”)

the bottom of his/her bent elbow? Or the same height as the crook in the elbow when bent at the side?

Step 2: Check the arm and hand position Is he/she ready to write like the boy in Figure 2? Are the elbows close to his/her trunk? Are the forearms supported by the desk or table? Is your child using a mature, efficient pencil grasp?

(tripod, adapted tripod or quadrapod). Is your child holding the pencil or pen about 1” to

1.5” from the tip? Left handers should hold a pen or pencil slightly further back than a right hander to allow for a clear view of handwriting/

Is the left hand to the left and below the writing line when writing?

Is your child writing from left to right and top to bottom across the page?

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Step 3: Check the paper position

Is the paper oriented on the desk or table like Figure 3? Is the paper positioned with the right edge slightly to the

left of the midline (center of the body? Is the paper far enough to the left so your child can

rest his/her elbow and move his/her forearm without crossing his/her body?

Is the paper slanted so the left side is parallel to the forearm as your child writes?

Step 4: Other hints to follow

Have you taped an illustration of the correct position of the paper in the upper left hand corner of your child’s desk/table as a reminder?

Have you taped a guide on your child’s desk to help him/her place the paper in the right position for left handed writing?

Has your child practiced placing his/her forearms on the desk to make a triangle (Figure 3)?

Has your child practiced lining up the paper with his/her left forearm of the triangle? And then moving the paper slightly to the left without changing the slant?

Have you drawn an arrow in the right bottom corner on the paper your child is writing on? Remind your child that the arrow should point to his/her belly button?

Figure 3


C H A P T E R 14 Upper-case capital

letter formation TWEET NOW

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C H A P T E R 15 Lower-case letter

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I encourage you to tempt your child to draw anything and everything (and develop fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills and cognitive skills) with some strategies to get you going if drawing isn’t on the top of your child’s preferred activity list.

First of all making drawing fun and unique is the best motivator for everyone. 1. Pencil and paper are fine.

2. Or crayon and coloring book.

3. How about dipping a carrot in ketchup and using it to draw on a dinner plate?

4. Or use a drawing app on a smart phone/tablet at the very least, although as an occupational therapist I always suggest using a tool to make your mark, it involves and integrates more and other motor, cognitive and visual skills!

5. Chalk on construction paper is one of my favorites, because it creates resistance that makes muscles work harder.

6. Rolling a ball dipped in paint instead of a paint brush can create interesting lines and dots.

7. A finger through chocolate pudding is a longstanding favorite too.

8. Or if your child doesn’t like a mess, fill a clear, plastic, sealable bag with something colorful and somewhat thick, push along with your finger to draw…count how many seconds it lasts until it disappears forever to be drawn anew.

C H A P T E R 16 What to draw today?

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For young children or for an easier starting point follow these tips:

9. Draw the simple horizontal or vertical lines of roads for toy cars to drive along

10. Draw tracks for trains to travel, ladders for toy figurines to climb up into the castle or a fence to keep in the farm animals.

11. Lines are the first mastered pre-printing skill, followed by circles.

12. Add circles to lines to create lollipops, balloons, a simple flower, the sun and spiders.

13. Circle combinations and curves can make rainbows, lady bugs, caterpillars or a snow man.

14. Advanced line combinations can create a flag, a wagon, or a building with windows.

15. More advanced diagonals can be used to create an ice cream cone, a house, a kite.

Think about combining your child’s 2D drawings and their “3D” other toys.

16. Draw out a scene and use other toys to create a story about it.

17. Make not only a vertical surface for the car to drive on as mentioned, but the scenery along the way and draw the destination of the road trip too!

Finally, yes you and your child can sit to draw, but you don’t have to!

18. Lie on the floor or stand at an easel.

19. Finally, remember that everyone has a working hand and a helping hand, drawing is a two handed activity much of the time too!


The act of creating a likeness helps in a child’s development.

As occupational therapists, we often use Draw-A-Person as part of our assessment and treatment tool kit. We use both standardized versions (tests that have specific instructions and include information that allows us to compare a child’s performance to his or her peers) as well as non-standardized versions where drawing a person is just a part of play and practice in therapy.

The act of drawing a person helps us to assess a child’s fine motor skills, cognition (thinking skills), emotions, posture, sense of self, and ideation along with its execution (the ability to generate and act upon an idea).

Drawing a person is a fun, open-ended task that tells us a lot about the child. We also use it for pre-treatment and post-treatment comparison when working on fine motor skills or sensory-motor processing skills, for example.

Drawing a person should show “active mastery.” That is, no matter the age or developmental level of the child, he or she will show joy in the act of production and joy in the finished project. Drawing a person shows us much more than any child, parent or teacher could ever tell us.

Does your child have regular opportunities to draw him or herself and other people? Does your child know and label his or her body parts correctly and on others in books and pictures?

Remember that there is no right or wrong way to draw a person. Nonetheless, an appropriate goal is that by school age a child will draw a recognizable person from a front or a side view with facial features, trunk, limbs and clothing.

Drawing a person can be supplemented in other ways by making people in two and three dimen-sions as part of arts and crafts activities too. Trace around your hand, foot or whole body.

Use pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks and foam balls to create a 3D person. Can your child also close his/her eyes, touch and correctly label his or her body parts? A game like Twister is a fun way to learn body parts too, especially the concept of right and left. Or just do the hokey-pokey!

Use imaginary paint and paint your child’s whole body with a soft-bristled paint brush; this is an occupational therapy favorite to help develop body image, body schema, and body awareness.

C H A P T E R 17 Draw a person and

learn a lot TWEET NOW

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Here’s a helpful list of body parts to include: Eyes Nose Mouth Teeth Cheeks Eyebrows Lips Chin Ears Hair Forehead Neck Chest Stomach Shoulders Arms Elbows Wrists Hands Thumbs Fingers Back Legs Hips Knees Ankles Feet Toes


In this two part series on handwriting success, Part 1 will provide a summary refresher from past articles of the 10 things you need to get your child ready to print and then for cursive writing. Part 2 of handwriting success will include helpful tips and tricks for teaching and learning printing and cursive success.

1. The best thing to develop fine motor skills, like handwriting, is: GROSS MOTOR SKILLS. Think of it like this, big muscles before small muscles. In school, occupational therapists always suggest recess before sit down time for math worksheets. An occupational and physiotherapy adage is also proximal stability before distal mobility; strong core muscles before arm, leg, hand and foot muscles will work.

2. Ensure your child has good posture when handwriting. Desk and chair size is important. So the dining room table is not necessarily the best place for handwriting homework. It is difficult for a child to focus on good quality and quantity of printing or cursive writing when his/her body is working too hard to keep its balance in the chair.

3. Does your child have an efficient pencil grasp? If s/he doesn’t, handwriting is 100 times harder. Fingers are optimized for handwriting with an efficient pencil grasp. Do you remember the three efficient grasps? Tripod, adapted tripod and quadrapod for both right and left handers. Any other grasp takes more work to be coordinated, increases fatigue and prevents easy visual tracking while writing.

4. Has your child mastered pre-printing shapes before starting to print? Can s/he trace, imitate, copy and draw a horizontal line, vertical line, circle, cross, diagonal line slanting

learning to and getting good at printing letters will be harder. Get those shapes down pat.

C H A P T E R 18 Handwriting success

part 1 refresher TWEET NOW

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5. The best crayon is a broken one. Small crayon (or chalk) pieces encourage thumb, index and middle fingers to work together. This helps prepare for an efficient pencil or pen grasp.

6. Adapt for left handers: tripod but further away from pencil tip, left corner of paper higher than right corner of paper (bottom right of paper points towards belly button) paper slightly to the left of body instead of centred.

7. Does your child have difficulty placing fingers in the right spot on the pen of pencil? Remind your child where to place his/her thumb by placing a dot of liquid paper or sticker where the thumb should go. Does your child hold the pen or pencil too far up or too close to the tip? Wrap a band aid or piece of tape around the pen, pencil or crayon as visual reminder of where to hold it.

8. If you find your child exerts too much pressure and breaks pencils, a mechanical pencil often helps to get the pressure right.

9. Promote good grasp by tucking a bit of sponge, small eraser or marble under the 4th and 5th fingers.

10. Your child needs a working hand and a helping hand for handwriting too. The working hand is holding the crayon, pen or pencil, the helping hand is stabilizing the paper.


In the first part of this two part series I reviewed the 10 things to get ready to print or write cursive. For Part 2, here are helpful tips and tricks when you get down to the handwriting.

Printing1. Begin teaching and learning to print upper case letters first. They are easier for most

children.

2. Start with BIG letter size. The size of an 8.5” by 11” paper is not too big for a single letter at the beginning. I get a lot of practice with my own scissors skills when first teaching letters, because the adult does all the paper cutting and the child does all the letter writing practice.. Once your child can write big letters on an 8.5” by 11” rectangle, you should cut that paper size in half and have your child then work on that smaller size paper and letter. You should keep cutting the paper in half to reduce the size. And keep your child practic-ing printing letters on the smaller sizes of paper. And you don’t just have to use marker, pencil, pen or crayon on paper. Chalk on construction paper is fun too.

3. Remember we read left to right, top to bottom. Teach your child to start printing each letter at the top for letter formation and to write left to right, top to bottom. Have your child make a happy face or place a sticker in the top left of the paper as a reminder to start at the top (and on the left).

4. Avoid dot to dot. Teach and learn the strokes as a whole.

C H A P T E R 19 Handwriting success

part 2 refresher

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SO TEACH LIKE THIS INSTEAD in 4 strokes!

1

23

4


This * U O * is a great pre-cursive exercise to help get the flow for cursive handwriting.

1. Start with the pencil at the left side of the *2. Draw under the U3. Continue between the U and the O4. And then over the O5. Stop at the right side of the *

And then make a continuous squiggle following that up and down line.

* U O * U O * U O * Follow the diagram below.

* U O * U O * U O * U O * U O * U O *

* U O * U O * U O * U O * U O * U O *

* U O * U O * U O * U O * U O * U O *

Cursive writing preparation


More tips for both printing and cursive writing

There are many different approaches used to teach printing and cursive writing. Occupational therapists choose different strategies depending on what best helps the child we are working with when s/he struggles with handwriting. Some children enjoy different styles and workbooks. But if your child is struggling, do ensure you and the school are using a common way to teach and practice handwriting. Inconsistent cues and strategies can be confusing if your child is having difficulty in mastering printing and cursive writing.

Provide lots of good models, near and far for both printing and cursive letters. So not just on the wall. For example: put a strip of the alphabet on your child’s desk.

Use the many models approach on worksheets as well. This allows the child to have a correct visual model to follow throughout the exercise, rather than having the shapes of the letters ‘evolve’ as the child copies their own previous letter.

NOT A______________________________________________________

BUT A__________A___________A___________A________A__________

SAMPLES to guide you

Do occupational therapists recommend pencil grips for inefficient grasps? Yes, we do! But my rule of thumb is only for school-age children and only if underlying skill deficits are being addressed. Think of providing a pencil grip without doing the corrective or preparatory work as being like teaching a child to read a sentence in a chunk without teaching the child how to read each word.

Is spacing between words a problem? Use stamp pads, stickers, candies or a penny in between words to remind your child of correct spacing. OK, their index finger works too. But if you need a little motivation...choose something a little more fun.


What can you do as a parent, caregiver or educator if your child had been diagnosed with dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a general term that simply means difficulty with handwriting. Handwriting includes both printed and cursive writing. Children do not outgrow handwriting problems. Children may experience handwriting problems when they start to print or when they start to write in cursive.

As occupational therapists, we know that there can be many different reasons a child struggles with handwriting; each underlying cause requires a different treatment! We also know that a child who struggles with handwriting may or may not struggle with other fine and gross motor skills.

Occupational therapists assess and treat dysgraphia.

It’s important to know that poor reading skills and illegible writing are not directly related. That sounds confusing doesn’t it? Dysgraphia and dyslexia may occur together but they do not “cause” one another. One of the types of dysgraphia is also called dyslexic dysgraphia but that doesn’t mean the child also has dyslexia.

If this is your child, s/he child will have trouble spelling as s/he writes. Easy, short, simple writing may be legible, but the more complex the written work, the worse handwriting gets. A child with dyslexic dysgraphia will both draw and copy writing (e.g. from a black board or smart board) fairly well. Consult a speech-language pathologist, in addition to an occupational therapist if this sounds like your child. It is the language component of writing that is hard for this child and results in poorly legible writing.

C H A P T E R 20 What is dysgraphia?

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Motor dysgraphia is due to motor clumsiness. Children with motor dysgraphia are good spellers! But they struggle to draw, to write, and to copy text. The more this child practices (without the right type of help) the worse they get, which is frustrating for all. Our #1 goal in our individual or group handwriting occupational therapy is to make handwriting fun again! It is really important for your child, your teacher and your occupational therapist to be good detectives to figure out all the possible underlying causes (strength, motor-planning, muscle development, posture, coordination, etc.)

Spatial dysgraphia is due to a poor understanding of space (their body, their environment, both together and apart). Children with spatial dysgraphia also spell well, but draw and write poorly. The eye-hand link, vision and perception all contribute to this writing challenge.

Just to make dysgraphia a little more complex: some children do have more than “one type” too.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY TIPS FOR HANDWRITING PRACTICE WHEN DYSGRAPHIA IS A PROBLEM FOR YOUR CHILD

1. Keep up handwriting skills over the summer with a journal, vacation scrapbook, short story contest, sports statistics tracking, summer recipe record, fun lists (to do, to buy, to see, to visit).

2. Make it fun! 3. Include visuals like pictures to caption or videos to record and write about.4. Make an audio recording a reading of what your child has written.5. Have your child produce a movie, write out the script first.

But remember, practice does not make perfect, unless you figure out what to practice first.

Ask an occupational therapist for handwriting and fine motor skill help for your child.

Certificate is proudly presented to:

Name

Age

For great handwriting and determination!

Signed

Date

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Total Ability Solutions was created by Occupational Therapist Christel Seeberger to help parents, teachers, health pro-fessionals and caregivers and the children they love, teach and take care of to develop and grow.

This series of eBooks provides easy solutions for parents, teachers, health professionals and caregivers to help children with and without disability. The strategies and activities I share in these eBooks are field tested and proven with my 20 years of experience as an occupational therapist; I use them all daily in my practice.

Parents, teachers, health professionals and caregivers will find these eBooks invaluable to help them understand some of the challenges children face as they learn and grow.

Each eBook provides detailed activities and thoughtful, easy strategies to help you as a parent, teacher, health profes-sional or caregiver.

Follow these eBook strategies and activities and see improvement in your child’s abilities.

49 Ways to Say “I Love You” to a Child

Here’s an opportunity to break out of that habit of using the same phrases and surprise your child with encouraging and supportive words. In 49 Ways to Say “I Love You” to a Child, you’ll be intro-duced to dozens of ways to say just the right words to celebrate achievements, highlight success, and provide praise.

You’ll see your child blossom, as they eagerly respond to your words of en-couragement. Your child will absorb your

49 ways to say “I love you” to a child.

E-BOOK NO.1

BY: Christel K.A. Seeberger BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg.(NB)

comments and reflect back the love and caring that you demonstrate.

49 Ways to Say “I Love You” to a Child is an easy to use, colorful book of pictures and special words, with a photo demonstrating each of the 49 phrases.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/49-ways-to-say-i-love-you/ for more information. eBook#1

Teach Cutting and Scissor Skills

The key to success when learning pre-school skills, including scissor skills is to follow a proven step-by-step plan. Every child, including those with learning dif-ficulties, learns faster when they are having fun. Knowing the steps involved in teaching scissor skills accelerates learning, eliminates the frustration of seeing your child struggle learning to use scissors and gives you peace of mind knowing that you’re on track in teaching this important skill while devel-oping your child’s fine motor skills.

Teach Cutting and Scissor Skills also provides teaching and safety guidelines, colorful scissor practice worksheets and best practices strategies to make learn-ing how to use scissors fun.

There’s also a bonus mp3 audio.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/teach-cutting-and-scissor-skills/ for more information.

eBook#2

Teach cutting and scissor skills

E-BOOK NO.2

“This ebook is chock full of easy to follow information and visuals that will help your pre-school children.”Elaine Shannon, Professional Organizer, Mother of 3 Children

BY:Christel K.A. Seeberger BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg.(NB)


Improve Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills is not just another ‘learnto print’ book. This eBook starts with fine motor skill development. Missing this step can lead to multiple problemsand frustration for a child and teacher. The step-by-step activities are fun and interesting for children. Each activity is focused on play, so learning and devel-oping fine motor skills is something your child will look forward to.

When it’s time to put pencil to paper, you’ll appreciate knowing the 20 best Occupational Therapy tips and tricks and how to apply them so your child avoids being frustrated and sees handwriting as a fun activity.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/why_cursive_writing_develop-ment_matters/ for more information.

eBook#3


E-BOOK NO.3

“As a mother of a lefty, FYI I am right handed, I have struggled over the years to translate the teaching that came so eff ortlessly with my right handed children. The tips in this eBook would be helpful for any parent who wants tips for helping their children have writing success.”Elaine Shannon, Professional Organizer, Mother of 3 Children


their children have writing success.”Elaine Shannon, Professional Organizer, Mother of 3 Children

Christel K.A. Seeberger BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg.(NB)

A Free Child Development Resource

When it comes to understanding child development, new and experienced parents are often delighted but also puzzled by the day-to-day changes they see and experience as their child ma-tures. In the eBook, Enliven Your Child’s Days with Educational Activities and Parenting Best Practices, you’ll find a valuable FREE resource.

The information is not just another “how to” book on child development. With 20 years of experience as an Occupational

Therapist working with children with and without disability, author Christel Seeberger, has seen first-hand the chal-lenges you likely face each and every day as teacher and parent. You will find Christel’s best solutions, best practices and guidelines that she uses every day helping to solve the challenges parents and teachers face raising children.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/enliven-your-childs-days-with-ed-ucational-activities-and-parenting-best-practices_ebook/ for more information. eBook#4

Enliven Your Child’s Days with Educational Activities and Parenting Best Practices

E-BOOK NO.4


and Parenting Best Practices

Christel K.A. Seeberger

All About Motor Skills

If you could look over the shoulder of an Occupational Therapist as they work with children who have gross and fine motor challenges, you would find that many of the therapeutic activities and recommendations given are also contained in All About Motor Skills. In this eBook, I’ve distilled my 20 years of experience as an occupational therapist to help parents, caregivers and teach-ers understand, learn and implement the same therapies we use every day to help children who have motor difficulties.

I strongly believe that if you follow the advice in All About Motor Skills, you’ll see your child’s motor ability improve. And with the improvement you’ll see an increase in your child’s confidence, self-esteem and happiness.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/ fine_and_gross_motor_skills_de-velopment/ for more information.

eBook#5

All AboutMotor Skills

E-BOOK NO.5


For children and teens who may have dyspraxia or developmental coordination disorder, children who may have a developmental disability, childrenwho simply struggle with their motor skillsor children who want to improve their motor skills

BY:

developmental coordination disorder, children who may have a developmental disability, childrenwho simply struggle with their motor skillsor children who want to improve their

http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/why_cursive_writing_development_matters/



http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/enliven-your-childs-days-with-educational-activities-and-parenting-best-practices_ebook/




Sensory and Behavior Strategies

For parents and siblings who have a family member, or teachers who have a student with sensory challenges or even Sensory Processing Disorder, the e-Book, Sensory and Behavior Strategies provides numerous strategies, insights and solutions to better understand and help them. In writing this eBook, I’ve drawn on my 20 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist.

Sensory and Behavior Strategies pro-vides the guidance, strategies and solu-

tions you may have been searching for. Whether your loved one faces challenges of oversensitivity, under sensitivity and/or motor clumsiness you’ll find dozens of strategies throughout the eBook. Each of the 11 chapters zeros in on a specific topic and offers solutions for numerous situations you and your child may find yourself in.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/sensory_processing_sensory_in-tegration_and_behavior_strategies/ for more information. eBook#6

Sensory and Behavior Strategies

E-BOOK NO.6


Help for Learning Disabilities

Has your child been diagnosed as having a learning disability? Are you worried that your child has symptoms of a learning disability like Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) or symptoms of Attention Deficit Disor-der (ADD)? Does your child have an actual diagnosis of ADHD or ADD? Or maybe a Non-Verbal Learning Disabil-ity (NVLD)? Have terms like dyslexia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia been men-tioned in relation to your child?

In my new eBook, Help for Learning Disabilities, I share my best strategies from my past 20 years as an Occupa-tional Therapist with solutions and tips to help those who have or help a child with a learning disability. You’ll find the strategies and guidance in each of the nine chapters provided in a step-by-step format.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/help_for_learning_disabilities/ for more information. eBook#7

Help for Learning Disabilities

E-BOOK NO.7


The Best Ways to Teach Self-Care Skills

Teaching self-care skills, when they are difficult, takes patience and some detec-tive work. As does avoiding self-care skill challenges during your child’s typi-cal development. Coming up with self-care solutions on your own that work for your child is usually time-consuming and frustrating. In my 20 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist, I’ve seen the struggles that parents face daily. There is an easier path.

In The Best Ways to Teach Self Care Skills, I share my experience and best practices based on two decades of working with parents and their chil-dren. Each of the chapters provides key insights and strategies to help you and your child overcome the challenges presented by teaching and learning daily living skills.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/the_best_ways_to_teach_self_care_skills/ for more information.

eBook#8

The Best Ways to Teach Self-Care Skills

E-BOOK NO.8


http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/sensory_processing_sensory_integration_and_behavior_strategies/



http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/help_for_learning_disabilities/

http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/help_for_learning_disabilities/

http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/the_best_ways_to_teach_self_care_skills/



Applied Behavioral Analysis Programs Strategies-An Occupational Therapy Approach

Has your child been diagnosed with an au-tism spectrum disorder (ASD)? Have the words Autism, Asperger’s, Perva-sive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified been said to you? Are you now looking for help?

Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is one of the best approaches to teach appropriate communication, social, academic, motor, and behavioural skills to children and adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder.

In Applied Behavioral Analysis Programs Strategies you’ll find specific programs, activities and charts that allow you to teach skills and track progress for fine mo-tor skills; gross motor skills; praxis, motor coordination and motor planning; self-care and self-help skills; sensory processing skills and visual perceptual skills.

This combined ABA-Occupational Therapy approach helps autistic children learn the skills they need to succeed at home, school and in life.

Visit http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/applied-behavioral-analysis-programs-strategies/ for more information. eBook#9

E-BOOK NO.9


Occupational Therapy Applied Behavioral Analysis Programs Strategies

http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com/applied-behavioral-analysis-programs-strategies/




About the Author: Christel K.A. Seeberger

As founder and president of TOTAL ABILITY™, Christel leads her team of occupational therapists to provide MOBILE occupa-tional therapy treatment in Saint John (children, adults, seniors), Fredericton (children) and Moncton (children), New Brunswick, Canada.

Christel’s personal mission is to bring occupational therapy to the world and so she launched TOTAL ABILITY Solutions™ to share downloadable occupational therapy eBooks and advice, for any-one who wants do-it-yourself-help.

Christel K. A. Seeberger, BSc.O.T., OT(c), OTR, OTReg(NB) has practiced Occupational Therapy in Québec, Maine, Florida and New Brunswick with clients of all ages in all settings: home, school, work, clinic, hospital, daycare, summer camp, special care home and nursing home.

Christel is registered to practice occupational therapy in New Brunswick and certified to practice in the United States.

This document is for informational purposes only.It does not replace the advice of a health care professional.© 2013 Christel K.A. Seeberger Professional Corporation Inc.

http://www.totalabilitysolutions.com

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