OT for Kids are a private paediatric Occupational Therapy company. We reegulalry run courses, and on saturday 16th August we ran a handwriting course for Occupational Therapists. This course was a great opportunity to learn more about writing and how Occupational Therapy can assess, improve and treat children with handwriting difficulties. These slides are for both those people who attended the course and for any Slideshare users who are interested in learning more about OT for Kids, Occupational Therapy and handwriting.

1. Introduction to handwriting
Saturday 16th August
9-5pm
Presented by Nathan Varma
Paediatric Occupational Therapist
OT for Kids
www.otforkids.co.uk
0330 223 0888

2. Introductions
Who are we?
• Private Specialised Childrens Occupational Therapy
• Handwriting groups, Hydrotherapy, 1:1 assessment and treatment, Reports
• Nationwide service
– Head office here, clinics in North West and Midlands
• Formed in 2013
• Large and expanding team
Who am I?
• Children's OT
• Manage OT for Kids
• Expert handwriting trainer
What do we do?
• We deliver children’s Occupational Therapy that produces positive results for every
child, parent teacher, organisation and school that accesses our services
• Range of equipment available
– Breezi chairs, sloped writing boards, pencil grips

3. • 0-6 months
– Open and relax of hands
– Grasp and release objects
• 6-12 months
– Place objects in cup
– Self feed finger foods
– Use of spoon and cylindrical grip
Fine motor development
http://otforkids.co.uk/problems-we-help/delayed-milestones/early-development-0-12-months.html

4. Fine motor development
• 1 - 2 years
– Builds towers out of large blocks
– Scribbles with crayons
– Able to take socks off
– Turns pages of a book one at a time
– Uses thumb and index finger to hold crayon
• 2-3 years
– Brushes teeth with help
– Holds scissors with two hands and can open and close scissors
– Starts unbuttoning large buttons
– Draw vertical lines
– Able to throw a small ball
• 3 - 5 years
– Begin to form the shapes needed for writing
– Hold the pencil in a pincer grip using the thumb and first finger
– Can undo some buttons
– Can do up and undo Velcro

5. Normal handwriting development
• 2-3 years
• Draw straight lines and circles
• Imitate drawing a cross
• Aged 3-4
• Draw a circle
• Begin to hold in tripod position
• Copy a cross and square
• Aged 4-5
• Draw a cross
• Start to colour inside the lines (pencil and fine motor control, hand eye co-ordination)
• Draw recognisable people/objects (proprioception development)
• Begin to draw diagonal lines – Triangle
http://otforkids.co.uk/problems-we-help/delayed-milestones/toddler-and-early-infancy-1-to-3-years.html
http://otforkids.co.uk/problems-we-help/delayed-milestones/infancy-3-to-5-years.html

6. • Aged 5-7
• Development of a dominant hand
• Print letters and numbers begin to form words
• By 7 years – remain in print writing but neatly within the lines
• Draw accurate pictures of person, objects
• Aged 7-10
• Development of cursive writing
• By 10 years – producing fluent cursive writing accurately within the lines
• Accurately use scissors
Normal handwriting development
http://otforkids.co.uk/problems-we-help/delayed-milestones/child-5-to-10-years.html

7. Coffee 10.30 – 11am

8. How do most people hold the pencil
• 3 finger tripod
• 4 Finger Grip
Thumb wrap/middle finger guide
Tripod

9. Static/ Dynamic movements
• Static grips
– Tripod
– Thumb Wrap
– 4 finger
– 3 finger tripod
– Extended thumb wrap
• Where do the movements come from in a static grip?
– Arm/wrist
– Shoulder
– Scapula
• Dynamic movements
– Good hand strength
– Fine motor skills
– Finger manipulation and dexterity
• What activities can we do to improve these aspects?

10. • Form perception
• Form Constancy
http://otforkids.co.uk/problems-we-help/visual-perception-difficulties.html

11. •Difficulty learning the alphabet and recognising words/letters.
•Confusion of similar shapes, letters and numbers
•Mistaking words with similar beginnings or endings.
•Trouble writing and remembering letters.
•Unable to block out distractions on wall displays
•Increased time to complete classroom tasks
Visual discrimination Figure ground discriminationVisual Closure

13. • Spatial judgment Sizing Orientation

14. 12-1 Lunch and Networking

15. Assessments
• Split into 4 groups
• Don’t be shy...
http://otforkids.co.uk/services/assessments/index.html

16. I like this one....
• Advantages of your assessment
• Disadvantages of your assessment
I don’t

17. Coffee 2 -2.30pm

18. Treatment
• Handwriting programs
• Write from the start, roll and write, speed up
– Advantages?
– Disadvantages?
• What skill could you improve with?
1. Spinning tops
2. Playing cards
3. Peg boards
4. Snap-cubes
• Suitable for group and individual?
– Pros and cons of Group/Individual rx
http://otforkids.co.uk/services/treatment/index.html

19. Our Services
• Individual Assessment and treatment
– Dyspraxia/DCD
– Autism/ASD
– Cerebral Palsy
– Sensory Processing Disorder
• Group therapy
– Handwriting
– Fine motor
– Hydrotherapy
• Staff Training
– Teachers
– OTA’s
– Support worker/carer
http://otforkids.co.uk/services/index.html

20. Any Questions?

21. Associates
– Opening up services nationwide
• Schools
• Clinics
Sensory Assessments
DCD assessments
Reports
Supervision
Call us – 0330 223 0888