Ways to Setup a Young Learner for Success

If you are preparing to use the Letter Leaders Handwriting Workbook series to teach one or more children handwriting skills, here are some strategies to setup your young learners for success. Get started by purchasing the Letter Leaders handwriting workbook series and setting aside 5 minutes a day for practice. You can also click here to sign up for a 16-week email series that will guide you week-by-week through the instruction of the workbooks.

Activities to Enhance Internal Feedback 

• Forming letters in the sand with an index finger
• Writing with chalk on sandpaper 
• Forming lines and letters using modeling clay 
• Forming lines and letters on vertical surfaces 
• Writing on paper with raised lines
• Using a weighted or vibrating pencil
• Adding a pencil grip to a standard pencil

Instructional Opportunities to Promote External Feedback

Extrinsic feedback refers to the information provided from a source external to the child during practice. This type of feedback is most often provided by the instructor. It has to do with the outcome of the action, or what is sometimes called knowledge of results. The learner receives knowledge-of-results information after a motor response. This information indicates the success of the learners’ actions with regard to the goal of the motor act. 

Letter and line models should be available and easy for all students to see and refer to. Students should be encouraged to identify and talk about their best attempts and compare them with the model. For example, if a student formed six letter A’s, she should be able to acknowledge and describe the one that looks the most like the model.

Here are some tips for providing letter and line models.

• Show students how to form the line, shape, or letter correctly and then encourage the student copy the instructor.
• Make sure a visual model of the line, shape, or letter is visible to the child for easy referencing.
• Show students where to start forming a line or letter by pointing to the correct starting spot on the paper.
• Show students where to stop forming a line or letter by pointing to the correct stopping spot on the paper.
• Identify and describe improvements to the line or letter the student has been practicing.