Writing Programs. T he Barchowsky Fluent Handwriting (BFH) program designed by Nan Jay Barchowsky, teaches the use of curved letters that are designed to eventually be connected. Her book, BGH: A Manual for fluent Handwriting teaches letter and word formation and the accompanying CD-ROM provides practice worksheets and suggestions on how to integrate them into the curriculum. Big Strokes for Little Folks by Bonnie Levine Rubell Is designed to develop letter and number formation by grouping symbols according to similar characteristics. Prepares children 5-9 years of age for handwriting.
Callirobics is a system that uses handwriting exercise patterns. The theory is that music relaxes the child. By adding rhythm to the exercises, writing becomes fun and fluid and the child learns through auditory as well as visual means.
BFH, A Manual For Fluent Handwriting Spiral-bound. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. The CD images are too small to read and need to be printed. Barchowsky's Fluent Handwriting. The first was the BFH Fluent Handwriting Manual. This is very well written and a great reference tool. However, there is a lot of material covered in it and you will need to take a little time to read it over to understand the differences between this program and others. The Barchowsky Fluent.
The D'Nelian Method of handwriting involves learning to form letters that are curvy and almost look like a cross between cursive and traditional manuscript letters. The theory is that if children first learn this method, it will be an easier transition to write in cursive. On the other hand, this method may be more difficult to teach than the 'ball' and 'stick' method. T he First Strokes Multi-Sensory Handwriting program was designed by an occupational therapist to teach print and cursive.
The program includes workbooks, manual assessment tools and teaching guides. Go to the website to print out words to trace and letters with dots that indicate where to begin formations. Getting it Write is a program designed by occupational therapist, Anne Karson who was originally motivated to design a program that would help her son with his handwriting difficulties. By using worksheets, doing various games and projects, kids strive to improve their handwriting speed.
The program is designed for kids with learning disabilities as well as those who need writing practice to develop their skills. The Handwriting Help for Kids program created by occupational therapist Lisa Marnell provides a story to reinforce letter formation, introducing letters in groups and a star visual cue to begin letter formation. Books and products are geared for children in preschool through third grade.
The Handwriting Made Easy As Green Light, Red Light manual by occupational therapist Margaret E. Kaufman, provides easy to follow letter practice pages with color coding to guide the child to form letters with correct directionality. The child traces over letters made up of tiny arrow beginning on a green dot and ending on a red dot. The Handwriting Without Tears Program developed by occupational therapist, Jan Olsen.
The HWT series consists of workbooks, teaching guides for both printing and cursive and numerous multi-sensory teaching products such as wooden shapes, sing along CDs, roll-a-dough letters and slates. Many school districts have adopted this program. The Italic Handwriting Series is a style of writing designed by Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay. It involves forming slightly slanting, elliptical letters which are attractive, fast and legible. Their book: Write Now: The Complete Program for Better Handwriting, teaches highly legible and rapid italic handwriting and is geared toward helping medical professionals improve their handwriting skills.
Both authors have backgrounds teaching calligraphy. Loops and Other Groups A Kinesthetic Writing System is a program designed by occupational therapist Mary Benbow to teach children to visualize and experience the movement of cursive letters.
Children learn letters in groups which share common movement patterns. Pencil Pete's™ Learn to Print Program, Cursive Writing Program, and Handwriting Worksheets are designed for use in school classrooms, for home schoolers, preschoolers and extra handwriting practice at home. They are also a useful tool for helping children with special needs master handwriting skills. The program uses animation to reinforce letter formation. Size Matters Handwriting Program -program includes an instruction manual, student workbook, handwriting practice books, reward stickers, posters, monitoring forms, website scoring videos.
This program shifts the focus to letter size versus formation. The theory is that students can learn more easily since they are correcting errors in only 3 letter sizes (versus 62 letter and number forms). Zaner-Bloser is a style of manuscript, cursive, and number formation that is sometimes referred to as the 'Ball and Stick' method since many of the manuscript letters are formed from these two basic shapes. Helpful Books.
Cavey, Diane Walton, Dysgraphia: Why Johnny Can't Write, Pro-ed Publishers, Austin, Texas, 1987. This slim, but informative book explains what dysgraphia is, possible causes, early warning signs of a learning disability, diagnostic tests, how to get help, modifications and program planning. Ed Emberley has written numerous books published by Little Brown and Company, Boston, with step by step directions to draw according to themes such as animals, faces, trucks or in a specific color.
He also provides fun, learning activities to do on-line and print out. Groves, Penny, Correcting Reversals, McGraw Hill Children's Publishing, Michigan, 2001. Step-by-step activities are designed to help children learn left and right, recognize commonly reversed letters such as b and d and remember correct formations using mnemonic devices.
Practice involves circling the correct letters amongst the incorrect reversed letters. Groves, Penny Correcting Word Reversals, McGraw Hill Children's Publishing, Michigan, 2002. The author again provides activities to reinforce left and right concepts, drawing and writing in the left to right direction, letter completion and lots more to reinforce correct directionality. Konezny, Lorette, Learn to Print, Pen Notes Publisher, 1985. Designed for age 4 and up, this book includes reusable write-on, wipe-off plastic pages and pencil to follow step-by-step instructions by following arrows. Lessons include letter games, writing sentences, matching games, connect-the-dots and fill-in-the-blanks. Kushnir, Gail, Let's Do It-Write!
Writing Readiness, Achai Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel.1999. A great book written to help preschoolers develop writing readiness skills with activities to develop, strength, sensory awareness, eye-hand coordination, pencil grasp and finger coordination, learning basic shapes and spatial organization. Kushnir, Gail, Let's Do It -Write! Copying From the Board, Achai Publishers, Jerusalem, Israel, 1999. The fun exercises and activities in this book are designed to help children develop better eye-hand coordination, visual memory and the ability to correct errors when they copy from the board. Simpson, Eileen, Reversals: A Personal Account of Victory over Dyslexia, Houghton Mifflin, 1979. Simpson describes her frightening experiences growing up unable to learn to read and frustrating teachers who thought she had a cognitive disability.
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BFH Manual & THE CD-ROM BFH gives you a complete instructional package for all ages. The manual is your reference.
It has all the essential information to learn and teach the BFH method. The CD-ROM has additional help and lessons to print out for students.
BFH Fluent Handwriting Manual without the CD is available as hard copy or as a downloadable version. THE MANUAL These sections cover the content of the manual:.
HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAM is a brief explanation of the program. POSTURE, PEN HOLD & PAPER POSITION addresses in detail all that is in the title, including comfortable seating with good lighting, and positions for right and left-handers.
EXERCISE PATTERNS, RELATEDLETTERS & PRACTICE WORDS Please see the sample page with its full explanations. REFERENCE FOR LOWERCASE ALPHABET.
REFERENCE FOR CAPITAL ALPHABET. REFERENCE FOR NUMERALS. JOINING LETTERS presents joins in the order of ease with which most people can write them. Here you see part of join three and four. MISSTEPS & MYTHS addresses all of the most common handwriting problems that are real or perceived, and offers solutions. The sample page shows some problems that affect legibility and/or speed. PRACTICE WORDS AND SENTENCES.
GLOSSARY. BEGIN has pictures to trace and color that help with rhythm, direction and paper placement. Other sections include lowercase and capital letters, numerals and guideline pages. Please see the sample page from the capital section where you can type in any proper names. LEVEL 1 has lowercase letters, capitals and additional exemplars for practice that include numerals. LEVEL 2 has lowercase letters that join, capitals and numerals.
The guidelines are a bit narrower for characters that are smaller. Here is a sample page that you can edit. LEVEL 3 has handwriting review in a vertical format with smaller characters. LEVEL 4 has a wide variety of pages to stimulate the older writer's interest in practice. Guidelines are spaced for letters that approximate the average size of adult writing. CONCEPT groups exemplars according to concepts that the user feels need extra instruction.
These include lessons on RHYTHM, POSTURE, DIRECTION, LOWERCASE, CAPITALS, NUMERALS and ON YOUR OWN. MY PAGES provides a space where you can store exemplars that you want to use again.
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