TO THE RESCUE...
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Last week I was encouraging a 9 year old boy to complete his homework.
I glanced at his planner and saw very poorly formed printing.
I told his mom I'd like to take a few minutes to work on his penmanship.
I asked this boy if he knew what the lines on the paper were for, and he answered, "No."
When my daughter was in kindergarten, I had asked her the same thing and she, too, had said, "No."
In both cases, explaining how lines help us to know where to make the letters and how big to make them worked. I modeled the alphabet as I explained.
I stated to the boy and his mother that we would focus on the lower case letters, because they are used more often.
Here is the BEFORE picture:
A few minutes later he wrote this:
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Today I tried the same technique with my son, who is age 9 years 8 months.
This is a sample of his printing:
After our talk, and my modeling, he tried his hand at the alphabet.
My model is on the first line.
His printing is on the second line.
I asked him to do the q again at the end, because it was formed incorrectly.
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My adult friend was at my home and saw me working with my son.
She admitted that she had never been taught how to print letters in her native country, and was embarrassed about it.
I gave her the same explanation, and I modeled writing the letters of the alphabet from a until m.
She formed some letters incorrectly, going bottom to top on a few. I explained her errors, and showed her the similarity between m, n, and r, because she missed the initial downward vertical line on the m.
I also showed her that the left-to-right part of the x and the y is made before the right-to-left part.
She wrote the letters from a to m again.
She then referred to the model I used for my son to complete the alphabet independently.
You can see her usual writing sample on the top of the page. It is more like script or cursive.
The first line under the word Model is my writing.
She wrote the last 3 lines of letters!
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I video taped my son's and my friend's samples (as they were writing). I will add those Youtube links to this blog entry as soon as the video is up.
You will hear me explaning about letter formation and letter placement to each of them on the video. It only took a few minutes.
If someone you know watches the video and is able to print more clearly, because of the simple explanation, please write a comment (either here or on the video comments). Thanks!
I'm Noelle Michaels, Speech and Learning Specialist. I help children and adults to write more legibly, and I truly love my job!
I am available for families in the North Jersey area to do a FREE 30-minute consultation.
I am available via email or phone, and will speak to any parent or professional with questions or concerns. Let's work together to help children speak and learn at higher levels!
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Thank you for all your support!
And...if you need help or advice, please contact me!
Noelle Michaels, MA, CCC-SLP, LDT-C
Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist
Special Educator & Learning Specialist
Email: noellemichaels@hotmail.com
Text: 201-919-4805
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