All courses in this category are copyright to New Zealand Association of Occupational Therapists and/or the course authors.

Course 1: Difficulties with Handwriting

Rita Robinson is an occupational therapist who for over fifteen years worked in the field of paediatrics both in clinic and school-based settings. Generally those encountered with handwriting difficulties relate to the early skills of letter formation, sizing and position on the line; skills usually learnt in the first year of a child’s school career.

“As a private writing specialist within the Waikato region, the majority of referrals are for children approximately nine to ten years of age. By this age these referred children often have quite negative perceptions of their ability to write and about the task of handwriting itself. This experience of struggling to master handwriting appeared to have a rippling effect on a child’s belief in their self as a learner. This negative affect on a child’s self-belief was very concerning for me, especially as these children still had, at a minimum, another eight years of engaging in a task they found disempowering and frustrating”.

Robinson R., (2008) Teaching handwriting – more than writing the alphabet, Thesis

WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE

Anyone who supports children in kindergarten or school to become a literate person.

Rita will present practical solutions and techniques that can assist with three very common problems for children who experience difficulties with handwriting.

These include:

• Pencil grasp: the focus of these techniques will be for those children who are still learning to write. When to focus on this and when to let it go!
  
  
• Letter formation: when, why and how to address it
  
  
• Self monitoring skills.

You can either enroll on this course and pay using Paypal/Credit card or you can enroll on the course and pay by overnight Internet banking or by cheque.