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- Do you need a near-point alphabet strip or two? Whenever your learner writes, there needs to be a near-point alphabet strip (not at front of room, which is far point). Make sure the alphabet strip is in the same font as your handwriting program.
- Consider Handwriting Without Tears for your manuscript writing program. I like their manuscript better than their cursive program.
- Make a graph of % letters reversed. Continue to provide the learner objective feedback. Count the number of reversed letters on 1/2 a page of writing and subtract from 100. That’s a pretty good estimate of percent letters facing correctly.
- To try and reduce reversals systematically, make a list of all letters/numbers your learner writes backwards (upper and lower case). Have next week be “S” Week, where I do kinesthetic activities with the letter S, you put an S on the whiteboard, and maybe on his desk. You and I reinforce ONE letter written forwards.
- Spend one hour on home desk management. Add something to his desk to keep it neater (shelf, vertical file, cups for pencils/pens/markers/crayons, plastic organizer divided up into sections for tape, stapler, glue stick, scissors, etc.).
- Ask your learner what he needs. Some attempts fail because they are too “top-down” and your learner’s strategies weren’t considered. One boy recently says that S’s begin on the spoon side of the paper (he sets the table nightly)!
- Double your learner’s time allotted for written assignments, or have your learner do half the assignment (such as spelling).