handwriting w/out tears?

[meghans_mom]

Hi - looking for recommendations about the above program. Meghan is REALLY interested in writing her letters. Can do, consistently, A, M, X, T, I, O, Q...maybe a few others. She likes the "practice" every day. I figure I should encourage her while she's into this...does she need that program above (i know next to nothing about it) or is it for older children (MM is 4)...or should I just keep going like we are.
thanks - laurie

[kellyds]

We home school. I've used HWT for all five of our older children, and I will use it for Joshua, too. It's inexpensive enough to try, even if you aren't sure you'll like it. You don't need the teacher's manuals. Really, the info on the page that's provided for the child is sufficient. This starts at about age four.

I would probably start her in Get Set For School. I'd get the student workbook and the slate. My 3-year-old is also enjoying the Stamp 'n See Screen, which is nice for more tactile learners. There are lots of other "helps" for sale on the site, but you don't NEED any of them. I've found the workbook and slate to be sufficient.

Have you seen the website? It's www.hwtears.com/ .

Let me know if you have any other questions. I love-love-love this program! (Some people don't like the way the cursive looks, but it's EASY to learn and very legible, which is the important thing to me.)

[Debi]

Wouldn't you know Laurie that Susan whom we ALL rely on is on vacation and she is the one who used this with Emily (that i know of :-)
Hmm so really as Susan subsitute I can't really help you.. I personally think if Miss MM has the fine motor and desire to make letters.. GO for it, and at this age just let her practice without worrying too much about a particular method.
One thing I got off another board tho (from a sp. ed. teacher) that I thought was really a neat trick was to use a binder.. in different widths (like a three inch binder to start) because kids w/ DS get so tired when they do handwriting both with wrist movement and the fine motor required to make letters. Using the binder as a a prop makes a whole lot of sense to me!

[Emilysmom]

Laurie,
We didn't know about Handwriting without Tears when Em was first learning to print, but I would have used it if we had known! I've read enough about it to think it is a great program!! Emily has pretty decent handwriting......printing. Her only real issue, in my opinion is that she lacks consistency with the size of her letters and spacing. One of our goals for next year is for her to use Handwriting without Tears for cursive handwriting.
I'd recommend it!!

Susan

[meghans_mom]

Thanks, Kelly & Debi - appreciate it! I'll pick up a binder tonight at work...we have some other pre-writing books so I'll start w/ those first I guess.
I was just so excited that she was interested...ya know?! laurie

[ALLISA]

I know there is a thread or two already on this board about Handwriting Without Tears....beacause I remember responding to it......our school system uses it for ALL K, 1 and 2 grades....sepcial needs or not...it seems great to me !!

[laurasnowbird]

Rod and I were just commenting last night that Ethan suddenly seems "into" writing, so I'm going to look into this. Kelly, thanks for the recommendations regarding what to start out with. I'm ordering mine today!

[laurasnowbird]

Nice website! I saw that this program was featured at the National Down Syndome Convention when I last went, but Ethan was too small for me to be interested in it yet. I ordered what I wanted, and can't wait to get it. Do you have the CD with the songs? It looked really cute, and Ethan is very motivated by music, so I ordered it.

[justinsmom]

Justin uses this at school he's Pre-K and LOVES Mat Man. He comes home grabs the Magna Doodle and says Mat Man peas. He can draw circles and draws faces the best part is he has learned how to correctly hold the pencil or crayon. He can also write the letters A,a, C,c, I,i,L,l which you can actually recognize. Mat Man is the program they use for the Pre-K. We are waiting to get our pack so we can keep working with him throughout the summer.

[kellyds]

I have a friend who uses a Magna-Doodle instead of the Stamp n See Screen to teach HWT to her 15-year-old son with DS. The Magna-Doodle is larger than HWT's Stamp n See Screen.

Mat Man is terrific for someone whose fine motor skills aren't yet developed enough to really write. The "mat" looks like a computer mouse pad, turned portrait-style, with a happy face in the upper, left-hand corner. All HWT capital letters are made with big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves. You can buy a set of wooden lines and curves and use the mat to form letters without actually having to write them. "Mat Man" is how you introduce the mat to your child. You use the mat as Mat Man's body and use the wooden lines and curves to make arms, legs, head, etc.

The HWT slate has the little happy face at the upper, left-hand corner, too. So do the spaces for the child to write letters in the workbook. Almost all the letters start at that happy face, which really helps to learn how to form them.

I did get a hint from the teacher's manual regarding teaching a child to hold a pencil correctly. She says to start them out with crumbled bits of crayon instead of a pencil. A child will try to hold a pencil in his fist. He can't do that with a teeny bit of crayon. He HAS to hold the crayon between his fingers, the way you're supposed to hold a pencil, so the correct "hold" is learned and practiced from the beginning.

[meghans_mom]

Ok, I'm sold....I'll be ordering this week.
Susan - you and I must have been posting at exactly the same time as I didn't see your reply.

Kelly - another good hint w/ those broken pieces of crayon is to use the jumbo size. Because many of our kids' fine motor is weak it is harder for them to hold a thin crayon.

thanks again, all! laurie

[Claire]

Adam has been using the program Writting without Tears for 2 years now. And I say go for it. It has done wonders fro Adam. He can now write quite a few words although he uses mostly the computer to type. It is a fun way for them to learn one step at a time. Go for it, it really works.