Before beginning the handwriting tutoring sessions parents schedule either a screening or a formal typewritten evaluation. Please bring samples of your child's handwriting as I use this as part of the evaluation or screening process. The initial screening or evaluation is an hour session including parent consult. At this time I can get a baseline of the child's skills, and an appropriate workbook can be ordered if desired . We can decide which skills need to be worked on and answer any questions. Younger children (5 and under) do not have strong printing skills yet so a screening of fine motor developmental skills and beginning printing skills is provided. Both screening and evaluation involve a parent questionaire, school/home writing sample review (provided by the parent) and observation of the child doing printing or cursive tasks if age appropriate. The evaluation includes a typed concise report including a specific remediation plan and measurable goals and a graph to chart progress. It is recommended that the report be shared with your child's teacher. After receiving kindergarten beginning instruction 6 year and above student's manuscript handwriting are evaluated using the" Print Tool" TM . The " Print Tool" was developed by the "Handwriting Without Tears"® program. ( The Print Tool is a handwriting assessment and remediation tool that is appropriate for all handwriting curriculums). The evaluation score sheets include an information page with a summary of the child's handwriting history. Comprehensive scoring of student's skills by components allows a complete evaluation of manuscript skills. Clear tables are included with calculation of totals and composite scores which explain results to parents or school staff. Handwriting remediation plan forms identify long and short term goals and list strategies for specific skills. Supplemental fine motor and visual observations are provided. Depending on the student an informal cursive assessment or other supplemental handwriting /keyboarding assessments may be included. If handwriting tutoring is chosen parents participate actively in establishing the child's fine motor, handwriting or keyboarding goals.
"The Print Tool"TM assesses the following seven areas:
MEMORY-Remembering and printing dictated letters and numbers
ORIENTATION-Facing letters and numbers in the correct direction
PLACEMENT--Placing letters and numbers on the baseline
SIZE-Write a grade appropriate size
START-Where each letter and number begins
SEQUENCE- Order and stroke direction of the letter parts
SPACING-Amount of space left between words in sentence