National Handwriting Day is January 23rd

National Handwriting Day is January 23rd each year. This date honors John Hancock who is well known for his signature on the Declaration of Independence. Here are some suggested ideas to celebrate the day with your children or students.

1. Bake a cake to celebrate John Hancock's birthday. Following a recipe, measuring, mixing and stirring incorporates motor planning, sequencing, fine motor skills, muscle strengthening and bilateral coordination. Ice the cake and purchase the store bought gel icings. The children can write their signatures on the icing to decorate the cake.

2. Practice writing your signature on one piece of paper using various mediums such as crayons, pencil, colored pencil, pens, markers and watercolors.

3. Hand write a thank you note or letter to a loved one.

4. Find a pen pal and exchange letters.

5. Pick a topic from the Scholastic Story Starter (or any story starter) and write a story.

Need more ideas to practice handwriting? Check out our Valentine's Handwriting Activities or Winter Handwriting Activities.

Handwriting Practice on the Interactive Whiteboard

If the classrooms that you work in have an interactive whiteboard check out this cool free program entitled Sky Writer. You just click on the letter and the plane makes each letter in the air. The children can trace along with their fingers. It is also a fun visual for the child to see how the letter is made. Although, the plane drives a little fast for some letters and it is only lowercase letters. Another idea would be to have the child try to trace the letter before it disappears, too. Let me know what you think if you try it.

Added 1/19/2010: Students can watch letter formation at literacycenter.net as well. This is much more exact in the letter formation.

Or how about trying actual letter formation from MeddyBemps. Here you can watch letter formation and write letters as well.

Added 6/2/2011: Just found this website, Whiteboardroom.org, for some more ideas for handwriting practice and the interactive whiteboard. This website has many lesson plan suggestions for students with special needs.

Fine Motor and Coordination Activity Video - Stacking Foam Beads

Here is a new activity video idea that encourages fine motor skills, muscle strengthening and coordination.



Need more fine motor activities? Check out...

Creative Clay Activities
Clay Play Mats
Fine Motor Activity Pack #1
Fine Motor Breaks

Designing Optional Patterns of Movement

The November 2009 issue of Neuron reports on a study on how limb motion is encoded in the nervous system. The researchers determined that certain movement patterns were easier to learn than others. A quote from one of the researchers states:

"We observed that the initial stages of motor learning are often quick but non-specific, whereas later stages of learning are slower and more precise," says Sing. "Further, we saw that some physical patterns of movement are learned more quickly than others."

The goal of the researchers is to develop a set of rehabilitation activities that will achieve the best outcome in stroke patients.

I look forward to seeing what the determine are the best activities to encourage the effected limb. Although these studies are being conducted on adults, the information behind them are informative for pediatric clients and motor learning. Curious to see if some of the movements patterns are similar to proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF). Any comments?

Reference: Harvard University (2010, January 8). Observation about how nervous system learns and encodes motion could improve stroke recovery. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/01/100107132600.htm

Assistive Technology Comes Out On Top

The current issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy reports on a small study done in a Virginia school district on the benefits of assistive technology. Thirteen students were followed regarding the benefits of assistive technology in reaching IEP goals compared to 9 other interventions including related services, tutoring, curriculum changes and more. According to the Student Performance Profile Measure, assistive technology was a better intervention strategy for IEP goal improvement than the other interventions.

Reference: Anne H. Watson-PhD, OT/L, Max Ito-OTR/L, Roger O. Smith-PhD, OT, FAOTA, Lori T. Anderson-EdD, OTR/L, FAOTA Research Scholars Initiative-- Effect of Assistive Technology in a Public School Setting January/February 2010 Volume 64 / Number 1

Evaluating Student's Needs for Writing

I came across a comprehensive website for evaluating a student's needs for writing. The Montgomery County Public Schools of Rockville, MD has developed a Written Productivity Profile (WPP). All of the forms and directions are on the website to evaluate a student's handwriting versus typing abilities. There are also tools to evaluate spelling.

What a great FREE resource to compare handwriting versus typing!

The Mozart Effect on Weight Gain in Preterm Infants

The most recent issue of Pediatrics reports on 20 healthy preterm infants that were exposed to a 30 minute period of Mozart music for 2 consecutive days. The resting energy expenditure of the infants was significantly lower during the 10 to 30 minute period of listening to the music. There was no difference in resting energy expenditure during the first 10 minutes of listening. The researchers conclude that listening to Mozart music lowers the resting energy expenditure which may explain why listening to music improves weight gain in infants.

So simple and so interesting! Very small sample size but it can not hurt to try.

Reference: Lubetzky, Ronit, Mimouni, Francis B., Dollberg, Shaul, Reifen, Ram, Ashbel, Gina, Mandel, Dror Effect of Music by Mozart on Energy Expenditure in Growing Preterm Infants Pediatrics 2010 125: e24-e28