Autism Speaks Walk 2017

Autism Speaks Walk is powered by the love of parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, relatives and support providers for people with autism.  Today I had the wonderful opportunity to walk with thousands of people (including my daughter) in support of research to help enhance the lives of those with Autism. 

EARTH DAY

It's never too late to share an Earth Day message from one of my 9-year old students.

Good Friday's Good News (Before & After)

As my GOOD FRIDAY comes to an end, I would love to share some of my Good News with you.

The below samples are from a 8-year old girl with fine-motor and visual-motor delays.  The first sample was taken January 2016.  Over the past year, she has demonstrated significant improvement including her printing and cursive writing skills.  See the proof below for yourself.

BEFORE - January 2016

AFTER - April 2017

AFTER - April 2017

Another success story... the photos below are from a 5-year old little boy.  These before and after samples are from 9 months of afterschool tutoring.

BEFORE

AFTER 

AFTER

One of my favorite "WOW" moments, is from a 4-year old girl who at our initial session could only write a few letters. After 5 sessions, she was able to copy words with ease. 

BEFORE - January 2017

AFTER - February 2017

Flip the script: Cursive Come Back

"Cursive writing is looping back into style in schools across the country after a generation of students who know only keyboarding, texting and printing out their words longhand..." Click here to read the whole article Cursive Come Back.

WRITE NOW WITH ART

This class began five weeks ago and the students have been amazing to work with. We have carefully immersed fine art techniques with handwriting skills. The work is inspiring and expressive. Although at times the work is challenging for some students, they always seem pleased once they work through it. Most students (even those that don't typically "like art") overcome great boulders as they get their feet wet.

Emoji Trading Cards

The students were asked to chose an expression from a list of emoji faces, and draw the image on a piece of styrofoam. After they prepared the background paper by drawing bold lines with bright colors they inked up their plate with a brayer. To print it they hand rubbed the back of the decorated paper on the inked plate. On the back the student wrote about the emoji.

Planet Spheres Trading Card

This project was a bit of a mess, because we used dusty chalk pastels for the planets. The kids made colorful spheres by blending the different shades and colors of pastel with their index finger. To prepare the stars in the background they splattered white tempera paint with a toothbrush onto black construction paper. They had fun writing about their imaginary planets.

Valentine's Day Card

THANKSFULNESS

Thankfulness is what this time of the year is all about.  

Enjoy this season with your family and friends.

The Proof is in the Pudding (Before and After)

The road to handwriting success is often bumpy, but definitely worth the effort. This school year many of my clients have demonstrated remarkable improvement in the fundamentals of handwriting and pencil control.  As a therapist and tutor, I love seeing how far my clients have come!

The below sample is from a typically developing 16-year old girl who had no prior cursive handwriting knowledge.  We met for 3-one and half hour tutoring sessions, where she learned formation of all letters in cursive.  Printing formation was also addressed in these sessions.  All those who think it's too late for your older teenager to learn, the proof that it is not is below.

The below sample is from a 7-year old girl with Autism after one year of therapy.  As her handwriting progress from wide ruler yellow highlighter paper to regular ruled paper, improvement on letter formation, letter size and letter placement was noted.

The below sample is from an typically developing 10-year old male after 3 tutoring sessions.  Prior to our sessions, his mother taught his some cursive writing.  At our initial meeting, he demonstrated 70% accuracy with letter formation and 5% of capital letters formation.  In regards to letter connection, he demonstrated 40% accuracy. As you can see below, he now demonstrates 100% accuracy in all areas.  

The below samples are from an 9-year old girl with Downs Syndrome over a 12 month period of therapy. Improvement with pencil control and grasp were also observed.