East District Meeting Tuesday, August 4, 2020, 7:00 pm EST

FREE CEU Event for Members and $20 for Non-Members!!!

Virtual Meeting via GoToMeeting and Aspire OT

Title: “FUN With Handwriting: Readiness Activities for All Learners”

Intended Audience: School-Based OT/OTA, Pediatric OT/OTA

Duration: 1.0 hour

Presenter: Kathleen Wright, Executive Director of The Handwriting Collaborative, and Handwriting Instructional Specialist

Kathleen Wright, Executive Director of The Handwriting Collaborative, and nationally recognized Handwriting Instructional Specialist, will present research-based theory and activities to introduce preschoolers to pre-writing skills. At this “hands-on” virtual workshop, participants will learn effective and engaging classroom strategies to develop appropriate pencil grasps; strategies to facilitate line production development; fine motor activities to develop hand strength and dexterity; and visual motor activities to improve motor planning for writing/printing in school.

Full Description

Kathleen will present research-based theory and activities to introduce preschoolers and early elementary school children to prewriting and writing skills including pencil grasp and line production, and visual motor activities to assist in the development of skills necessary for writing/print in school. During this session, she will discuss the clear link between handwriting and literacy development, and provide participants with indicators, intervention strategies, and the clear (academic) vocabulary necessary for classroom dialog and instruction. The presentation will be in both lecture and a virtual hands-on format with time to ask questions and for interaction between presenter/participants. Participants will receive instruction in strategies developed by Mary Benbow, OTR, and a team of instructional specialists. Activities will facilitate the development of pencil grasp, line production development, fine motor skill activities to develop hand strength and dexterity, and visual motor activities to improve motor planning for printing. The activities have been developed for daily classroom practice to allow carry over from the therapeutic environment.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will demonstrate a minimum of 3 strategies to be used with school personnel and students with regard to the handwriting process.

2. Participants will demonstrate a minimum of 3 strategies to be used with school personnel and students with regard to the development of pencil grasp.

3. Participants will demonstrate a minimum of 3 strategies to be used with school personnel and students with regard to the development of manual dexterity for handwriting.

Educational Value

Participants will leave the session with strategies to address handwriting as a motor and literacy function in the preschool and school age classroom that can be used immediately.

CEU Opportunity: 1 CEU certificate = FREE for TNOTA members and $20 for non-members

Registration Link: https://www.aspireoted.com/course?courseid=readiness-handwriting-ot 

For question please contact the East District Chair:

Don Lewis, OTD, MBA-HCM, MS, OTR

[email protected]

865-585-5327