ACADEMY SCHOOL DISTRICT TWENTY
Colorado Springs, CO
Occupational Therapy Department
Response to Intervention Information Sheet
Tier II Support for Targeting Skills
Performance Concern: Letter Alignment (Orientation of Letters to Lines on Paper)
General Information: When letters float above the line or dip below the line, legibility is compromised. Problems aligning letters can be related to visual-perceptual, fine motor difficulties, and/or a lack of explicit instruction and repeated practice with learning proper letter formation.
Instructional Recommendations:
· Encourage students to sit with good posture and to stabilize their desktop work with their non-dominant hand.
· Choose one handwriting program for your students, preferably one that your school has adopted (i.e. Fundations-Wilson Language Basics, Handwriting Without Tears, etc.).
· Provide students with custom-made paper, journals, white boards, and other media for all academic assignments until they master letter placement. Use of paper with clear top, middle, and bottom lines can help provide students with needed visual cues for proper letter alignment.
· Use consistent language and visual imagery (i.e. “bump the lines” or “point to the grass and sky”). If you do not have custom paper, use a green and blue marker and draw lines to represent the grass and sky for visual cues.
· Devote a short time to handwriting practice EVERY DAY. Explicit instruction is necessary to learn letter formation and alignment. Make sure to emphasize correct starting points in reference to the lines and the correct direction of the strokes.
· Make legible handwriting an expectation in all work to see positive results.
Additional Activities or Strategies to Support the Development of Correct Letter Alignment:
· For awareness have the students correct their own and others’ work by circling misaligned letters.
· Make laminated cards and connect them with a key ring. Provide each student with a dry erase marker attached with a string. Make sure the cards utilize the same lines and imagery that is used for classroom assignments. The students can practice writing or tracing letters, depending on their skill level.
· Modify all paper to utilize consistent visual imagery and lines such as journals, create-a-books, reports, to-do lists, spelling tests, thank you cards, etc.
· Create practice sheets with consistent lines and visual imagery, utilizing topics that relate to students’ lives and interests.
· (Early Childhood) Give students individual chalkboards that have lines for orientation on them. Have each child use a small cup of water and a Q-tip to be grasped like a pencil. Have them practice making letters with attention to the lines and visual imagery.
· (Early Childhood) Make letters with play dough having the students demonstrate awareness of the lines. Make sure each letter is made with the correct number of strokes or pieces of play dough and be sure to have the students focus on the sky, grass, and ground lines (or whatever verbal labels you use).
Thanks to Denver Public Schools for developing this information.