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There’s nothing more frustrating than embarking on a DIY project, only to find you don’t have all the tools you need. So you muddle your way through it, trying to make do.![]()
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It takes much longer, and in the end, you have to head off to the local DIY store anyway to get what you should have had in the first place.![]()
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It takes longer.![]()
It’s way less efficient.![]()
And the repair doesn’t hold up over time because you didn’t use the right screws.![]()
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The whole thing would have been better if you hadn’t had to make do.![]()
If you had just had the right tools.![]()
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It’s just the same with handwriting assessments.![]()
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It’s better if you have the right tools.![]()
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Without the right tools, you’re going to miss certain things.�![]()
You're going to think you've got the job done, only to find you have to go back and fill in what you missed.�![]()
Oftentimes, you only realise a number of weeks into treatment that you missed a critical aspect, and by then you’ve wasted all that time, when you could have been done with it already.![]()
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We worry about whether we can still be using the BOT-2 now that the BOT-3 is out, but we are happy to use a handwriting assessment from 30 years ago, before the research told us that the dynamic tripod grasp wasn’t the one and only.![]()
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We worry about being evidence-based, yet we continue to use the Beery for handwriting evaluations because inertia rules.![]()
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We worry about following the AOTA guidelines for handwriting intervention, yet we continue to use assessments that don’t inform handwriting treatment.![]()
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We need a current, robust, evidence-based handwriting assessment that covers ALL the aspects of functional handwriting, from legibility, to speed, to endurance, to automaticity.![]()
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Without all of these, we could decide not to pick up a child, simply because our assessment failed us.![]()
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Our professionalism requires us to choose a current, evidence-based handwriting assessment that covers all aspects of handwriting function and provides information that directly feeds into treatment goals aligned with the AOTA handwriting intervention goals.![]()
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Pop on over and take a look at the Assessment of Handwriting Function.![]()
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You’ll find it stands up.![]()
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And here’s a 25% off coupon code.![]()
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Use coupon code March25% before 31 March 2026.
No. This is NOT a developmental grasp!![]()
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You know how things go on social media. One person says something, then everyone picks it up and posts their own version of it. ![]()
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Next thing we know, it becomes “fact.”![]()
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Somewhere, someone posted the developmental grasps, and included this one: ![]()
This is NOT a developmental 4-finger grasp used by 3 - 4 year olds. ![]()
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Now I’m seeing this everywhere.![]()
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At one time, it was called an index grasp, but is now colloquially known as a Gamer’s grasp. ![]()
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It is an inefficient grasp. ![]()
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There are the 4 main developmental grasps, and the Gamer’s Grasp is not one of them. ![]()
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Please spread the word! ![]()
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#handwriting #finemotorskills #handwritingpractice #pencilgrasp #pencilgrip #schoolbasedot #wallmodelofoccupationalperformance #buntymcdougalloccupationaltherapist #occupationaltherapist #handwritingassessment
When I was a kid, I was part of an education experiment. (A failed one, I might add.)![]()
This is how I was taught to read!![]()
For the first two years of formal schooling, this is what I read.![]()
I can still read it today, although knowing what I know now, the mind boggles!![]()
I still struggle to spell, which apparently was one of the problems with it.![]()
And how on earth did I learn to write? What did my handwriting lessons look like?!![]()
Thank goodness they did away with this!![]()
It was called ita or Initial Teaching Alphabet![]()
The Initial Teaching Alphabet was a radical, little-known educational experiment trialled in British schools (and in other English-speaking countries) during the 1960s and 70s. ![]()
It was billed as a way to help children learn to read faster ![]()
It was taught in schools around the world in the 1960 and 1970s, but then it vanished without explanation. ![]()
But I’m still here to tell the tale!