How the Special Offspring Handwriting Program works...

Initially, low muscle tone and resulting frustration are reduced using the Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting workbook.  This workbook offers a developmental, prewriting program designed to isolate and develop the small muscles in the hand, wrist and fingers.  The development of the appropriate scope and sequence of the Special Offspring handwriting programs is based on the premise that as educators, we must never assume that learning skills will develop naturally as they do in most typically performing students without training.  In order to meet the specific learning needs characteristic of children experiencing developmental delays, research states that as learning occurs in an ordered sequence, tasks must be presented step by step.  All steps must be taught.

Traditionally, letters of the alphabet are modeled on the board for student reproduction.  Line strokes are enumerated as the model is generated.  Visual modeling and student reproduction alone are insufficient sensory experiences for the instruction of children experiencing educational delays and/or muscle hypotonia.  Progress will be severely inhibited and quality always lacking when the needs of the learner are not incorporated into instructional design.

For these reasons, Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting integrates consistent, routine practice of isolated, small muscle groups in the hand, wrist and fingers into lessons that introduce the component lines required for upper and lowercase letter formation.  Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting does not teach letter creation.  Activities are designed to provide the sensory integration and practice of every line element prior to the more challenging demands of actual letter reproduction.  Handwriting lessons at every level are presented in a four-page format.  Consistent lesson demands reduce the student's uncertainty of the workload, thereby decreasing student resistance to "more" work.  All lessons are sequenced to provide practice and exercises utilizing gross finger motions to finer finger motions.  These exercises simultaneously provide for low muscle tone and difficulty in processing skills.  Shorter attention spans, exercise of isolated muscle groups and consistent, distraction-free lessons have all been considered in program development.  Subsequent to Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting, which may be repeated for mastery, is Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters.

The primary goal of Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters is to further enhance small muscle development required for capital letter writing mastery.  Every line stroke component to each capital letter introduced in Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting is pulled forward into Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters lessons providing distributed practice for known short-term and long-term memory deficits while additionally targeting student needs in the transferring of mastered skills to a new and different context.  Individual line strokes are reviewed, practiced and combined to create capital letters.  Letters are not practiced on primary-ruled lines.  The introduction of writing letters on lines adds increased perceptual demands which increases student frustration.  The introduction of letters onlines is presented in Lines On Lines -Book 3:  Lowercase Letters.

Instructional design for developmentally delayed children requires the isolation and presentation of one skill at a time.  Component lines and capital letters previously taught in Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting and Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters have been introduced and practiced on precise 5/8" models reducing challenges encountered with the transfer of learning (transferring a mastered skill in one setting to a new and different setting) to the most frequently used ruled paper at the primary level.  Instruction for letters on lines requires the inclusion of a secondary skill:  spatial relationships.  Spatial relationships, relating a letter to its place in space, is integral to lowercase letter instruction.  Letters are positioned and practiced on lines in Lines On Lines - Book 3:  Lowercase Letters.

The small muscles of the hand, wrist and fingers isolated in Lines Only - Book 1:  Prewriting and developed in Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters must be refined in Lines On Lines - Book 3:  Lowercase Letters, providing the essential muscle control required for the creation of lowercase letters.  Small muscle warm-up activities are now practiced within a specific boundary.  Students must increase attention and muscle control for the completion of each therapeutic activity.

All uppercase letters introduced and practiced in Building With Lines - Book 2:  Uppercase Letters are pulled forward into Lines On Lines - Book 3:  Lowercase Letters providing essential distributed practice for known memory needs.  Additionally, visual discrimination/visual memory exercises are incorporated into handwriting lesson designs to intensify student attention to the task, specific lines, line sizes and line positions required for correct lowercase letter formation.

An evolving model for each lowercase letter is presented for both verbal and manual modeling by the educator.  Close attention to letter size is emphasized.  Additional student practice occurs with the implementation of diminishing models to increase student attention and independence.

All Stars of Success handwriting lessons have been specifically designed and formatted to achieve student success.  An understanding and identification of the individual needs of children with Down syndrome and other developmental delays was prerequisite to the creation and design of these handwriting workbooks and related materials.  All of the concepts, materials and programs described above have been tested by children with Down syndrome and other developmental delays and have been proven to be exceptionally effective.