Lines Only - Book 1: Prewriting

Click Here to View Sample Handwriting Lesson

 Lines Only - Book 1: Prewriting

Students are taught, through targeted practice sessions, to isolate and develop the small muscles in the hand, wrist, and fingers. Lines Only does not teach letter creation. Students see and feel every line stroke integral to manuscript writing. No fail lessions target muscle hypotonia and low self-confidence.

I Can Write Books have been meticulously planned and formatted. Each lesson is presented in a four-page format. Every lesson is sequenced to provide practice and exercises utilizing gross finger motions to finer finger motions.

Back and Forth / Round and Round

(first page of each lesson, unnumbered)

Each lesson begins with an unnumbered lesson: Back and Forth/Round and Round. The Back and Forth exercises isolate the wrist muscles required for the production of longer, less refined strokes. The Round and Round exercises target routine practice of finer finger movements. There are no verbal directions other than "back and forth", or "round and round." Adjectives should be inserted into the directions to vary stroke size and muscle development such as: back and forth, back and forth, make it big, use the whole page, or round and round, round and round, make the circle big, little, small, large, etc.

Page A and Page B

The next 3-page format of each lesson is labeled A-B-C. In each lesson, student directions appear directly below the teacher directions. In most cases, they state, "Trace the lines. Trace on top. Don't fall off." This wording should not be altered to say, "Trace on top of the straight lines." Developmentally delayed children have reduced memory skills, learners will hear, just before working, "Trace on top. Don't fall off," the two most important directions. These clear and concise words are placed last in the set of directions, rendering a greater likelihood they will be remembered by the student. The last phrase, "Don't fall off," offers non-threatening encouragement to stay on top of the lines.

Practice on the upper portion of Pages A and B provides an opportunity for the student to feel line length and shape. Remember: everything you want to be learned must be taught.

The lower portion of both Pages A and B says, "Draw." This section encourages students to generate their own lines. This is an option not a requirement for students. Initially the student may feel insecure in his or her ability to create line independently. This is fine. It may take up to three months before student confidence increases enough for independent line creation. Student confidence will increase as the book is completed.

Page C - Coloring

The last page of each lesson is a versatility coloring page. A format change allows for skill practice while maintaining learning intensity. Color a design increases student motivation to apply developing muscle skills. Refinement to small muscle skills will evolve over time and will be reflected in subsequent coloring exercises.