By Kim O'Leary
As many young students return to school, Co Kildare parents whose children have started school for the very first time are adjusting to ‘big school’ and Kildare charity Sensational Kids is offering practical advice in terms of issues such as concentration, fidgeting and handwriting with a special 'Handwriting Without Tears' workshop to take place in Kildare Town next Saturday, 6 October.
Amanda Kelly, Senior Occupational Therapist with Sensational Kids has lots of practical advice for parents.
In relation to fidgeting, Amanda explains that it is actually wrong to tell a child not to fidget, as they then have to focus all their attention on staying still rather than listening to the parent/ teacher.
She recommends the use of tools such as Fidget Spinners – although notes that children were actually playing with them incorrectly when the craze took over recently!
Amanda has lots of tips for parents and practical resources/tools to help a child ‘stay seated’ in the classroom environment.
In terms of difficulties with handwriting Amanda says: “It is important that we help children build their fine motor strength and dexterity to enable them to hold their pencils correctly. We can do this with some simple games and day to day adjustments;
- Use resistance putty (e.g. Theraputty) to help children build general hand strength.
- Task the child to find hidden coins in putty and then use a pincer grasp to post these into a money box.
- Rolling out the putty into a long snake and pinching it to make dragon scale, is another way to encourage the child to use a pincer grip.
- Use tweezers games with your child. Encourage them to have three fingers on the tweezers and the last two fingers tucked in. You can give them something to hold with the last two fingers if they are having difficulty with this. It’s great fun to use tweezers at snack time as children are motivated by treats and novelty. Grapes, raisins, popcorn, Maltesers and jellies work great.
- When colouring with your child, break all of the crayons into small pieces. Using short stubby crayons naturally encourages a tripod grasp.
- Try to encourage your child to rest the ulnar side (the little finger) of their hand on the page when they are writing or colouring. This helps to stabilise the hand.
- Using a mini stylus when on tablets or phones will also help to encourage a more functional grasp as this follows the same principle as using smaller crayons.”
Meanwhile, next Saturday Saturday 6th October 2018, parents and educators are invited to attend a very helpful ‘Handwriting Without Tears’ workshop taking place at Solas Bhride Centre, Kildare Town from 9am-5pm. The schedule for the workshop includes 8.30am-9am Registration, Distribution of Workshop Packs & Refreshments, and the Handwriting Without Tears Workshop will run from from 9am-5pm on Saturday, 6 October.
This Handwriting Workshop is presented by Tania Ferrandino OTR/L Licensed Occupationl Therapist and the workshop provides dynamic instruction in the teaching methodology from writing readiness and foundations at preschool stages through to writing in print.
Tania Ferrandino received her diploma in Occupational therapy from St. Loye’s school of Occupational Therapy in Exeter, England. She has over 13 years of experience providing services in psychiatry, rehabilitation, home health and the school setting.
For the past 10 years Tania has worked extensively with children. She has successfully written three educational grants for district handwriting curriculum comparison. Tania is currently a Workshop Presenter for Handwriting Without Tears® throughout the USA and internationally.
Workshop Objectives:
Readiness & Writing Objectives:
Learn new ways to enhance children’s well-being and school readiness
- Plan your instruction based on developmental stages for writing readiness
- Explore activities that develop important social-emotional skills, including body awareness, taking turns and sharing
- Learn to teach size, shape, and position concepts for pre-writing, and sensory motor skills
- Learn our unique approach to effectively teach colouring skills
- Develop alphabet knowledge with music and hands-on play
- Use Hands-On Letter Play to build beginning habits for letter and number formation
- Understand how to use developmental strategies to help children progress from tracing their letters and numbers to writing their names
Provide the knowledge, skills and materials needed to effectively teach print
Printing Objectives:
- Understand the handwriting process
- Incorporate foundation skills prior to paper and pencil
- Combine developmental and multisensory teaching strategies to teach print
- Indentify handwriting assessments
- Apply simple, yet effective remediation strategies
Share importance of handwriting with research Regular Rate: €249
Places on this workshop are LIMITED so please book early to secure your ticket.
- Included In Your Ticket Price
- Late Booking Rate after 1st October 2018 €275
- Handwriting Without Tears Workshop Ticket Prices
- Hot Main Course Lunch with Tea/Coffee
- Refreshments on arrival and during break times
- Attendance Certificate
- High Quality Training
- Car Parking
- Entry to prize draw to win Handwriting Without Tears materials during the workshop
HWT Workshop Pack 2018
Your Pack Contains:
Pack of Handwriting Without Tears Materials worth €157 to take home with you.
- 1 Wood Pieces for Capital Letters
- 2 Mat for Wood Pieces
- 2 Slate Chalkboards
- 2 Blackboard With Double Lines
- 1 Little Chalk Bits
- 1 Sponge Cubes
- 1 Get Set for School Sing Along CD
- 1 Rock, Rap, Tap and Learn CD
- For more information and advice visit www.sensationalkids.ie
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