Hemispheres Thinkwrite Handwriting Programme

Last month we introduced you to the unique Hemispheres Think Write Handwriting programme with a short summary of the development and structure of the programme.  Expanding the awareness of the Hemispheres Think Write is something Hemispheres is passionate about as we believe that this revolutionary programme will help provide the educational system with a structured, exciting and fun educational programme to help children between 3 - 8 years of age master the skills for automatic writing. 

The interactive games and activities of the Hemispheres Think Write Handwriting Programme builds and develops a strong cognitive template that is used to guide the development of letter formation using recurring motor patterns, categorising the 26 letters into 3 groups for letter formation and 1 group for spatial placement.  The cognitive framework of the Hemispheres Think Write supports children's learning by linking old and new learning together, expanding and categorising learning for ease of storage and retrieval, essential qualities for the development of automatic writing by the end of Key stage 2.

How Can Hemispheres Think Write Help Schools?
The 2013 Curriculum Framework sets out broad expectations for the development of handwriting,  starting with holding a pencil correctly, forming lower case letters with the correct starting and finishing points, capital letters and numbers from 0-9, ending in Year 3 with children being able to  write automatically using joined up handwriting with fluency and speed.  The Hemispheres Think Write provides schools with a structured, easy to deliver handwriting programme for children between 3 - 8 years of age.  There are three distinct levels of learning with specific activities, workbooks and resources to support a children's learning in the classroom and at home.  Schools benefit from the uniformity of approach to teaching handwriting, supported by clear targets and outcomes.  The programme has been tried and tested over 2 years in mainstream schools  with impressive results.  After the first 12 months of the study, 94% of children using the Hemispheres Think Write programme were writing with automatic joined handwriting with correct spatial placement, sizing and directionality, compared to 46% of children who were using PenPals. The improvements were consistent across the age ranges tested (Reception, Year 1 and 2) and showed equal benefit to both boys and girls, across the age ranges.

How Can Hemispheres Think Write Help Parents?
As occupational therapist we appreciate the challenge that some parents face when they see their child struggling to express their learning. We have been using the programme in clinic for over 4 years, developing its use as a remedial programme,  and the versatility of the programme means we have successfully been able to improve the handwriting across a spectrum of difficulties. The Hemispheres Think Write Programme is a fun, interactive but comprehensive programme of activities, games and workbooks to help children master the complex skills of handwriting.  The interactive nature of the programme is easy and fun to deliver at home, and in many ways releases the 'pressure' placed on the fine motor skills, and initially your child will be taught the cognitive framework which will help them organise their knowledge into groups so their learning and understanding of letters, their formation and spatial placement becomes easier.The cognitive framework of the Hemispheres Think Write categorises your child's learning enabling them to learn from a foundation of understanding, reducing and focusing the handwriting practise, and ultimately making handwriting an enjoyable activity rather than a chore.  When choosing the Hemispheres Think Write, you have available to you a selection of child friendly resources, structured into 3 levels so you and you child can see progression and success as you move through the programme.  For children with specific learning needs the programme offers clearly defined targets which build together the motor- cognitive template for every child to improve and succeed.

How is the Hemispheres Think Write Programme Structured?
The Hemispheres Think Write Programme has three consecutive levels of instruction, and aims to teach children the cognitive, motor and visual skills that support the five distinct qualities of handwriting:  legibility, form (cursive) size, spatial placement and directionality.

The programme has three distinct levels:

1. Getting Ready for Writing - Establishing the cognitive framework  through movement and games, building the eye hand co-ordination and pre writing skills.
2. Learning to Write -  Mastering letter formation, establishing the correct motor templates for starting and finishing letters, and linking the cognitive and motor skills together helping children to crack the code that underpins handwriting
3. Writing with Fluency and Speed - Building the knowledge for joining letters together, establishing automatic writing to enhance speed and fluency.

Interested to Know More?
Hemisphere is excited about sharing the programme with both Schools, Parents and Therapist.  If you are interested to know how you can use the programme yourself, please click here and we would be delighted to talk to you personally.

Testimonials:  Evidence of Success.
The Hemispheres Think Write Programme has been very helpful in the Early Years and in Year 1. By the beginning of Year 2 children have developed a quicker more fluent, neat joined handwriting. We find the illustrated Hemispheres paper makes the transition to using other paper formats easier.  
Karen Rogers and the Teaching Staff at Twyford Pre-Prep, Winchester

Having just started to implement the Think Write Programme, the children have been really motivated by the characters and love performing the actions and sounds. They are already making links between the starting shapes and the different letters and the children with a good grasp for holding writing implements are using lead in lines with more confidence and consistency in their writing. The programme fits in well with the weekly timetable for focused teaching and practise activities.  
Philippa Gent, Head Of Pre-Prep, Hall Grove School, Surrey

The Year 3 children coming up from Pre-prep have neat, speedy cursive script in most cases - thanks to your scheme.
Angela Browning, Head of Learning Support, Twyford Middle School.

Before we started the Hemispheres Think Write programme Jude's writing was large, never on the line,it was not uniform, letters were formed incorrectly and inconsistently and often were back to front.  He was extremely negative about writing and anything to do with it, which made it very difficult to work on this with him.  We started the Hemispheres Think Write and Jude soon had a grasp of which letters went with which animals and from that point he really flew with it and he started to take great pride in his knowledge of the letter groups and discovered that using this technique he could produce beautiful writing. Several months later Jude fluently writes using all his Think Write techniques naturally without a second thought.  This is now the way he writes.  His school has noticed a huge improvement and are delighted with his progress.  Thank you Hemispheres for devising such a brilliant programme - I could not recommend it more highly. 
Jacqui McNaughton, Mother of Jude aged 6 years.