Case Studies

Jordan's school is a small local community infant school in Buckinghamshire. As Jordan's only has three classes, a single class intake, the total pupils in the school was 66 pupils (n=35 boys, n= 31 girls).

Following training in September 2016, handwriting samples were taken in November 2016, January 2017, May 2017 and...

Jordan's school is a small local community infant school in Buckinghamshire. As Jordan's only has three classes, a single class intake, the total pupils in the school was 66 pupils (n=35 boys, n= 31 girls).

Following training in September 2016, handwriting samples were taken in November 2016, January 2017, May 2017 and July 2017.  The pupils were asked to copy a prescribed sentence. Each writing sample was then scored against the same 25-point quality questionnaire used in the original pilot study. 

The results are positive.  The results show that all children generally show an improvement in their writing between 2 and 5 months using the Think Write Handwriting Programme.  In Year 1 and Year 2 between 2 and 5 months after starting the programme the number of children scoring 17 or more on the questionnaire increased by 36% in year 1 and 43% in Year 2.  A score of 17 or more indicates that pupils writing was legible, the correct size, in the correct spatial placement and fully joined. 

Other studies have shown that children can experience a dip in their scores after 5 months, this change in score correlates with establishing a fully cursive script, but other studies have shown that scores recover after 6 weeks. 

In this sample the results in the Reception children do not concur with other studies, however 10% of the children are fully cursive, and given the results shown in the Year 1 and Year 2 sample we would hypothesise and support the intention that by the end of Year 2 these children will have the full cursive script mastered. 

Look what Hannah Bancroft, Headmistress has to say:

As a school we were looking for a new handwriting scheme that would support our journey into becoming a cursive writing school!  The demands of the National Curriculum dictate that children should be writing in a cursive style and as such the Assessment Frameworks for the end of Key Stage 1 assess this. 

Shelley came to the school initially and explained the science behind the scheme, we really liked that it was a cognitive as well as motor approach to handwriting.  We felt that it would suit our way of teaching and enable our children to develop their skills in a structured way. 

The resources are perfect for us! 

Practical and supportive. Shelley then came back to the school to train the staff.  This was incredibly beneficial, the staff understood the 'why' for handwriting and how it was going to work in school. 

Already after 2 months we are observing big improvements and changes in the children's handwriting right across the school. 

Thank you!

Phase 3 Study Data:

Do Boys and Girls Benefit Equally from the HTW Programme?

Aim of the Study:  Analysing the same data sample as Phase 3, the data was reviewed to see if there was any difference in the progress according to gender.

Method:  All children within two schools  (Yateley Manor School and Hall Grove School)...

Phase 3 Study Data:

Do Boys and Girls Benefit Equally from the HTW Programme?

Aim of the Study:  Analysing the same data sample as Phase 3, the data was reviewed to see if there was any difference in the progress according to gender.

Method:  All children within two schools  (Yateley Manor School and Hall Grove School) were asked to copy a prescribed pangram.  Samples were taken every 6 weeks following a baseline sample. The samples were collated and then scored against the same 25-quality statement used in Phase 1 & 2, giving each child a total score of 25. 

The 25 statements were categorised into 5 subsections: legibility, size, script, reversals and spatial placement.

Sample:  The children were matched for age and gender, and all schools participating were within the independent sector.  Samples were taken from 216 children across both schools, 144 were boys and 72 were girls.  

Findings:  The final scores for all children were compared using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) with fixed effects for school, gender and year.  The data did not show any significant difference in the final scores between boys and girls, both benefitting equally.  Girls did tend to have an extra 0.5 to 1 point improvement in their total score at each review compared to boys.

In general, girls show greater improvement in the subcategory script, potentially contributing to their slightly higher total score at each review.

In Summary:  The Think Write programme benefits both boys and girls equally, and given that the sample was top heavy on male samples, the results indicate that the Think Write is a programme that supports the development of handwriting regardless of gender.  The girls did show a small improvement in the overall score, potentially due to their higher scores for script, indicating that girls tend to adopt the joined up writing marginally earlier than boys.  

Since Reception, Jack has experienced significant difficulty with motor planning and the control of fine motor movements for handwriting. In addition to this, Jack also found acquiring accurate awareness of the sounds of letters difficult, something that also impacted on his motivation for writing, which meant he preferred to avoid activities related...

Since Reception, Jack has experienced significant difficulty with motor planning and the control of fine motor movements for handwriting. In addition to this, Jack also found acquiring accurate awareness of the sounds of letters difficult, something that also impacted on his motivation for writing, which meant he preferred to avoid activities related to letters and handwriting.

To engage Jack in handwriting, and to build his confidence in his understanding of letters, an extended period of time was spent on the cognitive games and activities building Jacks knowledge of the animal categories, and his recall for why the letters were grouped together.

As his confidence increased fine motor activities were introduced, the turning point came when Jack himself began practising his letters, since then he has gone on to master accurate letter formation, and he is now in Year 2 writing in a full cursive script, mastering the spatial placement of his letters. The speed of Jack’s writing remains hampered by his difficulty with spelling, but as his writing grows in automaticity this will help relieve some of the stress.

For children like Jack, who from an early age believe that they 'can't do it' the HTW offers a unique opportunity for the children to build their understanding and knowledge in the absence of needing to write the letters down. Helping to organise Jack’s understanding of his letters, facilities his natural curiosity to 'have a go'.

How did the HTW help Jack?

Jack learnt to:

• Build his confidence in handwriting without needing to use a pen and paper
• Grow in self confidence as his knowledge increased
• Write each individual letter of the alphabet with the lead in and lead out line
• Join the letters together to make words
• Write all letters with the correct formation automatically
• Begin to form letters and short sentences
• Feel less fearful of handwriting

Zoe is a young girl of 6 years who has a diagnosis of autism. Zoe has from a young age shown excellent ability to access words for reading, she has a lot of language but has struggled to use her speech for communication with others.

Until this year Zoe has been attending a...

Zoe is a young girl of 6 years who has a diagnosis of autism. Zoe has from a young age shown excellent ability to access words for reading, she has a lot of language but has struggled to use her speech for communication with others.

Until this year Zoe has been attending a mainstream primary school with a special unit attached, where she spent a lot of her time. Since transitioning to the Junior School, Zoe spends more time in the mainstream classroom with support.

Despite being aware of letters with word when reading Zoe found it very difficult to write letters with correct spatial orientation and formation. She has since the HTW was introduced applied the cognitive components of the programme to help link together her knowledge of letters with the correct formation and spatial placement.

As her knowledge improved her interest in writing her letters grew, however it was evident that eye hand integration and spatial planning were a challenge for her. To help address this Zoe started the visual planning activities at an early stage, building her skills for integrating her visual skills with the movements go her hand.

Zoe is a learner who needs repetition and consistency and through delivering the programme at home, it soon transitioned into school, where Zoe has proven to be the more able handwriter in her class. Zoe with the support of HTW is now able to write in full cursive with developing spatial placement, in line with her same aged peers.

How did HTW help Zoe?

Zoe learnt to:

• Categorise the 26 letters of the alphabet into 3 category groups for letter formation
• Remember the letters in each category group and recall them with ease
• Associate each with the correct height and spatial placement
• Write each individual letter with the lead in and lead out line
• Learn to write and position the letters on the baseline
• Learn to join the letters together to make words
• Learn to write all letters with the correct formation automatically

Leo is a young man of 10 years, whose learning has been significantly affected by his autism. Leo is non verbal, he uses signs to communicate and has never shown any natural curiosity in letters, and fine motor skills, but loves exploring and having books read to him.

For Leo to show...

Leo is a young man of 10 years, whose learning has been significantly affected by his autism. Leo is non verbal, he uses signs to communicate and has never shown any natural curiosity in letters, and fine motor skills, but loves exploring and having books read to him.

For Leo to show motivation towards a subject it is important that he first builds an understanding of the 'concept' of handwriting so he has a 'hook' from which he can hang any future learning. After the HTW was introduced to Leo, he soon began to build an association between the animal characters and their respective movements. Character hooks were established with consistency, matching the animal movement and starting shapes we're built up for the cow and the pig categories. Leo moved on to associating the animal character, its movement with the starting shape.

The pace of Leo’s learning meant that time and effort focused on two categories the cow and pig to help consolidate his learning. Over time and with repetition Leo has begun to 'understand' and 'link' together letters, with early motor patterns of formation. Leo can with some support now write his name, and we are positive that with a consistent and regular level of exposure to the HTW Leo will learn to write more letters and words.

How did the HTW help Leo?

The HTW helped Leo to:

• Develop a ‘cognitive hook’ from which activities and games can be used to build a concept and understanding of simple handwriting skills.
• Match animal character to motor response and Makaton signs.
• Match together animal character with the correct starting shape.
• Discriminate between two different items, with decision-making.
• Increased his awareness of fine motor skills
• Link his understanding with the fine motor skills for mark making
• Form the letters for his name

Grace is a young girl who was seen by Hemispheres. One of her initial concerns was her fine motor skills and handwriting.  Grace revieved the movement programme to address the sensory and motor components of the Palmer Reflexes in combination with the Hemispheres Think Write Handwriting programme.  

You can see how much...

Grace is a young girl who was seen by Hemispheres. One of her initial concerns was her fine motor skills and handwriting.  Grace revieved the movement programme to address the sensory and motor components of the Palmer Reflexes in combination with the Hemispheres Think Write Handwriting programme.  

You can see how much Grace's handwriting has improved in only a few sessions.