Ask Jan

I teach a Level IV Special Education program. Many students have low cognitive abilities. They have had OT and have learned capital letters for handwriting over the last few years. How do I help them "unlearn" using capitals throughout their sentences. These students are in 4th and 5th grade. Writing with capitals has been habituated, and I have I.E.P. goals that they will write with proper conventions.

Diane Fleming

In response to writing in all CAPS:
Dear Diane,
You mention that many students have low cognitive abilities in your classroom and have been learning capital letters over the last few years. Switching their writing to mostly lowercase may not be in their best interest because of their low cognitive status. Capitals are developmentally easier, and lowercase letters require much higher skill levels in cognition, visual, and motor areas. I recommend that you first decide if their abilities are on par with late kindergarten or 1st graders before you move forward. If not, their I.E.P. goals may need to be adjusted for writing.
If you decide that they are ready to move forward with lowercase, use the Kindergarten workbook and provide instruction in lowercase letters, words and sentences using the 3 Stages of Learning from the Teachers Guide. If you need additional guidance please contact HWT directly for assistance.
Lastly, writing in all capital letters is functional. There are many adults who choose to write in all capitals; this makes the process of filling out forms and job applications easier. Capitals are easier to recognize. Using lowercase letters may decrease the legibility of some of your students writing.
I wish you and your students success!
Sincerely,
Katrina

How soon after teaching the capital letters is it most beneficial to begin teaching the lowercase letters in a Kindergarten program utilizing the HWT program?

I am looking for a quick cheat sheet for the verbal directions for all the capital letters as well as the lowercase letters.

Dear Tracy, Please take a look at our Classroom Extras page, where we have a lot of great downloads, including our letter formation charts. You can find all the verbal directions for both print and cursive capital and lowercase letters here: http://www.hwtears.com/files/Letter%20Formation%20Charts.pdf I hope this helps!

Hi, I have been using the HWT curriculum to teach my older children cursive since it seemed the program we were using was too frustrating. My left-handed/ right-eye dominant likes the program but likes "loops" since he had previously used a method with loops. Should I discourage his using loops and follow HWT's format entirely? Also, due to his previously using a different curriculum, he tends to slant some letters. How important is it that all the letters are straight up and down? Thanks so much!

Hi Janet, Slanted or vertical cursive is not a matter of correctness; it is just a matter of style. Most children, including most left-handed children, find vertical cursive much easier to learn. However, if your child has developed a slant, check that all the letters are slanted uniformly. If he “loops” certain letters (such as h, k, p), then his letter formation should be the consistent for those letters. Recognize that this is the child’s personalized style. Most importantly, the goal is legible handwriting.