{"id":10793,"date":"2013-12-12T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=10793"},"modified":"2013-12-02T17:57:56","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T21:57:56","slug":"ot-services-in-the-iep-handwriting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/ot-services-in-the-iep-handwriting\/","title":{"rendered":"OT Services in the IEP: Handwriting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"OT%20Services%20in%20the%20IEP%3A%20Handwriting\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; float: right;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/nltr\/img\/writing.teen3.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" \/>My 8th-grade son&#8217;s\u00a0handwriting is illegible. His IEP includes OT, but no handwriting practice.<\/p>\n<p>The school district and OT teacher maintain that handwriting practice is not a function of OT.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If your son\u2019s handwriting is illegible in the 8th grade, you\u2019re right to be concerned.<\/p>\n<p>When children write, they must make a link between their motor skills and their language system.\u00a0 Handwriting is a special skill in its own right.<\/p>\n<p>Your son more than likely needs direct instruction or assistive technology so he can progress in the general curriculum.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Problems that can impede progress in handwriting are not always apparent just by looking at your son\u2019s papers.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Handwriting Assessment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The OT should conduct an assessment of his handwriting to include observation of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>execution<\/li>\n<li>legibility<\/li>\n<li>speed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of these skills become increasingly important as your child moves through the higher grades. Teachers use written work to measure how well your son is learning.<\/p>\n<p>When your son needs to write essays, he will have to focus on many different tasks at the same time &#8211; handwriting, spelling, grammar, word choice, sentence formation, organization, and planning.<\/p>\n<p>When memory is overloaded, it is even harder to form letters neatly and correctly.<\/p>\n<p>In the list of what an OT does, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aota.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA)<\/span><\/a> includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Help develop and evaluate handwriting curriculum<\/li>\n<li>collaborate with teachers on effective strategies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>1. Is your son\u2019s OT helping to develop curriculum and effective teaching strategies \u2013 like handwriting practice?<\/p>\n<p>2. Does your son\u2019s IEP include handwriting goals?<\/p>\n<p>3. Is it clear in the IEP what services the OT will provide in order to help your son meet his goals?<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Present Levels<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IDEA requires a statement of your son\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/nltr\/13\/nl.0402.htm\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance<\/span><\/a>. These present levels indicate your son\u2019s unique characteristics or needs.<\/p>\n<p>An example might be &#8211; <em>Handwriting that is slow, labored, &#8220;drawn,&#8221; nearly illegible due to improper size and spacing of letters and words.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The IEP Team\u2019s next question should be \u201cwhat is the school going to do about this\u201d- specific OT services.<\/p>\n<p>You may need to request, in writing, an IEP meeting to review and revise your son\u2019s present levels, goals and services.<\/p>\n<p>Your son\u2019s OT should attend the meeting as part of the IEP Team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My 8th-grade son&#8217;s\u00a0handwriting is illegible. His IEP includes OT, but no handwriting practice. The school district and OT teacher maintain that handwriting practice is not a function of OT. If <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/ot-services-in-the-iep-handwriting\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1274,136],"tags":[1119,1121,1120,225],"class_list":["post-10793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ieps","category-related-services","category-strategies","tag-handwriting","tag-occupational-therapy","tag-ot-services","tag-related-services"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10793"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10858,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10793\/revisions\/10858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}