Handwriting Without Tears

Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) is a developmentally based handwriting program developed by an occupational therapist. It pays close attention to the developmental needs of school aged children who are learning how to write and develop foundational basic skills such as figure ground discrimination, left to right and top to bottom sequencing. It is also designed to eliminate problems with reversals, spacing, placement, and letter and numeral formation (Donica, 2015). Overall, this program is designed to make legible and fluent handwriting an automatic, mastered skill. Handwriting Without Tears offers multisensory strategies and materials to teach pencil grip, letter formation, and the literacy skills that are needed for print and cursive handwriting for children in grades kindergarten through fourth grade. In order for children to be successful readers, writers, and communicators they require a strong foundation. Recognizing and incorporating evidence-based interventions are important not only to occupational therapy practitioners but also to other school personnel. Therefore, it is important to review existing evidence for HWT. Studies have been done on HWT implementation in general education through full-class instruction or with students who have identified disabilities through individual or small-group instruction (Donica, 2015). We utilize handwriting without tears here at All Care to help our clients who struggle with handwriting. If you’d like to receive a screening or full evaluation to see if occupational therapy could help your child, we’d love to meet with you!

Donica, D. K. (2015). Handwriting Without Tears: General Education Effectiveness Through a

Consultative Approach (6th ed., Vol. 69).