Laura Graham Occupational Therapy

Laura Graham Occupational Therapy Laura Graham OT is a well-regarded therapist owned company. Based in the Midlands organisation provides consultation, assessment and training packages.

The hot topic in Laura's working week this week has been handwriting. With the new writing framework coming into play, s...
12/09/2025

The hot topic in Laura's working week this week has been handwriting. With the new writing framework coming into play, schools are keen to ensure their students are accessing appropriate pre writing activites to support the fluent and legible handwriting required. Tracing is one such activity that can have many benefits but it is not without drawbacks. This is a great post detailing the considerations of when and when not to use tracing to support handwriting development. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BHgtDdkye/

This is a HUGE resource...and information OT practitioners want you to know about tracing....
Learning letters is a tricky task for our brains and hands; they must work together to look at a drawing, understand that drawing/symbol represents a letter, remember that letter, copy a mental image of the letter, and then instruct our hand to move in such a pattern that creates the letter.

"Often times I have parents/teachers who have students who do somewhat well when tracing their alphabet, but when it comes time to write the letter on their own it falls apart.
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This can be due to two things:
1. The child does not have a good memory of how to create the letter
2. Tracing allows for the child to start at any point, and therefore formations may start bottom to top/in the middle of the letter/wherever and thus the resulting formation may be large/incorrect/illegible.

This being said, there is a time and place for tracing as a tool to support skill development...

Let's talk about what the research says AND experienced OTs have to say about how tracing should and should not be used for young learners!
https://www.theottoolbox.com/to-trace-or-not-to-trace/

This afternoon Laura has attended the fabulous Libby Hill's 3rd book Launch. A fabulous afternoon with super company!
07/09/2025

This afternoon Laura has attended the fabulous Libby Hill's 3rd book Launch. A fabulous afternoon with super company!

It's the first day back to work after the summer break and Laura has been busy delivering training to over 100 teaching ...
01/09/2025

It's the first day back to work after the summer break and Laura has been busy delivering training to over 100 teaching assistants from 17 schools in the West Midlands alongside the fabulous School Sensory Solutions with Ali Neal. It's been a super day of learning and playing as the amazing Grow Family Services loaned us several items from their new and updated SEND Library. Laura and Ali are currently working on something really exciting for 2026....watch this space.

What a super idea for developing scissor skills. The little car helps with orientation of the scissors, we often see a r...
07/08/2025

What a super idea for developing scissor skills. The little car helps with orientation of the scissors, we often see a range of unusual scissors grasps in practice and work with children and school staff to support. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16oRMjeD1V/

Tell me you're a school based without telling me! It's the end of term and all equipment has been returned for stock c...
21/07/2025

Tell me you're a school based without telling me!

It's the end of term and all equipment has been returned for stock check and redistribution. What can you spot?

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