21/01/2024
Love this! There are so many more beneficials options instead of tracing.
As OTs, we know a lot about fine motor skills and handwriting development. So you may not be surprised to learn that tracing is not a natural developmental skill that must take place before writing letters independently. In fact, it can even be harmful to learning efficient letter formation. Tracing just isn’t the same action as making a fluid stroke to write a letter, and doing it without modeling can lead to some interesting formation patterns, to say the least.
Still, you’ll find tons of worksheets and other activities at the PreK and K level that encourage this task. While you can’t control a student’s whole school day, you can remove these activities from your sessions and encourage the teachers you work with to focus on other activities. Need ideas to practice literacy for early writers? Try modeling, highlighted letters, a structured handwriting curriculum, and consistent opportunities to practice. And for your older students with high support needs, it’s worth taking a look at what fine motor/written expression tasks actually match the student’s cognitive level, as well as digital tools, name stamps, and other accommodations.
By the way, not all tracing activities need to be thrown out. Tracing things like abstract shapes or lines and dot-to-dot pictures can be great ways to build pencil control without learning harmful handwriting habits that are hard to change.
Want to learn more about the effective interventions that will actually make a difference for your students? The Dynamic School OT Course opens for enrollment this Thursday 1/18. When you sign up, you'll learn a whole host of treatment strategies + the evidence behind them!
