Special Populations and First Strokes

The Handwriting Clinic uses the First Strokes programs for 99 percent of all print classes and therapy. The clinic usually has between 40 – 65 students per month and serves a varied population! Over 300 students attend summer camps each summer! Handwriting problems are not just within the special education population! The clinic has used the First Strokes program with many students in the gifted and talented programs at school because even this population struggles with handwriting! The First Strokes program has had very good success with the students with dyslexia (we have a high percentage of students due to referrals from a major hospital that does dyslexia testing). Participants will learn strategies for teaching students to prevent letter and number reversals. Likewise, many students with learning disabilities or with poor visual motor skills have done very well with First Strokes. We have a great relationship with some optometrists that specialize in vision related learning disorders, and have been very successful at bypassing some of the visual processing with multi-sensory learning and cognitive cues within the First Strokes program – that combined with special glasses has helped many, many students overcome their struggles with handwriting – one of our best areas of success! One population that has done very well with First Strokes has been students with autism. These students like the consistency of the language, the fact that the program has a linear progression of skills using sequential concepts, and many of the highly visual multi-sensory approaches we use in combination with the program. Videos will be shown during the workshop of a child with autism. The clinic has had a limited number of students with mental retardation in the past year and ½, but several of these students developed functional handwriting through the First Strokes program. We have had some good success with many of the schools in the area using the First Strokes programs with many of the kids at the clinic – which has led to even better mastery of skills! We have many students at the clinic with poor fine motor skills, and have had success at intervention with our grasp classes and techniques, which will be presented at the workshop. A video of a child with hypotonia and a child with neurotypical fine motor develoment will be presented at the workshop. We have had a few students with mild cerebral palsey (who also seemed to have a visual motor component), that have been at the clinic with good success at learning the sequencing of the letters/number and letter reversal strategies, and have refined their handwriting to an improved level – but only to the extent of their coordination will allow them to write.