Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) is one of the handwriting program that is suitable for a wide range of learners and adapts to their changing needs as they grow older (Olsen & Knapton, 2012). This program is sensorimotor-based handwriting curriculum and it is designed to teach preschoolers and kindergarten students to learn prewriting skills by using music and body movement with multi-sensory approach to learn body awareness and fine motor skills (Olsen & Knapton, 2012). By using the HWT program, it can provide and enhance multiple means of engagement and learning for all learners, including those with learning difficulties or special needs, making it suitable for inclusive classroom learning environments too.
Learners are profoundly different in regards to what attracts their attention and interest. The educators or teachers have to provide valuable resources to support the learners, engage them, and be attentive to their needs. Therefore, by using HWT curriculum, the learners can build their fine motor skills through play, music, activities, and hands-on materials such as wood pieces, Roll-A-Dough Letters, Wet-Dry-Try on the slate, etc. (Olsen & Knapton, 2012). Furthermore, learners learn more than just writing their names in HWT curriculum, which are markers of emergent literacy skills and eventually lead to reading (Learning Without Tears, 2023). As the learners practice the letter formations by using this curriculum, they reinforce the letter principles too. This practice allows the learners’ working memory is freed up to concentrate on letter sounds and facilitating letter and sound knowledge transfer as they gain proficiency in HWT (Learning Without Tears, 2023). In the end, this helps them become proficient readers.
Besides that, some learners are usually different based on the period of learning and environment that they are exposed to (Florian, 2014). Hence, this program proves to be essential as it provides a channel for the recruitment of learner interest through a platform which acts as a reflection of the critical internal and external individual differences among the learners. It has three checkpoints.
The first checkpoint involves the optimisation of personal choice and autonomy. This consists of providing various decisions through which the learning objective can be achieved. Options provided differ with each level of student and are dependent on factors such as the tools utilised for the production and gathering of information. Learners should also be allowed to help in designing activities in the educational setting as well academic factors involved. This checkpoint is beneficial to the learner as providing them with choices enables the development of self-determination, pride in accomplishment and how they are connected to their learning process (Ainscow, 2005). For instance, during HWT lesson, the learners can choose any materials to form a capital letter “Z”. The student can choose wood pieces, “Roll-A-Dough letter”, “1-2-3 Touch & Flip cards”, and /or “Stamp and See” and each options which provided depends on the their level (Olsen & Knapton, 2012).
The second checkpoint is the optimisation of relevance, value and authenticity. This involves highlighting the utility or relevance of learning by demonstrating it through official means. Similarly, different learners find different aspects of information as being meaningful or having value (Joanne et al., 2015). Hence, the teachers have various actions and sources of knowledge so that they are personalised to the life of the learners as well as being culturally relevant and responsive. Using HWT program, the learners can learn through play, physical, and sensory experiences. The materials throughout the learning space could affect how they feel, what they do, and how they learn because they learn letters and numerals through authentic and meaningful activities (Olsen & Knapton, 2012). This checkpoint is beneficial to the learners since most of the learning outcomes will be authentic and the learners with special needs will feel the need to be more engaged in the inclusive educational setting.
The last checkpoint is the minimisation of the threats and distractions that surround the learner. This can be done by identifying the potential risks and disturbances in the learners’ environment and attending to them to enable them to focus their attention and has active participation (Ainscow, 2005). This can be done by creating class routines and varying the level of risk present in the learning environment. This will create a safe space for each learner making the learning more inclined to feel accepted and engaged in the learning environment. By using multi-sensory, music inputs, and hands-on approach in HWT program, it addresses different learning styles, promotes active, and inclusive participation (Olsen & Knapton, 2012).
References
Ainscow, M., & Miles, S. (2008). Making Education for All inclusive: where next?. Prospects, 38(1), 15-34.
Joanne M. Deppeler, Tim Loreman, Ron Smith, Lani Florian (ed.) (2015). Inclusive Pedagogy Across the Curriculum (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Volume 7) Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Learning Without Tears. (2023, March 23). HWT-SOR-Flyer-WEB-3.23.23 [PDF]. Learning Without Tears. https://www.lwtears.com/sites/default/files/2023-03/HWT-SOR-Flyer-WEB-3.23.23.pdf
Learning Without Tears. (n.d.). Handwriting Without Tears. Learning Without Tears. https://www.lwtears.com/solutions/writing/handwriting-without-tears?srsltid=AfmBOopgQNT1kAtcf-Cdgv71QFiY7uLRbpW35u30_Bd-5uoZtA11EmIU
Olsen, Jan. & Knapton, E. (2012). Handwriting Without Tears: Readiness & writing Pre-K Teacher’s Guide. Cabin John, MD.