The Effects of Using Handwriting without Tears® Procedures and Worksheets to Teach Two Preschool Students with Severe Disabilities to Write their First Names

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to shape letters using tracing procedures based from Handwriting Without Tears® program [1]. This writing program was implemented to teach two preschool students with disabilities to write their first name. The participants were enrolled in a self-contained special education classroom and each participant had little or no skills in handwriting. Since both students are moving into kindergarten next year, this was as am important goal to teach each participant to write their names. The outcomes indicated that during baseline, neither student could legibly write the letters in their first name. During the first intervention, the students traced one specific letter in their name using Handwriting without Tears worksheets. In the second intervention, the students traced the specific letter and traced their name over a yellow marker. In the third intervention, the students continued to trace their specific letter and traced their name over a yellow marker with starting dots. The results suggested that tracing letters using Handwriting without Tears® worksheets and tracing name over yellow marker was beneficial to teach to preschool students with disabilities to write their name.