An Introduction to Handwriting: Using the Slingerland Adaptation for Classroom Use of the Orton-Gillingham Approach

Still vital after all these years… Beth Slingerland began her work with Anna Gillingham in 1937. She quickly realized that this structured tutorial approach could be used with classroom groups of children and provide the skills to prevent failure. The approach is now used in General Education classrooms, in screened classrooms, in special education and resource rooms and in second language classrooms.

The Slingerland Adaptation of the Orton Gillingham Approach provides tools for instruction for written language skills for all children within the classroom. The daily format for instruction provides guidance in reading, writing, and spelling.

Steps For Structuring All Learning

This explicit Instruction, Designed to bring relevant levels of language to conscious levels and free up cognitive resources in working memory Is not rote. It allows flexible response to student needs. Each lesson includes:

1. Teaching: demonstration, and explanation
2. Guided performance by the child while verbalizing each step
3. Child performs, then the class performs, while teacher circulates or guides if help is needed firmly establishing understanding of concept.
4. Independent work to be checked later
5. Goal – child uses skill when needed

Discussion of the Handwriting Lesson

Manuscript or cursive writing is taught depending upon age of the group and school policy. Each lesson includes teaching, practice, and review so that each letter can be recalled as a single unit.

Materials, writing tools
• Paper position
• Posture
• Tripod Pencil Grip

The handwriting format includes the following and leads to writing phrases, sentences, and paragraphs under teacher guidance.
• Teaching New Letters and practicing letters already taught with relative letter size relationship, alignment and connections
• Reviewing Letters