Handwriting and Autism: Empowering Strategies that Work

Handwriting is a significant part of the school day for all students. From science to math to social studies and beyond, students are picking up a pencil frequently throughout the day. While learning to write by hand is complex for all new learners, autistic students frequently struggle with acquiring and building writing skills. Giving an autistic students the ability to write by hand empowers them to share their ideas in the classroom and beyond.

Why is handwriting such a challenge for autistic students?

While students with autism have a wide spectrum of strengths and challenges, some common struggles for autistic students include fine motor skills, sensory needs, attention, and communication. But rest assured, achieving handwriting skills is ABSOLUTELY possible and, in fact, you may be surprised at just how capable your child is in writing once they receive the appropriate support and strategies!

Let's break down these challenges with handwriting and autism:

Motor Planning & Coordination - In general, autistic students have difficulty with sequencing movements, controlling their movements for smooth fine movement, and coordinating their whole body. This can impact handwriting as it can be challenging to achieve pencil control to make small, coordinated movements that it takes to write a letter.

Fine Motor Weakness - When our hands lack strength, it can be dififcult to achieve an effective pencil grasp as well as sustain writing over a period of time.

Sensory Processing Differences - Sensitivity to paper texture, pencil to paper contact, and other visual/tactile/auditory input can deter an autistic student from writing.

Executive Function Challenges - Organizing thoughts, planning our writing, and task initiation can be difficult for the autistic student as well as understanding abstract concepts with writing.

GOOD NEWS!!

Handwriting and Autism can go together like peanut butter and jelly (or chocolate... you do you!)

Trust us, we have seen it!!

Strategies that Work for Handwriting and Autism

Focus on Foundational Skills

Building up a student's foundations is an essential piece to prepare them for writing. This includes:

• Strengthening their core, arms, and hands (think animal walks, climbing, play-doh!)

• Building pre-writing skills such as imitation of vertical, horizontal, curved, and diagonal lines

Use Multi-Sensory Approaches

• Capitalize on their sensory preferences by adapting the environment to meet their needs.

• Try using textured paper, chalkboards, or dry-erase boards.

• Trial various writing utensils including weighted pencils, pencil grips, erasable pens, etc.

• Shake up the position by having them write on a paper on the wall while standing or kneeling, or have them lie on their tummy propped on elbows for writing time.

• Be sure to build in movement breaks for sensory regulation rather than expecting them to remain seated at a table for a period of time.

• Bring sensory rich experiences into their learning. From writing in sand and shave cream, to air-writing with big arm movements before pencil and paper.

Bring in Visual Supports

Autistic students tend to thrive with visual supports so use that to your advantage. Try:

• Highlight lines on paper

• Using visual models of letters (bonus if it has starting points and arrows)

• Trial paper types including raised lines, triple lines, etc

• Use a handwriting checklist when they are ready to build self-checking skills

Keep it Fun and Functional

• Incorporate the autistic student's interests (write about dinosaurs or trains!)

• Take small steps and celebrate small wins

• Focus on functional writing, such as name, to build practical skills

Accommodations for Handwriting and Autism

Adapting the environment using low and high tech accommodations is essential to bridging the gap for autistic students.

Some low tech accommodations may include adapting the writing tool (markers, pens, crayons, chalk, pencil grips, etc), adapting the paper (see above), adapting the seating (see above), and providing additional visual supports.

High tech accommodations may include teaching the student how to type or use speech to text, which allows the student to show their learning without the handwriting barrier.

Best Practice for Autistic Students

Short, consistent handwriting practice sessions are essential for initial learning and improvement. Merging multi-sensory and interest-based learning into handwriting instruction is key. Building foundational skills will impact handwriting and beyond.

Finally, collaboration with the entire team, including the student, teachers, parents, school team, and outside support (OT, tutor, etc) will make a significant difference in outcomes.

When to Seek Extra Handwriting Support

When your autistic student is struggling with pre-writing skills, THAT is the time! Early intervention is best practice and building those skills early will serve the child throughout their academic journey and beyond. Remember handwriting is a life skill that a student with autism should be encouraged to achieve.

If you are wondering where your child stands, check out the free screener!

Your child may already receive occupational therapy support, but often that is not enough to make a difference in their handwriting. Typically outpatient or school-based OTs are focused on motor skills, sensory processing, and regulation and therefore do not have the time, bandwidth, or experience in remediation of handwriting. Therefore, seeking out a full handwriting assessment may be the best next step in your child's journey.

The Possibilities for Handwriting and Autism

I know it may seem trivial to tackle handwriting when you are focused on all of the other pieces of their development. But I also know that removing the cognitive load students carry of "how to write" allows for their creativity and freedom to experience "what to write."

Our tutor team has helped dozens of children with autism not only learn how to write, but these students have actually come to love writing! One former student enjoys writing in various fonts based on logos (think Disney logo!). Another student writes scripts for tv shows. Another student continues to receive high praise for their handwriting legibility.

While we aren't looking for perfect, we want our students to be functional and legible writers as they can use writing as a form of communication and to demonstrate their learning. With patience, persistence, and a bit of hard work (and fun!), autistic students can and will learn to write by hand with the right support.

Are you looking for support for your learner? Book your free consultation here to learn if this will be a good fit for your family.