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1. Can you give me individual advice for my child?We are a charity, consisting mainly of volunteers, and work primarily with teachers, schools, universities and therapists to establish good handwriting policies and practice. Our resources are limited, and unfortunately at this time we cannot deal with individual queries regarding private tuition and help. You will find helpful information about handwriting from our publications as detailed on the website.
2. Is joining NHA and receiving the Journal useful for me as a parent?While the articles and information in the journal are very clear and user friendly, you might want to encourage your child's school to join NHA. In this way we can exchange information, help to raise standards and support those who teach children with handwriting problems. The publications are written for parents as well as professionals, and are well worth buying.
3. Can you recommend tutors?Again unfortunately no, we hope to create a list of NHA members who are prepared to offer handwriting tuition sometime in the future. However, Patoss (Professional Association of Teacher of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties) has the Tutor Index which is a nationwide list of suitably qualified teachers/tutors willing to carry out assessments - both for teaching and for exam special arrangements - or to give private lessons. All those on the list are Patoss members who have either the RSA/OCR Diploma or Certificate in SpLD or are AMBDA. Details include qualifications, special professional interests, and preferred age ranges. Updated annually, it is available to non-members by post. For more information contact Patoss@compuserve.com To order, send a cheque to Patoss for UK £5.00 (inc p&p, and also including supplements during the year) within the UK. PO Box 10, Evesham, Worcs WR11 1ZW Telephone: 01386 712 650 - Fax: 01386 712 716 email: patoss@evesham.ac.uk
4. Do you help adults with handwriting?
from the 1997 Handwriting Review are the only articles specifically on adult handwriting. One book that might be worth purchasing is;
Rosemary Sassoon is a well known and respected writer and has written a number of articles for NHA, and Dr Briem's web site is featured on the Links page. It can be obtained from a good bookshop, or from sites such as http://www.amazon.co.uk
5. Do you know of any other people, places, web sites, or organisations that might help my child?
6. Is it possible to improve a secondary school student's handwriting once they have established a style, or does it automatically lead to a reduction in the child's writing speed?Changing a writing style is a major undertaking and is dependent upon the student's drive and motivation to make that change. In the short term it will almost certainly lead to a reduction in the child's writing speed. Continual practice of the new style with short, frequent practice sessions will be necessary. It can then be used in situations where speed is not a requirement, only putting it into 'everyday' use when it is thoroughly learned and has become faster and automatic. An article giving more details on the subject can be found here. You may also find the book, Handwriting in the secondary school... not a secondary skill, useful. Details can be found on the Publications page.
7. Can you offer help and advice for left-handers? The NHA is preparing a book with advice for left handed writers. In the meantime, a collection of links for left handed people can be found here although the quality of the advice given is up to you to judge.
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