Employing Handwriting without Tears® to Teach a 4-Year-Old Preschool Student to Write His Name with the Appropriate Size, Shape, and Form Combined with an Imitate/Trace/Copy/Memory Procedure

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the prewriting and handwriting curriculum Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) in a preschool setting with a single student who has developmental delays and a suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Data were collected during the regular preschool day. The behavior measured was the student's ability to independently and accurately write his name given by the visual prompt "Name: ______" and verbal instructional cue "write your name". A modified imitate, trace, copy, and memory procedure was used with the student with the instructional support and curriculum from the Handwriting Without Tears® Get Set for School (Olsen, 2003) curriculum. In addition to this curriculum, first author created materials were also used. The overall outcomes indicated that the Handwriting Without Tears® programs was successful in teaching that student who has severe developmental delays, tactile defensiveness, and sensory processing deficits to write his name.