Exploring Why Tracing Isn't the Ultimate Solution

As an occupational therapist with 25+ years of experience, including 10 years working in the school system, I can tell you anecdotally that motor learning is extremely complex and different for every individual.

I have worked with extremely complex patients in long-term intensive care units, where we often worked on the minutiae of skills during each session to help patients wean from the ventilator and transition into rehabilitation, where they would begin relearning ADLs and functional mobility. It is like peeling away the thin layers of an onion to get to the core.

Handwriting is similarly complex. School-based occupational therapists can become very discouraged when they are labeled "the handwriting teacher" because they understand that their neurological knowledge base allows them to analyze the activity for each individual and identify the underlying barriers. To an OT, handwriting is not simply about teaching prewriting strokes or forming letters. We understand the neurological processes involved, as well as developmental progression and the stepping stones a child must master before they are ready to write letters.

I have also been doing a lot of reading lately that supports the connection between literacy and handwriting, as well as the importance of teaching through imitation early on. Teachers and other school staff may not always understand where an occupational therapist is coming from when we approach handwriting instruction differently.

When I start working with preschoolers on drawing prewriting shapes, I never simply place a tracing sheet in front of them. Many times, I use hand-under-hand guidance, model the stroke while providing verbal cues, and incorporate repetition. I sing songs, and the children sing along with me, to help reinforce the prewriting strokes and shapes.

I also keep the practice time to a minimum—usually just 1–2 minutes during a session—and often have children stand at a vertical surface while practicing these prewriting strokes and shapes. For this technique to really stick, I demonstrate what I am doing to the preschool teachers and ask them to provide opportunities for carryover in the classroom.

Demonstrating the shapes with proper stroke patterns allows imitation to occur. At this age, imitating movements—always starting with larger movements and gradually progressing to smaller ones—is an important part of learning. Children are still developing their fine motor skills, grasp, bilateral upper-extremity skills, and other foundational abilities.

When a tracing sheet is placed in front of a student, they may not have the motoric model to imitate. Left to their own devices, they may not develop the motor plans that will later be important for efficient letter formation in the early elementary years.

I have included some interesting articles if you would care to read them. There are some fascinating studies that support the benefits of modeling prewriting skills before handwriting instruction, as well as the continued use of modeling during handwriting instruction.

Aditi. (2022). A pre-writing skills plan: The fastest way to get from imitating strokes to writing letters. Dr. Aditi the OT. A Pre-Writing Skills Plan: The fastest way to get from imitating ... 

Askov, E. N., & Greff, K. N. (1975). Handwriting: Copying Versus Tracing as the Most Effective Type of Practice. The Journal of Educational Research, 69(3), 96–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1975.10884841

Sydbauer.401. (2023, January 5). Tracing sheets? Do they help or hurt? The OT Toolbox. https://www.theottoolbox.com/to-trace-or-not-to-trace/

Vecchini, A., Buratta, L., & Fogassi, L. (2023). Grapho-motor imitation training in children with handwriting difficulties: A single-center pilot study. Cogent Education, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2192152