Mark Making at home
Within our Early Years department we have been working alongside specialist Occupational Therapists to find ways
to develop children’s writing. Consequently, over the past term and the end of the Summer term we have been
practicing the ‘Praxic Alphabet’ with all pupils daily. To encourage the greatest level of progress possible, you can
also support your child at home by continuing some of the strategies that we have been using in school every day.
The pupils benefit from accessing the Praxic alphabet as frequently as possible, which is possible due to it being in
very short bursts.
Praxic Alphabet:
The Praxic Alphabet is a series of 4 ‘families’ each with 4 letter shapes. When combined, these shapes can create
every letter in the alphabet. One family one at a time is taught in the order that they appear. Once you have
mastered the formation of the first shape in the family then you will start to teach the next. When you have learnt
several shapes within one family then provide your child with the opportunities to practice them side by side so that
they are required to discriminate between the shapes. Once your child has mastered all 4 shapes within a family and
can do this with them mixed up in a sequence of up to 6 then they are ready to move on to the next family.
Mark making and letter formation:
Once your child has successfully been able to replicate part of the first family of letter shapes, they are ready to
extend this by other forms of mark making. By following the Praxic Alphabet with a range of mark making activities it
will help develop their understanding of letters and secure what we are learning in school. We are learning our letter
sounds developmentally according to advice from speech and language therapists, rather than from the ‘Letters and
Sounds’ programme.
The order of the letters that we will learn is: a/e/i/o/u/c/p/b/m/n/t/d/w/k/g/f/h/y/s/l/j/z/v/r/x
Lots of ideas can be found on Pinterest and other parent’s blogs. Initially, pupils may need to write over the top of an
adults’ writing. Once they can do this confidently using the correct formation they can begin to copy underneath
your writing, and then on their own. It would help your child’s speech and future spelling ability if you name the
letters by their sound instead of their letter names. Here are some examples of how you could extend the Praxic
Alphabet:
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Apps such as ‘hairy letters’ or ‘twinkl’ to overwrite individual letters.
Apps such as ‘tracing 123’ can support your child in learning number formation and other shapes. You could
get a stylus such as the ‘icrayon’ so that it is as close to a children’s pencil as possible.
Writing letters in foam, or other sensory gloop.
Writing letters in sand/ flour on top of a coloured background such as paper to reveal the letter.
Overwriting your letters in a different colour to you on paper, on a whiteboard, on mirrored card (you can
get these in craft shops).
Writing on fences or the external walls of your house with a paintbrush and water, or on a patio floor.
Using cars to drive around on a letter shaped ‘road’.
Mark making with bath crayons.
Please contact me in school for any further ideas, questions or support.
Kind regards,
Mrs Amanda Hulme