Research School Network: Using diagnostic assessments to support effective planning in handwriting – how is it going nearly a year later? Developments and updates one year on

Since writing this blog https://researchschool.org.uk/aspirer/news/using-diagnostic-assessments-to-support-effective-planning-in-handwriting in May 2021, we have continued to use handwriting diagnostics to find the gaps and ensure that the time the children spend out of class in their handwriting intervention group is as effective as possible. We have kept the same assessment sheet as it really helps us see the difference between their ​‘neat’ and their ​‘quick’ handwriting and the time taken too. The diagnostic sheets have also continued to be incredibly helpful in unpicking the relevant letter family that the child needs to start working on first.

What we now have in place is a more structured approach to the 15 minute intervention session. For each letter family, I have created 6 lessons that the children work through with the adult. These could be delivered 3x, 2x or once a week – the flexibility is there to fit into very busy school timetables. We also make sure that the groups are for 2 – 4 children only. The outline can be seen below.

These sessions were devised by myself and I tried to group similar letters within the same work family, for example, the starting position and movement for r is the start of the letter n and then that leads to the letter m. I grouped them like this so that the children can see the links between the letters and use the same techniques and strategies. I am sure there are other ways of doing this, but so far, this is working for us and our children.

Another thing that I have developed over the year, is a clear outline and an example script, for each session. This helps to ensure consistency across groups run by different adults but it also ensures that the children hear the same terms each session. It helps to build an internal monologue for them that they can utilise when writing independently back in the classroom. Again, there are other ways of structuring the sessions, but this is working for us and our children at the moment.

Finally, how do we know that this is having an impact? Below is a child’s handwriting assessment from before the intervention and then after the 6 sessions with their teaching assistant. Also, and most importantly from pupil voice, the children are enjoying these sessions and can see how it can help them back in the classroom.

Sarah Izon


Director of the Aspirer Research School