Cover Image: The Kids’ Guide to Getting Your Words on Paper

The Kids’ Guide to Getting Your Words on Paper

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Member Reviews

This is an excellent guide to help kids who are self motivated and need direction and help. There are plenty of exercises, examples and tips that can help young children get on the right path to help them have a more successful academic future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This is a great book with tips and tricks to help children learn. My nephew found this book very beneficial.

Many thanks to Netgalley.

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This was a book that was FULL of different ideas in order to help tackle some of the most common reasons children can have for struggling with writing. I originally wanted to read it in order to help my 9 year old who still struggles with writing. I think this book had many great ideas and could be very useful for many parents and teachers. However, I found for me, that it had many of the same things listed in it that have been tried over years of OT and within his classrooms. I think that if a person does not have a history of fine motor delays but is still struggling with writing, this book might be just what they need to help get some ideas to help the child get on track. It just wasn't the book for our situation or my son.

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I am a parent with two second-graders, trying to navigate distance learning during this crazy time in our lives. While I know this book is written for kids - I feel like it's written for ME! While our school kept up with reading and math assignments and writing assignments were done over apps, handwriting fell to the wayside. It is a struggle to get my kids to sit and write anything - stories, comics, sentences, lists. This book has helped us find ways for them to be comfortable, figure out what's making them tired/frustrated, and also gives them the power to help themselves.

This guide starts with a quiz for the kids to determine where they may have difficulties. Then it includes exercises, tips, strategies, and recommendations for each writing-learning style. There are progress charts! An appendix full of reminders and templates! Like I said, this is written for kids (but also for parents!).

I will recommend this book to all my friends with children who need help with their writing. This is a strange time we live in and our homes are not the same as schools. But this book will help us get through whatever distance learning is in our future.

*I was provided an e-book copy for review by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.*

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The Kid’s Guide to Getting Words on Paper was written by an occupational therapist for kids. While I like the premise of the book, the students that I work with wouldn’t be self-motivated enough to read, use the charts, etc. There seems to be a gap between the audience (kids) and the application of techniques by a parent/teacher/therapist.
While I will probably use some of the exercises with struggling students. I cannot imagine those same students using the book without my direct guidance and instruction. As a tool to support therapy, this provides a useful structure for activities and exercises. It offers a method of tracking writing “homework” if the student is guided by a parent or other adult.

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YES! This was a MUCH NEEDED READ! It’s funny, it’s true, it’s hyperbolic and ridiculous and it was perfect...except TRANSLITERATIONS would be very helpful. A lot of people will be trying to say these words and it’ll be terrible for those of us who know the origin words but can’t stand the original language seemingly slaughtered. This isn’t slaughter to Yiddish. It really is a great rebirth of it for a new generation. In a Jewish world where community is a cornerstone that seems to be cracking under the isolated tendencies of newer jewneractions (not to be stolen without credit to me haha), Yiddish needs a little push in a fun out of Temple or Bubbe’s house way. Purimspieler’s Revenge was an early and long-lasting favorite!

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I will 100% be purchasing 2 copies of this book. One for my school library, and an additional one for my own kiddos at home!

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This is a guide helping with a variety of writing skills. This book is more than just writing. It is a book helping children prepare for writing mentally as well as physically. It will help at home as well as school. Writing is not only something we do with our mind thinking of words and how to properly put them together. Yes, that is important. You will find checklists making it a well designed and organized book too. Children are really in mind when putting this book together as it is visually appealing. Elementary and early middle school youth will benefit from this book. It is a helpful book designed to help with handwriting in a fun way. I would suggest this book for children, but not for them to do on their own. I think it would be most beneficial if they have guidance to understand the information. Parents or teachers working with their student or child will benefit them the best. The tips help youth write clearer so they and others can read their handwriting better. Strategies also help with concentration helping them get their writing task done and down on paper.

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I think this book has potential to be a great resource for kids who have difficulty with writing for a variety of reasons. But please note this is not a book that you can just throw at kids and expect them to figure it all out on their own. Teacher and parents should review it first and then go through it with the child. Also, follow any directions and support from your occupational therapist. There are a lot of words for a child to sort through on his own. But then that child should be empowered to make his own decisions about which tips and tricks work best for him.

I love the exercises presented in this book and remember using several of them when I was teaching, as well as a lot of the suggested tools. I like that it does empower the child to express how each activity makes her feel and which ones work best for her.

A couple of things bothered me a little bit. There are pre-printed writing lines where the child is supposed to copy a particular phrase or practice. Those lines are obviously hand-drawn, so they are wobbly and not the same size. I would rather those lines be standard and straight. But all of the charts and bookmarks, etc,. are all clearly printed and look neat and tidy, which makes them easy to read. That's another reason that I do not understand why the handwriting lines are all hand-drawn. And then the pencil emojis at the end of certain sections are a fun idea, but I find it very difficult to distinguish between the three facial expressions on the pencils. The mouths are so small that you can barely make them out and the eyes do not change too much.

The copy that I reviewed was a digital copy. I hope that the pages that have the bookmarks and things on them that are supposed to be cut out end up being pages that are blank on the other side. Otherwise, you're losing some important information! Or I hope that the book ends up in a format that allows for very easy photocopying.

So overall, I do see a lot of benefit to this book and a few tweaks would make it a little more appealing. Teachers and parents can learn a lot from it and its suggestions for activities, which could easily be implemented throughout the environment for all kids. And then the kids can figure out which techniques best help them in their own situations. They even help kids who are not showing those stronger signs of needing extra help when writing. I had many of these as a part of my general classroom offerings for all children and then encourage certain children toward certain techniques. Otherwise, they were able to figure out what best suited each of them.

Thank you to the publisher for fulfilling my review request via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Good If Your Child Has Trouble Writing

This book is designed to help children with the physical and mental skills they need to write well and more comfortably. This book specifically focuses on five problems that early writers could have, like issues with their eyes or their hands, focus, feeling overwhelmed, and being physically comfortable while they write. The title suggests that this is meant to be a guide for children to use themselves, and the chapters inside suggest that the child can work through this book alone except at a few different points. I don't agree with that. At the stage where a child is beginning to write or is writing more often, they aren't necessarily good readers, and there is a lot of text at times without a lot of illustrations to break it up. I think if a child is having difficulties with writing because of the issues mentioned above, he or she would be better served if they went through this book with a loving parent or caregiver. There is a section at the back clearly labeled for the parents about helping your child set up a writing routine. It has small charts to track progress, bookmarks with the exercises, and extra pages the child can write on. By the way, as I often have trouble with my wrists, I actually gave some hand exercises a try. I do think they would help loosen up young hands and wrists. If your child is having issues with writing because of physical discomfort, feeling overwhelmed, or lack of focus, this book will most likely help you help him or her develop good writing habits.

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Excellent resource for kids. Clear and concise and I would definitely get this for my preschooler!! If I could have I would have printed out a sheet, got my girl to do it and sent pics! It's brilliant!

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Occupational Therapist Lauren Brukner gives students tips and tricks for getting their writing voices heard. The book is laid out well and is separated according to the types of struggles a child may encounter. The first half is aimed at and speaks to a child. The second half is aimed at helping an adult guide their child through the exercises and processes. I appreciate how Brukner talks to children in an understandable tone without talking down to them.

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I received an ARC from netgalley and my opinions are my own. I liked the progress trackers after each section but it does target certain age ranges. The illustrations so to speak are cute. There's plenty of exercises and it uses plain language that's easy to understand. I will keep a copy to try with my own children as I think it will be a great resource book in our homeschool classroom.

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As a Learning Support Assistant working in a UK SEN school specifically for Speech, Language and Communication I was particularly interested in this publication. I wasn't quite sure what age group this book was aimed at but I would guess more children over age 12. I know from the children I work with, they usually have additional needs and unfortunately a book with lots of words would seem very daunting and they would give up or not be interested in reading it at all..

However, I would say from a professional point of view the strategies and ideas were brilliant. I felt that it is a must for parents who would be able to read the book and use the strategies to assist their children, especially if the child was in a main stream school which didn't have resources like specialist schools.

It is a good resource for parents who find it difficult to interpret specialist language associated with OT and also information teachers would give to them to support their children at home. It is also a very useful resource for staff to have, especially if they have a SEN child in the mix of a mainstream setting and need to take time to include them in their classroom work without them falling behind or feeling left out because they were finding work tricky.

Ultimately, although it was full of strategies we already use in our setting, it is encouraging to know that there is a publication for staff unfamiliar with these ideas or parents who want to assist their child at home. A very interesting read.

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The kids guide to getting your words on paper by Lauren Brukner Is a great God to helping children write. The exercises are easy to follow this will be a great resource to use for any child..

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This was an interesting title to read and review. I liked some of the exercises and will use them with my daughter.

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My stepdaughter loves books like this so she was excited I was able to download it for her to read. It was a fun and easy to follow read.

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I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

I'm not sure about how useful and interesting this book would be for children of its targeted age group. I thought the context and ideas behind the book were a great idea but i just dont think many children would actually sit and try the exercises within the book itself.
I liked the progress trackers after each section but again I'm not sure if children would wholey benefit from their use or even try them.

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This workbook is empowering for children who are struggling with their writing. It provides many activities and tips that a child would learn from an occupational therapy appointment.

This would be great in a classroom, library or for any child struggling with pencil grip or writing. Some of the language may require adult help for younger kids.



The publisher made this book available for review on netgalley. This review is my honest opinion.

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This is more a book for adults helping children hone their writing skills than something most kids would explore on their own. Having the opportunity to work with students of various ages on their reading and writing skills, I’m always game for more ideas and techniques, so I’m absolutely glad I had the chance to read this book. Not every idea was fresh and new, but it had solid plans and reminders for ways to encourage and assist various new writers.

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