FM.F.63 IMITATES A VERTICAL LINE
This is the first of the controlled strokes taught in this sequence. It requires that the child thinks about where to start, what direction to go in and where to stop. Equally important is the ability to copy what someone else does.
How to Assess
Materials: Paper and a thick crayon.
Method: Place the paper in front of the child. Say ‘I’m going to draw a line’. Demonstrate drawing a vertical line. Give the crayon to your child and say ‘You draw a line’.
Score plus if your child makes one or more lines on the paper that are longer than 2 cm and varying no more than 30 from the vertical position.
How to Teach
Demonstrations should continue throughout the teaching of this skill. Work through the following steps to find the point where teaching should begin.
- Imitates a vertical line with verbal and physical help. Draw your line, and then help your child to draw his, saying ‘Down … and stop’.
- Imitates a vertical line with verbal help, and physical help with stopping only. Frequently children get the idea of going down but do not lift their crayons from the paper when they get to the bottom. Instead, they continue their lines up again or drift off into scribble. If this is happening, exaggerate your own ‘stop’ when you demonstrate and step in when your child gets near the bottom to lift his hand up away from the paper. Say ‘Down … and . . . STOP!’ If your child has difficulty remembering where to start as well, try drawing a line of large dots across the top of the paper and teach him to start on a dot. Remember that all this extra help must be gradually reduced as your child gets the idea.
- Imitates a vertical line with verbal help only. While no physical help is given, the verbal reminder ‘down and stop’ continues. From time to time, leave your reminder out, to see if your child can draw his lines without it.
- Imitates a vertical line, as in the main objective. When your child has mastered step 3, your reminders should become less and less frequent, until you are giving just one at the beginning of your practice session, and then none at all. Now your child has mastered the skill.
Playtime and Round-the-house Activities
Corrugated cardboard is an excellent material for practising vertical lines, as the crayon will slip easily down the grooves for a perfect result. If your child is standing, practise on a chalkboard or on large sheets of paper pinned to an easel. The activities listed under FM.F.53 (scribbling) can also be used for practising lines. Remember that in play activities your child should have plenty of opportunities for scribbling as well.
Remembering and Extending
Even after you begin teaching FM.F.85 and FM.F.86, in which other kinds of strokes are imitated, practice with vertical lines should continue. Play imitation games with crayons and paper. You scribble, then direct your child to do the same. You draw a line, and then ask your child to draw one. To give your child the idea, start by copying what he does.