Strategy for Improving Scissor Accuracy

This may not work for everyone but with this 1st grader yesterday we tried it to improve her ability to maintain corner integrity when cutting angular geometric shapes.

Like so many students she has a very difficult time cutting around corners and changing directions without cutting off a large portion of the paper.  So...we tried extending the cutting lines a half-inch or so past each corner to see if "driving" the scissors past the corners and then turning around to change directions might keep the corners intact.   For 2 of the 3 corners of this triangle it worked!  This is a major improvement for this student.

It wouldn't be practical to draw extended lines for every cutting activity she might encounter but it is easy to do during a practice session.  Will have to test it out and see if the strategy works again with her and if it will also help other students.

Did you notice the date and notes?  I try to date each work sample while I'm still with the student and write notes on the back about how much assistance (verbal/physical prompting) was required to produce it.  On late afternoons when I have little brain power left in the day I tape or staple selected samples to a 8.5 x 11" piece of recycled paper and file it in their OT folder, so I can easily show teachers and parents how their students have improved over time.

Usually, many days later, I find these samples shoved into little pockets in my tote bag or even my purse and it's very helpful to have the student's initials and date of the session already written on them.