What does Hand Under Hand mean?”
It means your hand is under the student’s hand for certain activities. Do you usually pick up a child’s hand or wrist? Instead, slide your hand under theirs. Practice from various angles.
Why use Hand Under Hand (HUH)? Because, when used consistently, this strategy:
- Allows the student access to the ways people use their hands. The student can experience hands in relation to one another, including direction of movement, amount of force, speed or tempo. (We take this for granted!)
- Provides a person who is blind or has low vision with spatial awareness through tactile experience.
- Encourages authentic involvement of the student in routine tasks that they cannot yet perform independently.
- Stimulates curiosity about what’s around them & increases the desire to do things for themselves, reducing passivity and dependence. If the student’s hands are on top of the adult’s hands, the student makes the choice of moving with that person’s hands, thus requiring active learning on their part.
- Prepares for tactile signing by teaching the student to learn to reach for communication.