hand-over-hand
n.— «He seemed to like doing that too, even though to get him to paste the words on oak tag, the teacher had to use a technique called “hand-over-hand,” which is just about as discouraging as it sounds.» —“Hillary Said The Word—An Autism Mom Finally Feels Acknowledged” by Barbara Fischkin Huffington Post Apr. 25, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
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I wrote it so I guess I should now. “Hand-over-hand,” in this case is educational jargon related to autism. People with autism have movement difficulties. If you out your hand over an individual with autism and, in effect, do the task with them, they may with practice be able to do it themselves.
Please do not confused this with facilitated communication, a technique studied and taught in the United States by Syracuse University and Chapman University. In what is sometimes known as “FC” the touch of a hand enables an individual with autism with sensory difficulties to move his of her hand, generally to a keyboard and make his of her OWN choices of letters.
I am the mother of a 22-year-old with severe autism whose use of FC has been validated by education professors – away from the keyboard hand-over-hand has also helped him. But the preference is that he moves on his own when he can.
I am also an internationally known autism advocate and an authorand journalist. I have written on many topics including autism.