Melissa Spitz

Melissa Putterman Spitz, M.S. OTR/L is a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of Adventures in Handwriting, an online handwriting program for children ages three and a half to six. Licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, she brings her Columbia University training and years of one-on-one clinical work to every video she produces.

Her career in pediatric OT began treating children directly in schools across Florida, where she saw firsthand how foundational handwriting struggles could undermine a child's confidence in the classroom. That clinical experience led her to develop a structured, multi-sensory approach that breaks writing into manageable pre-stroke skills before introducing the full alphabet.

In 2022, Spitz launched Adventures in Handwriting as a fully online program, filming 15 self-contained video lessons so parents would not have to sit alongside their children and coach them through workbooks. The program is designed for independent use -- the child logs in and works through the lessons on their own, with the parent simply making the purchase and setting the schedule.

Schools noticed. By 2023, Adventures in Handwriting had been incorporated into curricula at seven schools, and those early adopters came back and repurchased for a second year. Spitz now meets with curriculum directors face to face and builds the school sales pitch around what she can demonstrate in person.

In December 2024, she appeared on the How I Built This Advice Line with Patreon co-founder Jack Conte, where she asked how to scale school sales without the resources of a larger company. Following the episode, she created over 50 new videos tailored for educators, and state-level school contacts across the country began reaching out.