What's Lost As Handwriting Research

The development of writing skills largely relies on fine motor skills. First the child must master the holding of writing implements (Huffman & Fortenberry, 2011). There are four stages in the development of holding a writing implement and depending on the culture the child grows up in, the final stage may be attained at an earlier time (Walcer, 2016a). The last stage of learning to hold a writing implement is called the dynamic tripod. In this stage the child has finger coordination and displays a mature way of holding a writing implement (Walcer, 2016a). The dynamic tripod is usually present at the same time that the mature writing pattern is observed,

Additionally, having social media and the internet, texting, email etc., also creates more chances of writing. Most parents and teachers think that this is causing a downfall in school and literacy capabilities but in reality its actually helping. According to Thompson (Source G), she believes we are in the middle of a literacy revolution. This generation writes more than any other generation before. Most peoples’ writing happens outside the classroom. It

“Handwriting is already suffering a major blowback” says Joanne Jacobson who is a curriculum director of Fraser Public Schools. Cursive may be legible for kids who are below third grade but by the time they reach fifth grade they all have developed their own style of handwriting. With or without learning cursive writing, a child’s handwriting develops for better over the years.

Timothy Rasinski and Nancy Padak, in their article, “Write Soon!” from The Reading Teacher (2009) emphasize that reading and writing are important skills and explain how parents can easily incorporate them into everyday life. They support this idea by presenting simple ways that parents and their children can do this, such as writing notes to each other, exchanging journals, or making lists. The authors wrote this article in order to help teachers guide parents through developing and supporting their child’s literacy. Rasinski and Padak’s writing is aimed toward teachers who can ultimately use these instructions to encourage

Technology has completely taken over when it comes to writing and it’s not fair to strip this curriculum out of schools and it’s especially not fair for the parents of young children to have to teach their children at home how to write in the cursive script I think it should at least be offered as an extra curriculum class such as music, band, and sports. I think that cursive writing could really benefit anyone children especially but for some reason the school systems have become so dependent on computer technology that a lot of the testing in schools are even done on a computer I remember doing CSAP testing and you had to make sure you filled in the correct bubble just right. As the author writes cursive is a lost virtue and to get it back is more than likely not going to happen this really makes me wonder what other skills schools no longer teach children I mean I know as parents it’s our job to prepare our children for the future but if it comes down to the point to where were having to teach our children the necessities to get them through life at home then what exactly is the point of public schools if they aren’t preparing our children for the future. To me cursive is like math people use it every day and if children aren’t being taught how to write it they definitely aren’t going to be able to

This study validated the use of co-teaching handwriting with the teacher and therapist embedded in the classroom to provide handwriting intervention. The students in the Write Start program with the therapist embedded in the classroom demonstrated improvement in legibility, handwriting and speed. The increased legibility of written work through development of writing could possibly provide success when demands for writing increase; increasing academic participation and

Teachers, who are aware of children becoming emergent writers, can better understand the amount of effort and concentration required. Teachers can appreciate the value of observing children’s early writing for evidence of children’s developing phonological knowledge of written language.

To develop reading comprehension many are taught at an early age to read and write basic letters and shapes. In a 2012 study conducted by Indiana University, psychologist Karin James tested a five year old children, who was not yet able to efficiently read or write, by asking them to reproduce a letter or shape in three different ways: drawn onto a blank sheet, traced over a dotted line, or typed on a computer. Results of the three test concluded through a MRI scan that was conducted while the tests occurred, that only while the children were drawing freehand that activation across the brain associated in adults with reading and writing occurred. Therefore in the development of a child’s reading comprehension freehand drawing is proven to aid in development greater than typing and tracing over dotted lines, which are both common ways in modern times used to teach children reading and writing. Using a digital media when developing a young child’s reading comprehension skills will then be less effective in the development as well as

Putting print to paper simulates the brain like nothing else. writing in cursive shows that people improves brain development in areas like memory, thinking and language. writing on cursive simulates brain synapses and synchronicity between the right and the left hemispheres, this is absent from typing and printing. college Board found that students that wrote in printed for SAT tests scored a little bit lower than those who wrote cursive.

These people would say that handwriting is passe’, or outdated, and that in the future, everyone will be using word processors to do their writing. Education is important, but schools already have ways to get students to write, that doesn’t involve the repetitive time to practice your writing to make it better. They can enforce these rules of writing without having to practice everyday. For instance, homeschooling parents can be quite confused by the subject of handwriting, so whenever Sam Blumenfeld lectures at a homeschool convention, he always asks if parents think that handwriting should be formally taught. Usually the response is unanimously positive. Mr. Blumenfield, raised this statement for parents to think about,“So you agree that teaching your child to write is an important part of you homeschooling curriculum.”, the next question he raises is if you believe that handwriting should be formally taught, he asks “do you believe that your child should be taught manuscript, also known as “ball and stick” first or cursive first?” Most parents assume that “ball and stick should precede cursive, because that’s the way they were taught in school. ( Sam Blumenfeld, The Benefits of Cursive Writing)

In both of these articles the authors discuss and give reason on why cursive writing should be taught in schools, and why cursive writing is obsolete. The author of "Cursive Is a Powerful Brain Tool" believes that cursive is essential for making our brains more stronger and functional. The ways cursive helps, is that by writing things down by hand it helps us process material better and medical brain scans show that it also helps with "fine motor-skill development and stimulates both the right and left parts of the brain". People with brain injuries might lose the ability to read in write, but in some case were still able to read and write in cursive. The author of "Cursive Is a Twenty-First Century Dinosaur", believes that cursive being removed from the classrom isn't a big deal. Saying that a survey back in 2012 at a conference was given to a group of handwriting teacher by a lead researcher. Only 37% of the handwriting teachers wrote in cursive. "If handwriting teachers don't value cursive, then why should anyone"? He/she goes on by saying that cursive is virtually gone, with technology being the

Handwriting without tears is a handwriting curriculum that uses multi-sensory techniques and uses reliable habits to help children learn how to hold a pencil, use correct posture, letter formation and handwriting from Pre-K through cursive. Handwriting without tears demonstrates that children are able to learn more successfully by actively doing, with materials that address all styles of learning.

Consider how long people have been writing, several thousand years. During this time human civilizations were able to authentically appropriate the act of writing, which still approaches every child learning to write as something inauthentic. There is a place and a meaning and a culture of writing within most cultures today, as we learn to type, and depend on typing more and more, the traditions of writing are becoming displaced. When was the last time you hand wrote a letter? Why bother when we can just e-mail someone immediately? Does not the mediacy of such communication lessen its importance? When you write a letter, you think about what you should say, what you want to say, and what you want to leave unsaid, the timeliness of its delivery

The consistence question is if handwriting really matter? And the answer is yes. According to Maria Konnikova in her articles “what’s lost as handwriting fades” (Konnikova) (2014) stated that when writing it create more brain activity than using any electronic. As a result many study showed that children who are more efficient in there writing skills will continue to gain more skills as an age; for example learning how to read, generate ideas and also the ability to retain information. Konnikova article stated that in (2014) a study was conducted by Karin James a psychologist at Indiana university shows support that children nowadays who writes free hand shows that they are more sophisticated and increased their activity in multiple part

In a world driven by technology, it is easy to throw away learning methods of the past in favor of following up and coming trends. However, when it comes to writing by hand versus typing, the advantages to learning of writing by hand far outweigh the ease of use of typing. Through academic research of college note-takers and primary students as well as research on how the neuroscience behind hand writing works, it is proven that hand writing is superior to typing for learning.