Erica in OR Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Not sure if this has been shared already. Interesting piece on the New York Times website - "What's Lost as Handwriting Fades" about brain processes and printing/cursive writing. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimesscience Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Bumping because I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momacacia Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Absolutely! Had a very interesting experience myself with handwriting when learning a other language. I studied Biblical Hebrew in my late 20s, about 10 years ago, as a hobby. I picked it up a couple of weeks ago to show a little to the oldest as we were studying the names of God and the book discussed the Hebrew names. I looked through my old book and it just looked like gobbledygook. I could sound out a little, but not much, whereas 10 years ago I could read it well (though not always understand). I specifically couldn't remember the vowel markings and what they stood for, UNTIL, I started writing out some of the names in Hebrew. THEN it hit me, "Oh yeah, that's an 'eh' that's an 'oh' and that marks makes and 'ee'." It was like my brain was in my hand and I was so glad I had done what little writing in the language I had done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiMi 4under3 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Time to dig out the Spencerian copy books I bought years ago.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I had seen a few studies, but the fMRI ones are new to me, and interesting. Thanks for the link! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I always felt that I learned better when I took handwritten notes compared to typing on a computer. Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Thank you for the article; it was fascinating. DS has a neuromuscular disorder and struggles so much with writing. We had yet another neurologist tell us last month to ditch writing and completely go to the keyboard. While DS can type and does much better getting his thoughts down when typing, I am not about to give up on penmanship. I personally think there are a lot of neurological benefits to the act of writing, so we will continue to work on penmanship. At the same time, I am so thankful that we live in an age where adaptive technology allows children to have a 'voice' that they might not otherwise have. In our home, we are trying to strick a balance between the two, even though we have had countless specialists tell us to give up on penmanship and not look back. (And I am glad I didn't, as DS has made progress.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This single article has completely vindicated my insistence on having a print subscription to the NYT. DS9 happened to see this article at breakfast and poof! We have a whole new attitude about handwriting practice. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 My kids are on the relaxed end of the bell curve when it comes to fine motor development, although they do not need intervention or any special ed services. They certainly would if handwriting instruction were cut off after first grade, though. :( My 79 year old father brought up Peak Oil when he emailed me this article and needed to be reassured that I do not use Common Core materials and his grandson will not be illiterate if he is ever in a situation where he does not have access to electricity. I definitely see this effect in myself when I practice calligraphy with my favourite literary quotes. I've kind of let this hobby fall by the wayside because I'm not very good at it, but maybe I'll rethink that and make fewer silly posts about how cute the cat is to make time for my pretty pens and inks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Anecdotally, I've noticed that a neat, organized paper and an organized mind go together, particularly in Math. I insist on legible, properly spaced, nicely numbered and headed written work because I've noticed that when I get lazy about checking for that, accuracy and work quality also suffers. My 70s Catholic school background is to blame for my preoccupation with neatness, even though I chafed mightily against it myself as a student! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Anecdotally, I've noticed that a neat, organized paper and an organized mind go together, particularly in Math. I insist on legible, properly spaced, nicely numbered and headed written work because I've noticed that when I get lazy about checking for that, accuracy and work quality also suffers. My 70s Catholic school background is to blame for my preoccupation with neatness, even though I chafed mightily against it myself as a student! I have a friend who tutors math and she makes her students use graph paper if they cannot line up their work on regular paper. She says this intervention alone fixes many problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 This is why I make them write in cursive. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenade Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Great article. Thank you so very much for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I used to study for tests in college by rewriting my notes by hand. That was it. Now I know why that worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I used to study for tests in college by rewriting my notes by hand. That was it. Now I know why that worked! I did the exact same thing! Also for memorizing speeches and lines in plays. I wonder if this positive effect also comes into play when writing out the steps to a math problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelenNotOfTroy Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I used to study for tests in college by rewriting my notes by hand. That was it. Now I know why that worked! And I can copy things by hand without any of it registering in my brain at all. I also don't process things when I take notes (again, by hand) during a lecture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 And I can copy things by hand without any of it registering in my brain at all. I also don't process things when I take notes (again, by hand) during a lecture. My oldest son completely checks out mentally when copying something. He copies correctly, but it doesn't sink into his brain. He hasn't taken notes yet, so I don't know how he'll do with that. I learn better if I write things down, but writing in manuscript vs cursive doesn't seem to have any effect on me. I usually use manuscript because it's faster for me, and I make fewer mistakes, so I can concentrate on what I'm writing (and read it easily later!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalea Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Thank you for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJosMom Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Excellent link. Thank you for posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mprez Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I agree. Effective notes-taking is one of the important study habits every student must learn to do well in school. Students with clean, organized notes are usually the ones that do well in the tests. I had an interesting discussion with another mom in the playground last month. DD has read books by herself before she was 2.5yo but I discovered she could not spell the words. For example, she knows the meaning of refraction and when I show her a list of similarly spelled words, she could identify which is correctly spelled. However, when I ask her to spell the word out she could not remember. Well she could tell me the beginning letter and end letter but the rest is a jumble. I thought that, maybe the issue is because she could not write them yet. But the other mom disagreed, telling me that being able to spell is not connected to handwriting. Well, I have found that as we do handwriting practice with words not just letters in the past month, her ability to spell has improved. If she writes the word, she could spell it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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