Nation of adults who will write like children? - Article

[Create Your Ritual]

Here is it -

 

http://www.cnn.com/2011/LIVING/08/10/handwriting.horror/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

 

I know there has been debate about the usefulness of cursive writing. I for one was astonished that I hadn't picked up on dds poor writing before I pulled her out in 3rd grade. I think I had been busy with a new baby, and because they were just sending home math for her, I didn't see a lot of issues. Turns out she had been holding her pencil wrong the entire time, between her third & fourth fingers to grip it. aye aye aye... it has been torture to get her to change it. Cursive writing actually makes her slow down enough to at least make it legible. I hardly have time to remediate the printing aspect of her writing, but definitely feel like if I don't take more time with her penmanship I will end up with an adult who writes like a kid myself.

[Crimson Wife]

FWIW, I know plenty of adults who did spend quite a bit of time in elementary school doing penmanship exercises who still have barely legible handwriting. My DH has *ATROCIOUS* penmanship, though in his case, I blame my MIL for forcing DH to become a righty despite his natural inclination to be a lefty.

[Create Your Ritual]

Yes, I can't quite figure out how much I am supposed to invest in it, being that it seems moderately set in its pattern at this point. But, I will at least continue to work on the cursive writing part, as I do feel like it helps things flow a bit better and slows her down.

[Jabberwocky]

[...]My DH has *ATROCIOUS* penmanship, though in his case, I blame my MIL for forcing DH to become a righty despite his natural inclination to be a lefty.

 

My goodness! I can't believe people still do that. My father in law was forced to write with his right hand until 3rd grade. Then a new teacher came in, took one look around the room and could instantly see the three students who were actually lefties. She had them write left handed from that point over.

 

FIL still remembers her name and calls her his hero. :D

[butterflymommy]

Until I had a son with dysgraphia I would have agreed... honestly I think there might be a link between extreme intelligence and dysgraphia, as my children with the worst handwriting are in the "scary smart" range.

 

Re: the photo in the article, what creeps me out the most is the "your" instead of "you're!" Yikes! :blink:

 

This is one of my favorite examples of bad handwriting and genius:

 

http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFischer-photos/slides/1970%20Boris%20Spassky%20vs%20Bobby%20Fischer%20XIX%20Olympiades%20Siegen%20.html

 

On the left is Fischer's moves in his own handwriting, on the right Spassky's.

[Hunter]

I was making slow progress with constant copywork using startwrite, but made instant and profound improvement using WRTR handwriting lessons.

 

Memorizing a letter script is so much easier than looking at a letter and trying to infer how I should draw it. When the example was removed, and I no longer had it to trace and look at, my handwritng used to instantly start deteriorating, until the next lesson. Know I repeat the script to myself as I draw the letters, and there is no deterioration between lessons.

[1Togo]

Check out "Train the Brain to Pay Attention the Write Way." The materials focus on the connection between cursive and learning.

[KAR120C]

...has nothing to do with how pretty or "adult" it is, but how easily DS can use it. I do want him to be happy with how it looks, but we're not going for calligraphy here.

 

We were actually just discussing this yesterday... He's going to be taking a lot of notes this year, having to write fast, neatly, and while his attention is not on his hand. And we agreed that starting off the year with a bit of handwriting practice would be an excellent thing, just to get him in shape. He definitely does not have dysgraphia, and our experience has been that after he has paid some attention to form, the most important thing for improving his penmanship has been huge (HUGE) amounts of practice.

[Create Your Ritual]

Thanks for the info. Up until reading this all today I hadn't really thought that it might be a slight dysgraphia until I looked it up further.

 

When she concentrates on short bursts she generally does well, but it's a stretch and I have to constantly remind her. She is very good verbally and always has been, but the one thing she struggled with from toddlerhood was fine motor skills. Things like cutting, coloring, building, etc. weren't her favorite. But, she learned to read chapter books so early (4) that she doesn't even remember learning how. I do tend to say she does the mad genius thing quite well with her writing, but have never thought about it beyond her just not wanting to do it. ;-( I need to think about this some more. My eyes have been opened.

[Create Your Ritual]

I will say this is more about the motor aspects of writing and not the inability to put thought down on paper. She can think up a million things and write pages, but always complained that her hand hurt. I started them on erasable pens last year instead of pencils and that has helped, but the concentration it takes her to write well for long periods is high. That's why cursive has helped, because it has slowed her down enough to do a better job at it than just printing.

[Crimson Wife]

I will say this is more about the motor aspects of writing and not the inability to put thought down on paper. She can think up a million things and write pages, but always complained that her hand hurt.

 

Oh, I can so sympathize with this. What I really don't get is how a kid who is relatively talented at drawing can have such an issue with handwriting.

 

I have mediocre penmanship, but it's a factor of not having all that great overall fine motor coordination. This isn't DD's problem, though.

[Finnella]

My DH has *ATROCIOUS* penmanship, though in his case, I blame my MIL for forcing DH to become a righty despite his natural inclination to be a lefty.

 

I think this is the problem with my older son, now 15. He may be ambidextrous, so he experimented a lot as a child. His pre-school teacher decided he was right-handed, over my husband's objections (he was the stay at home parent back then), and the first grade teacher at parochial school agreed. He uses his left hand for many other tasks people use their dominant hand for.

 

What I really don't get is how a kid who is relatively talented at drawing can have such an issue with handwriting.

 

This applies to my 12 yo. We're starting cursive again this fall. He's showing lots of talent in drawing and is amazing with legos. But he can neither read nor write cursive, and his printing is illegible as well. People tell me just to let him type. I did start keyboarding as a class last year, but there are so many times that is not sufficient. I know Dr. Tony Attwood (an international expert on Aspergers) says that cursive is quickly going the way of the buggy whip, but I don't think it's becoming obsolete fast enough that our children can skip it altogether.

[johnandtinagilbert]

SO, my response...my kids will be able to type and write cursive. Just one more reason to add to the why we home school list: so we can read cursive when we're big boys and girls. My son, who hated manuscript, has b-e-a-u-tiful cursive and enjoys writing it.

 

I'm much more concerned about the lack of spelling and writing ability of the future generation than I am about their actual penmanship.

[leeannpal]

Until I had a son with dysgraphia I would have agreed... honestly I think there might be a link between extreme intelligence and dysgraphia, as my children with the worst handwriting are in the "scary smart" range.

 

Re: the photo in the article, what creeps me out the most is the "your" instead of "you're!" Yikes! :blink:

 

This is one of my favorite examples of bad handwriting and genius:

 

http://www.echecs-photos.be/BobbyFischer-photos/slides/1970%20Boris%20Spassky%20vs%20Bobby%20Fischer%20XIX%20Olympiades%20Siegen%20.html

 

On the left is Fischer's moves in his own handwriting, on the right Spassky's.

:iagree: My own daughter is like this. I've als had several middle school students who were among the smartest kids I taught who could hardly write a legible sentence.

[ktgrok]

Until I had a son with dysgraphia I would have agreed... honestly I think there might be a link between extreme intelligence and dysgraphia, as my children with the worst handwriting are in the "scary smart" range.

 

 

 

Well, that makes me feel a little better, lol. I have horrible, although mostly legible now, handwriting. I got straight A's in school except for handwriting...C's there. IN fact, the only C's I ever got on a report card. The teachers had me sit and copy pages out of the dictionary, for extra practice. I tried SO hard! I really wanted pretty girly handwriting. Never happened. If you look at a page I've written the letters are different sizes, shapes, etc throughout. My ex, my son, and my current husband all have bad handwriting, and all of us have very high IQs....ranging from 140s-160s, with the worse handwriting the higher it is.

 

My son, when pulled out of school for 5th grade, had similar traits to me, with the addition of starting his letters from the bottom instead of the top. We spent months trying to fix it, and gave up. Instead I really worked on him getting to LOOK at the writing, seeing how it should be spaced, making things the same size, etc. The one on one instruction focused on results did help, and it is better now than his father's handwriting for sure. This year we will work on cursive more.

 

Oh, and for those working with kids at home, what worked the best was to do copy work (duh!) and keep things very short. He could then make one VERY well done line, instead of asking him to copy many lines which would turn out badly. (you know...what they had me do at school..egh)