D'Nealian handwriting

[lulubelle]

Hi,

Any thoughts out there on D'Nealian handwriting? It seems to be used in many private school settings and may have an advantage for boys and left handedness. Just wondering if others have used it or the workbooks from Pearson - Scott Foresman? I am thinking of starting my 6 yo son, who is left handed with it. Thanks, Lauren

[jonnia]

All of my three have used D'Nealian. My youngest is 6 and is using the worktext and workbook from Pearson. I can't speak to the question of whether or not it is easier for left-handers, but it encourages the student to be consistent with the slant of the letters whichever way they slant.

 

I know from experience that the transition into cursive is pretty easy with D'Nealian. I am completely pleased with it!

[Trivium Academy]

I'm a leftie but I teach right handed children D'Nealian. All I can offer is that:

1. Scott Foresman- Addison Wesley books are nice, dd8 is using the #3 book now, it does contain info on left handed position in the front

2. As a leftie, I can write D'Nealian in print comfortably but not cursive. The angle is slanted to the right which would drag my hand through the text, I slant to the left.

 

I don't know if this helps! I did ball and stick (straight) in school myself and as soon as cursive instruction was over, I changed my handwriting to what felt comfortable to me and what wouldn't smudge my papers! :lol:

[birchbark]

I learned D'Nealian in school when I was a child. I personally did not like it, because I felt my writing, both printing and cursive, was so different from everyone else's (outside of school), and from the printing I saw everywhere (books, etc.). I also had a hard time learning to read regular cursive. My printing and cursive look nothing like it now. :001_smile:

Edited October 30, 2008 by birchbark

[Jenileigh]

My middle dd learned this with the BJU dvds in 2nd grade. My oldest and youngest dd didn't and I find it annoying because of the letter that are formed differently. JMHO. It's a pretty writing, the main difference for me is the n's and m's.

[Jenstet]

My oldest learned to write that way in PS. The problem for her was that she never liked to write in cursive so when she would print she always had that curl at the end of every letter. Her "L" in particular stood out for me. I think it makes sense if you expect your child to write in cursive always.

[Ellie]

I'm not crazy about it. Its premise is flawed--that there needs to be a transition between manuscript and cursive; it doesn't give specific instruction on writing the letters (as does Zaner Bloser or other traditional methods, or Spalding/SWR/et al) leaving children to just eyeball letters and figure them out. Also, because of the lack of specific instruction, some children struggle with the directionality not only of writing but of reading, as we write in the direction that we read.

 

A friend who used to teach and tutor children in the Spalding Method had a number of D'Nelian-trained students who struggled with writing *and* reading because they needed the specific instruction in directions that D'Nelian lacks.

 

FTR, Scott Foresman, publisher/developer of D'Nelian, invented the term "stick and ball" so it would make traditional manuscript sound negative. Zaner Bloser and Palmer had a corner on the market, as it were, and this was SF's sales pitch.

 

I know that many people use it and love it :-) This is, of course, JMHO.

[sixpence1978]

I have to chime in and also say that I don't like it all that much. My DS learned D'Nealian in his private school K. If it's done correctly, it can be very pretty. However, my DS tends to really exaggerate his "monkey tails" so that his l's come off looking like crazy c's.

 

He is starting cursive now and I personally don't see how it helps all that much with the transition really. Also, while I expect my kids to know how to read and write cursive, past a certain point I won't require it of them. I personally don't write in cursive except for my signature.

 

My DD is homeschooling from the start and we are using HWT for her. I like it much better (but will transition to Zaner-Blosser once we start cursive).

[mims]

All of my children do D'Nealian. They have beautiful handwriting (okay, my son's isn't always!) Cursive has been an extremely easy transition. By the end of third they are very confident at cursive (my youngest is in the middle of third but she is getting very confident). I would probably suggest workbooks at first because of their instruction but after that there are several sites on the internet where you can create your own worksheet pages with D'Nealian. I do their spelling words or other things this way so we cover 2 things at once.

[JudyJudyJudy]

I learned D'Nealian in school when I was a child. I personally did not like it, because I felt my writing, both printing and cursive, was so different from everyone else's (outside of school), and from the printing I saw everywhere (books, etc.).

 

A friend who used to teach and tutor children in the Spalding Method had a number of D'Nelian-trained students who struggled with writing *and* reading because they needed the specific instruction in directions that D'Nelian lacks.

 

This is a very important issue. Studies have shown that D'Nealian negatively affects some students because there is no consistency between what the kids see and what they write.

[jacqui in mo]

Where were all these posts about the downsides when I needed them earlier this year? I am attempting D'Nealian with my 6 yo ds & am becoming frustrated with it, especially trying to make an "e". And he does tend to make his tails too long & gets goofy with them. (admittedly he would get goofy with anything he writes though :o). It does seem anti intuitive to my 6 yo.

[cillakat]

This is a very important issue. Studies have shown that D'Nealian negatively affects some students because there is no consistency between what the kids see and what they write.

 

For this reason, I can't stand d'nealian. Aside from that, I don't think it's attractive. Like phonics, some kids will learn d'nealian and be no worse the wear.

 

But other kids and d'nealian? Well it's like the 1 in 5 using whole language/implicit phonics.....it can be damaging.

 

I'd just avoid D'nealian altogether and work with italic from the outset (or really any other handwriting program). Barchowsky fluent hand is fabulous now that they've updated their program. I'm not using it b/c I started with something else, but it's what i'd choose if I had someone starting at this point. Oh let's be honest....I still might buy it;P

 

Katherine in atl

[mims]

Just to add another side . . . they never mix up b and d with d'Nealian. You start at the top with B. I have never had my kids struggle with letters looking different other than the Times Roman 'a' which I think a lot of kids notice. I guess I can't really see how the letters look different other than the loop at the end.

[Ellie]

Just to add another side . . . they never mix up b and d with d'Nealian. You start at the top with B. I have never had my kids struggle with letters looking different other than the Times Roman 'a' which I think a lot of kids notice. I guess I can't really see how the letters look different other than the loop at the end.

 

I don't know what the stats are, but no one is saying that *all* children will have trouble reading because of D'Nelian, only that many dc *do.*

[Ellie]

Where were all these posts about the downsides when I needed them earlier this year? I am attempting D'Nealian with my 6 yo ds & am becoming frustrated with it, especially trying to make an "e". And he does tend to make his tails too long & gets goofy with them. (admittedly he would get goofy with anything he writes though :o). It does seem anti intuitive to my 6 yo.

 

It isn't too late to change. Zaner Bloser is good; if I had not done Spalding with my dd, I would have used ZB.

[lulubelle]

It has been helpful. This morning I got a sample of D'Nealian, Zaner-Bloser, and Writing without Tears and had my son try them and see which was best according to him. The best fit turned out to be Zaner-Bloser. He needs very specific letters that are controlled for him. Right now I am going through phonics plaid K, but he needs extra time and practice to form his letters. Being a lefty is not helping. So I will be getting Zaner-Bloser K and take it from there. Thanks everyone!

Lauren