Jt~r-l;. FOUNDA~ - Campaign for Cursive...3. Children are more literate than ever. [False; The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 65% of all fourth graders in the

c& Jt~r-l;. ANALYSIS FOUNDA~

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The Truth About Cursive Handwriting: Why it matters in a digital age

JUNE 2016

Introduction

To day, the Com mon Core Stan dards no lon ger re quire el e men tary stu dents to learn cur sive hand writ ing. As a re sult, some schools are drop ping hand -writ ing in struc tion from the cur ric u lum. As of May 2016, only 15 statesre quire the teach ing of cur sive hand writ ing in their Core Cur ric u lum Stan -dards. The re main ing states, dis tricts, prin ci pals, school boards, and teach -ers must choose for them selves whether or not to teach cur sivehand writ ing or any form of hand writ ing at all. With leg is la tures de bat ingCom mon Core and ed u ca tional stan dards in their states and dis tricts, par -ents must make de ci sions about their el e men tary stu dents’ ed u ca tion now.This pa per is an at tempt to de scribe the ar gu ments for and against cursivehandwriting education in US schools today.

Arguments against cursive handwriting instruction

Crit ics con sider cur sive hand writ ing to be an an cient, un nec es sary skillthat should not com pete with read ing, com po si tion, math, and sci encefor the lim ited in struc tional time avail able. Op po nents of hand writ ing

in struc tion de scribe its ad vo cates as neo-Luddites, ar -gu ing that stu dents should learn to do all their workon key boards. They in sist that stu dents need to com -pose, edit, think, and write us ing com put ers, rea son -ing that ex press ing ideas and thoughts quickly andef fi ciently is what mat ters most in today’s learn ing

and pro fes sional en vi ron ments. Some school dis tricts have con signed the skills of writ ing with pen cils or pens to art classes,if they are taught at all. (1)

The critics of cursive handwriting instruction present the following main objections:

1. Voice-recognition electronics are being developed and refined totake the place of reading and writing. [Fact, but will they actuallyeliminate the need for reading and writing? If they do, is an illiteratesociety desirable?]

American Handwriting Analyis Foundation 1

some school dis tricts havecon signed the skills of writ ingwith pen cils or pens to artclasses, if they are taught at all.

2. Teaching handwriting instead of keyboarding takes away fromliteracy, math, critical thinking, technology skills and citizenshipinstruction and does not prepare individuals for the workplace. [Thisopinion based on the heavy emphasis on standardized testing, in itselfan area of debate. With computers being developed to readhandwriting, it may be more important than ever to ensure thatstudents can write legibly.]

3. Children are more literate than ever. [False; The National Center forEducation Statistics reports that 65% of all fourth graders in the USread at or below grade level, and the deficit increases in subsequent

grades.](2)

4. Hand writ ing is an ob so lete tech nol ogy; the pen isbe ing re placed by the key board as quills and foun tainpens were re placed by the type writer. [Not in all cases;writ ing is of ten the sim plest and most ac ces si blemethod of re cord ing in for ma tion]

5. Ideas and thoughts are what matters. [Ideas and thoughts, particularlyhigher level critical thinking and problem-solving, are increasinglyneeded as technology advances; paradoxically, evidence exists thatsuggests that these skills develop better with handwriting than bykeyboarding alone (3) ]

6. Students need to compose, edit and think on the computer. [Studentswho practice these skills in longhand produce more complex higherlevel nuanced thought (4), and recall and identify concepts in greaterdepth than those who rely solely on keyboarding] (5)

7. That cursive proficiency correlates to verbal/cognitive skill is a“Luddite” delusion. It’s like lamenting the decline of a quill pen orelementary Latin instruction. [Despite the increase in the quantity ofwriting due to computer technology, quality of writing appears to bein a steep decline.]

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ev i dence ex ists that sug gests that these skills de velop betterwith hand writ ing than by

keyboarding alone

The Na tional As so ci a tion of Col leges and Em ploy ers Job Out look re -ported that em ploy ers who re quired skilled writ ing from their em ploy ees were no tic ing a de creas ing level of qual ity in the writ ing skills of em ploy -ees whose ed u ca tion in volved us ing com put ers for com pos ing writ ten work. (6) Lan guage learn ing has been shown to be mas tered more quickly with handwriting than keyboard use] (7).

Steve Gra ham EdD, pro fes sor of ed u ca tion at Ar i zona State Uni ver sityand ex pert on hand writ ing in struc tion across the world, is quoted as say ing that “the ar gu ment for keep ing cur sive around cen ters more on tra di tionthan prac ti cal ity. For class room ed u ca tors, the cost for teach ing cur sive ispre cious time. ‘Why teach two forms of writ ing when one will do thetrick? Some thing’s gotta give. Cur sive hand writ ing is un der pres sure’” (8). With schools fo cused on pre par ing stu dents for stan dard ized tests, there isof ten not enough time to teach handwriting (9).

Arguments in Favor of Cursive Handwriting

Sup port ers of cur sive hand writ ing cite re search from ed u ca tion, psy chol -ogy, and neu ro sci ence that has un cov ered ed u ca tional dif fer ences be tweenhand writ ing and key board use with im por tant im pli ca tions for chil dren’slearning (10, 11, 12).

These stud ies show that hand writ ing of fers ben e fitsthat ex tend far be yond the act of writ ing.Neuroscientists have de scribed the bi o log i cal andpsy cho log i cal ben e fits of us ing hand writ ing. Dr.Wil liam Klemm, se nior pro fes sor of Neu ro sci ence at

Texas A&M Uni ver sity, writes “hand-eye co or di na -tion is a ma jor de vel op men tal fea ture [of hand writ ing]. […] As suchlearn ing pro gresses, the brain is cre at ing new cir cuitry to eval u ate what isseen and the speed and tim ing of move ments. This cir cuitry then be comesa last ing part of the brain and can be re cruited for use in other eye-handcoordination tasks.” (13)

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hand-eye co or di na tion is ama jor de vel op men tal fea ture

[of hand writ ing].

Dr. Frank Wil son, neu rol o gist and au thor of The Hand: How its UseShapes the Brain, Lan guage and Hu man Cul ture (14) sup ports hand writ -ing in struc tion: “Al though the re pet i tive drills that ac com pany hand writ -ing les sons seem out dated, such phys i cal in struc tion will help stu dents tosuc ceed (15).” His re search de scribes the con tri bu tion of flex i ble handmove ments to the evo lu tion of hu man per spec tives, thought, and speechca pa bil i ties, and in “de vel op ing deep feel ings of con fi dence and in ter est in the world-all-to gether, the es sen tial pre req ui sites for the emer gence of the

ca pa ble and car ing in di vid ual.” (15)

Cur rent re search sug gests that co or di nat ing vi sualper cep tion and graphomotor plan ning dur ing writ ingwith the phys i cal sen sa tions of fin ger and hand move -ments in flu ences learn ing. Let ter and word rec og ni -

tion, com pre hen sion, ab stract thought, and mem oryare shown to im prove with hand writ ing (16). As a re sult, hand writ ingmakes learn ing faster and more ef fi cient in ar eas from read ing and writ ingto math and music (17, 18, 19, 20).

Proponents present the following arguments in favor of cursivehandwriting:

(1) Writ ing in cur sive (once learned) is faster than print ing, and can bepro duced with less dif fi culty with suf fi cient prac tice. (21, 22)

(2) Writ ten note-tak ing pro duces much higher ratesof com pre hen sion and in for ma tion re ten tion in lec -tures and group meet ings. (23)

(3) Stu dents can read hand writ ten com ments madeby teach ers on as sign ments or other ma te ri als writ ten in cur sive. [Fact]

(4) Early ef forts at writ ing and de vel op ment of fine mo tor skills used inwrit ing sig nal readi ness for learn ing and pre dict later achieve ments inread ing, writ ing, and math. (24)

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let ter and word rec og ni tion,com pre hen sion, ab stract thought,and mem ory are shown to im prove

with hand writ ing

neu ral de vel op ment in creases and ex pands in ar eas of lan guage,

mem ory, word rec og ni tion, and emo tion with hand writ ing.

(5) Neu ral de vel op ment in creases and ex pands in ar eas of lan guage,

mem ory, word rec og ni tion, and emo tion with hand writ ing. (25, 26, 27, 28)

(6) Hand writ ing builds a sense of writer iden tity and self-ef fi cacy. (29)

(7) Typ ing on a key board is not the same kind of phys i o log i cal pro cess as

hand writ ing. A dif fer ent part of the brain is ac ti vated for key board typ ing

that does not have the rich con nec tions found in ar eas of the brain ac ti -

vated by handwriting (30)

(8) Elec tronic de vices can fail or be un avail able. As of 2013, com put erswere avail able in only 79% of Amer i can homes, with the few est in homes

with Af ri can-Amer i can or His panic chil dren (31) They ob serve that hand -

writ ing is a com plex skill that en hances the co or di na tion of mo tor, per cep -

tual, and cog ni tive abil i ties. A brief over view of the pro cesses that must be

co or di nated to write by hand illustrates their point:

• Visual, auditory, and visuomotor perception

• Gross and fine motor coordination

• Directionality

• Sequencing skills

• Recall

• Letter knowledge

• Tool hold

• Lines

• Sitting and paper position

• Cursive script

• Tracing and copying

• Joining letters

• Self-evaluation

• Numerals (32)

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What’s wrong with using keyboards for writing?

As neuroscientists ob serve the brain chang ing and de vel op ing as it works

(33), they af firm that move ment, men tal ac tiv ity, and the genes in volved in

learn ing are in ter de pen dent (34). In par tic u lar, they have found that neu ral

con nec tions are de vel oped and strength ened when chil dren write in

longhand (35).

Dr. Vir ginia Berninger, pro fes sor of ed u ca tional psy chol ogy at the Uni ver -

sity of Wash ing ton, ex plains that “be cause hand writ ing ne ces si tates phys i -

cal se quen tial strokes to form just one let ter (as op posed to a sin gle strike

in hit ting a sin gle key), mas sive re gions in the brain are ac ti vated, in clud -

ing ar eas of think ing, lan guage and tem po rary in for ma tion stor age and

man age ment” (36). With more brain ar eas ac ti vated, the ex ec u tive func -

tions of ad ap ta tion, plan ning, aes thet ics, and fore sight are more fully en -gaged while writ ing by hand, and the dis tinctly hu man qual i ties of beauty

and emotion are enhanced. (37, 38, 39, 40).

Dr. Karin James, as sis tant pro fes sor of psy chol ogy and neu ro sci ence at In -

di ana Uni ver sity, pro poses that the brain op er ates dif fer ently when cre at -

ing im ages in stead of press ing keys. “[T]yping seems to be dif fer ent than

hand writ ing,” she says. “You’re ac tu ally cre at ing those forms with yourhands. That seems to be mak ing a dif fer ence…. It seems there is some -

thing re ally im por tant about man u ally ma nip u lat ing

and draw ing out two-di men sional things we see all

the time” (41).

These ben e fits from hand writ ing are not lim ited to

early learn ers. Re search ers have found that adults

rec og nized let ters or char ac ters learned through typ -

ing less ac cu rately than those writ ten by hand. fMRI stud ies showed thatcom pared to hand writ ing, type writ ing ac ti vated fewer brain ar eas used for

lan guage and spa tial, vi sual, and tem po ral per cep tion in both chil dren and

adults (42). Fur ther, hand writ ing has been pro posed as a use ful ex er cise to

slow the cognitive effects of aging. (43)

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... mas sive re gions in the brain are

ac ti vated, in clud ing ar eas of think ing,

lan guage and tem po rary in for ma tion

stor age and man age ment

Why cursive?

Even those who sup port hand writ ing ed u ca tion in our schools may ques -tion the em pha sis on cur sive hand writ ing. Adults who learned cur sive hand writ ing as chil dren may adopt a form of print ing for com mu ni ca tion. For most adults, use of cur sive hand writ ing, print ing, or keyboarding is a mat ter of choice if the nec es sary equipment is available.

Some may com plain that learn ing hand writ ing is par tic u larly dif fi cult formale stu dents and there fore should be scrapped. Their com plaint, how -ever, is rel a tively new. In the mid-1700s, Benjamin Frank lin stated thatyoung men who wanted to at tend the Acad emy of Phil a del phia had to“write a leg i ble hand.” Fine pen man ship was seen as a mark of fine breed -ing (44) and lent im por tance to the work of government.

Un til World War I, sec re tary po si tions were of tenfilled by men cho sen for their lit er ary skill andspeed in hand writ ing doc u ments. The ti tle Sec re -tary for gov ern ment cab i net of fi cers is a re minderof that pre vi ous gen er a tions ex pected skill fulhand writ ing from men who dealt with matters ofstate.

Platt Rog ers Spencer, con sid ered the father of Amer i can penmanship, firstpub lished his Spencerian script in 1848 and taught his model of pen man -ship through out the United States (45). With time, peo ple found the elab o -rate Spencerian script too slow to write, and more sim pli fied scripts werede signed. By the early 1900s, the Palmer and Zaner-Bloser meth ods ofpen man ship were the most com mon. From the 1980's on ward, D'Nealianbe came the most com mon script taught in schools (46).

Be fore 1940, most adults wrote in cur sive rather than print ing. Many Eu -ro pean coun tries taught only their own forms of cur sive in el e men taryschools. For ex am ple, Maria Mon tes sori in tro duced cur sive writ ing to stu -dents who were 5 to 6 years old, a prac tice that con tin ues in Mon tes sorischools today (47).

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 7

Maria Mon tes sori in tro duced cur -sive writ ing to stu dents who were 5to 6 years old, a prac tice that con tin -

ues in Mon tes sori schools to day.

In Amer i can schools, manu script print ing (a com bi na tion of cap i tals and

low er case let ters, also called ball-and-stick print ing) be came used more

widely in the 1930's and 1940's to ac com pany the look-see-say method of

read ing that was pro moted at that time. Soon af ter print ing was in tro -

duced, ed u ca tors dis cov ered that writ ers who printed ex clu sively were un -

able to read ma te ri als written in cursive.

This lack of abil ity was found to be a sig nif i cant dis ad van tage for stu dents

en ter ing an in creas ingly in dus tri al ized ur ban workforce. Teach ers ob jected

to their stu dents be ing un pre pared for fu ture ca reers be cause of their in -

abil ity to write cur sive hand writ ing and read it. Nearly 100 years ago,

these teach ers con sid ered the lack of cur sive in struc tion a “dumbing

down” of the ed u ca tion pro cess (48), a de bate that has new sup port to day

with the results of recent research.

Isn’t writing and reading more efficient and thorough when done on the computer?

Re search ers have ad dressed the com plaint that hand -

writ ing was too time-con sum ing and men tally tax ing

to cre ate qual ity com po si tions. Dr. Berninger and her

col leagues dem on strated that chil dren in grades two,

four and six were able to write more words faster and

ex press more ideas when writ ing by hand rather thanthe key board (49). Sim i lar re sults were found in a

British study (50).

In ad di tion to ef fi ciency, other re search points to im proved qual ity whenhand writ ing is used. Re cent re search showed that stu dents who used cur -

sive hand writ ing for a sig nif i cant por tion of their writ ten work gen er ated

more words of higher qual ity and used better syn tax than writ ers who

print. How ever, both cur sive writ ers and print ers pro duced more com plex,

nuanced com po si tions with a higher quan tity of words and better spell ing

than those who com posed their work ex clu sively on keyboards or digital

devices (51).

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cur sive writ ers and print ers pro -

duced more com plex, nuanced com -

po si tions with a higher quan tity of

words and better spell ing

The dif fer ence be tween work writ ten by hand and typed in the early

grades was found to be sig nif i cant: a 2007 study found that work pro duced

on key boards lagged two years be hind the writ ing de vel op ment shown by

those who wrote their work by hand. (52). As a re sult of find ings like

these, French schools have adopted the prac tice of teach ing cur sive hand -

writ ing ex clu sively un til automaticity of hand writ ing move ments de vel -

ops. Keyboarding in struc tion is not of fered un til cur sive writ ing is well

es tab lished (53).

The ben e fits of hand writ ing for early read ing are well-es tab lished by cur -

rent re search as well. In an ex per i ment in volv ing let ter rec og ni tion con -

ducted by Dr. Karin James at In di ana Uni ver sity, the brains of four- and

five-year-olds were scanned be fore and af ter they had been taught se lected

let ters. One group of chil dren was taught to rec og nize cho sen let ters vi su -

ally while the sec ond group was taught to write them. Af ter four weeks,brain scans showed that one group of writ ers had sig -

nif i cantly greater spikes in brain ac tiv ity in ar eas as so -

ci ated with read ing than the visual recognition group.

(54).

In an ex ten sion of this study, Dr. Karin James and Dr.

Laura Engelhardt of Co lum bia Uni ver sity found that an area of the brainthat was as so ci ated with read ing was “was re cruited dur ing let ter per cep -

tion only af ter hand writ ing-not af ter typ ing or trac ing ex pe ri ence,” sug -

gest ing that read ing is fos tered by hand writ ing, but not by hand

move ments re lated to letter production. (55)

Ben e fits of hand writ ing ex tend to stu dents through col lege as well. A

study of col lege stu dents tak ing notes dur ing lec tures showed that thosewho hand wrote lec ture notes out per formed peers who typed notes dur ing

lec tures. Re search by Dr. Pam Mueller of Prince ton and Dr. Dan iel

Oppenheimer of UCLA found stu dents who typed lec ture notes per formed

worse on tests in volv ing higher-level think ing and com pre hen sion than

stu dents who took notes by hand. They re ported that “the two types of

note-tak ers per formed equally well [when] re call ing facts, [but] lap top

note-tak ers per formed sig nif i cantly worse on the conceptual ques tions”

(56).

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lap top note-tak ers per formed

sig nif i cantly worse on the con cep -

tual ques tions

These re sults car ried over to a test given on the ma te rial a week later.

Even af ter re view ing their notes, stu dents who re corded lec ture notes by

hand com pre hended and re called more con cepts on the sec ond test than

those who typed lec ture notes on their laptops. (57)

Doesn’t handwriting make learning harder forstudents who struggle to learn?

New scripts, such as the New Amer i can Cur sive Al pha bet (58), have been

cre ated to elim i nate un nec es sary strokes. These sim pli fied writ ing sys tems

are eas ier for all stu dents, en abling them to write leg i bly with less frus tra -

tion in a shorter time, and may be par tic u larly ben e fi cial to those with mo -

tor dif fi cul ties. Dr. Wil liam Klemm ob serves that cur sive is faster than

ball-and-stick print ing, and “more likely to en gage stu dents by pro vid ing a

better sense of personal style and ownership” (59).

Sandy Schefkind, Pe di at ric Pro gram Man ager, for the Amer i can Oc cu pa -

tional Ther apy As so ci a tion (AOTA) ob serves that the new forms of cur -

sive hand writ ing are use ful for chil dren who have

dif fi cul ties with fine mo tor skills. She re ports that

“dex ter ity, flu id ity, [and] the right amount of pres sure

to put with pen and pen cil on pa per [are chal leng ing

tasks]” and that sim pli fied cur sive hand writ ing styles

are much eas ier for her clients to use than printing.

(60).

Dr. Vir ginia Berninger and her as so ci ates have de ter mined that both typ i -

cally de vel op ing learn ers (60, 61, 62) and those with learn ing chal lenges,such as dys lexia (63, 64, 65) ben e fit from us ing hand writ ing for a sig nif i -

cant amount of their work. Deborah Spear, M.ED, Clin i cal Su per vi sor at

At lan tic Sea board Dys lexia Ed u ca tion Cen ter in Great Falls, VA uses cur -

sive hand writ ing in struc tion in her work with stu dents with dys lexia. She

re ports that cur sive is eas ier for stu dents to learn than the stop-and-start

mo tions of print script be cause "all let ters in cur sive start on a base line,

and be cause the pen moves fluidly from left to right" (66).

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 10

cur sive is faster than ball-and-stick

print ing, and “more likely to en gage

stu dents by pro vid ing a better sense

of per sonal style and own er ship

As mentioned above, Dr. Wil liam Klemm con curs: “be cause cur sive let ters are more dis tinct than printed let ters, chil dren, es pe cially dys lex ics, may learn to read more eas ily” (67). He main tains that cur sive writ ing should pro vide more ben e -fits for read ing than print ing for a host of rea sons, in clud ing greater attentional de mands re quired to form let ters prop erly and higher de mands on the vi sual rec og ni tion sys tem to iden tify and de code a broader range of let ter and word rep re sen ta tions. He ob serves that cur sive is faster than ball-and-stick print ing, and “more likely to en gage stu dents by pro vid ing a better sense of per sonal style and own er ship” (68). Prac tice with cur sive hand writ ing is also use ful for chil dren who have dif -fi cul ties with fine mo tor skills. Sandy Schefkind, Pe di at ric Pro gram Man -ager, for the Amer i can Oc cu pa tional Ther apy As so ci a tion (AOTA) re ports that “dex ter ity, flu id ity, [and] the right amount of pres sure to put with penand pen cil on pa per [are im por tant].” She finds that print ing can be moredif fi cult than cur sive hand writ ing for some of her clients (69).

Would psychological and artistic values be affectedwith a switch to writing only with computer?

Be yond the ben e fits of hand writ ing in aid ing learn -ing, co or di na tion, and fos ter ing higher level thoughtand ex pres sion, some are clear about the psy cho log i -cal and ar tis tic value of writ ing in cur sive. Whennov el ist Rob ert Stone was asked if he mostly typeshis manu scripts by Wil liam Woods for the Paris Re -

view, he re plied, “Yes, un til some thing be comes elu -sive. Then I write in long hand in or der to be pre cise. On a type writer orword pro ces sor, you can rush some thing that shouldn’t be rushed —youcan lose nu ance, rich ness, lucidity. The pen compels lu cid ity” (70).

Rob ert Stone is not the only writer to make this ob ser va tion. Mem bers of a pro fes sional writ ing group, Her i tage Writ ers (Stockton, CA) said that most of them wrote in long hand. An ed i tor com mented in sup port of this prac -tice: “when I’m asked to look at work for sub mis sion, I can al ways tell the dif fer ence be tween writ ing pro duced elec tron i cally and sto ry tell ing thathas evolved from pen and pa per. I agree ab so lutely that thought ful,hand-crafted writing is better.” (71)

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print ing can be more dif fi cultthan cur sive hand writ ing for some.

Julia Cameron (The Art ist's Way) and Natalie Goldberg (Writ ing Down the

Bones) are au thors who teach writ ing. Both re quire their stu dents to write

“Morn ing Pages,” three pages of free-as so ci a tion writ ing in the morn ing

to re lease block ages and en hance cre ativ ity. Cameron re ported those who

typed their morn ing pages no ticed that they “did not do quite the same

thing on the word pro ces sor” as they did when they wrote the pages by

hand (72). Af ter see ing these re sults, they re turned to com plet ing their

morn ing pages with hand writ ing.

One South ern Cal i for nia art ist, teacher, and gra phol o gist, Lena Rivkin, ob -

served in The Lost Art, “When you write in cur sive you can not multitask.

The mere act of cur sive writ ing forces you to be in the mo ment with your

thoughts and in tent” (73).

What do researchers say about removing handwriting instruction from the curriculum?

While crit ics claim there is not enough re search sup port ing the re ten tion

of cur sive hand writ ing in the cur ric u lum, no re search has con clu sively es -

tab lished that cur sive hand writ ing in struc tion and

prac tice should be dis cour aged. Sup ported by stud -

ies that iden tify the ben e fits ob tained by hand writ -

ing, many ed u ca tors, re search ers, and sci en tists are

cam paign ing against the trend to elim i nate the teach -ing of cur sive. Given cur rent re search show ing its

pos i tive ef fects, might it be ir re spon si ble to re move

hand writ ing in struc tion com pletely without

understanding what the outcomes might be?

Dig i tal lit er acy schol ars and cog ni tive neuroscientists Dr. Anne Mangen of

the Uni ver sity of Stavanger and Dr. Jean-Luc Velay of Aix-Mar seilles

Uni ver sity cau tion against re plac ing hand writ ing with typ ing: “decoupling

of mo tor in put and haptic and vi sual out put en forced by the com puter key -

board as a writ ing de vice … is se ri ously ill-ad vised” (74). Dr. Karin

James con curs, stat ing that “it might be fine [to give the op tion not to

teach hand writ ing any more], but we don’t know that. And the re search is

point ing to that it might not be fine, you might be set ting up a child’s brain

to in ter pret let ters and words in a very different way” (75).

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...it might not be fine, you might

be set ting up a child’s brain to

in ter pret let ters and words in a very

dif fer ent way

Dr. Nor man Doidge, psy chi a trist and re searcher in the area of

neuroplasticity, of fered his con cern in re marks to the Na tional As so ci a tion

of School Boards of Education:

“Some neuroscientists say if cur sive dis ap pears, those cog ni -

tive skills will sim ply be re placed by new ones, just as they al -

ways have since hu mans be gan leav ing their marks on cave

walls. No doubt the lost cog ni tive skills will be re placed by

new ones. But, isn’t it ir re spon si ble to pro mote such changes

with out un der stand ing if these changes are ben e fi cial or

harm ful to the learner?...It is quite pos si ble that by re lax -

ing...hand writ ing stan dards and also by re duc ing prac tice

time for pen man ship, we may have ham pered and in some

cases dam aged the learn ing pro cess” (76).

Dr. Jane Yank, kinesiologist and re searcher in the area of hand writ ing

agrees, not ing that mak ing marks by hand has pro duced tre men dous ad -

van tages to hu mans, evolv ing in a re cip ro cal re la tion ship with de vel op ing

cog ni tive cen ters in the brain and re fine ments in hand struc ture (77), pro -

duc ing uniquely hu man ca pac i ties for knowl edge, in ven tive ness, cre ativ -

ity, em pa thy (78) and so cial aware ness (79), all of which are crit i cal

el e ments of ed u ca tion. She as serts that re plac ing hand writ ing withkey-press ing and touch tech nol o gies may have far reach ing neg a tive ef -

fects for each of these crit i cal ar eas of human activity [ J. Yank, personal

communication, June 5, 2016.]

Con sid er ing the grow ing body of knowl edge about the unique con tri bu -

tions of hand writ ing to hu man de vel op ment, lit er acy, the life of the mind,

(80), and so cial en gage ment (81, 82), should we risk our children’s ed u ca -tion by ignoring it?

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 13

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American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 15

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by hand: composing, reading, listening and speaking connections; three

letter writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling. De vel op men tal

Neuropsychology. Vol. 29 No.1. Pages 61-92.

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ards, T. (2002a). Writ ing and read ing: Con nec tions be tween lan guage by

hand and lan guage by eye. Jour nal of Learn ing Dis abil i ties, 35(1), 39-56.

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ob ser va tional study of kin der gar ten chil dren dur ing writ ing work shop.

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Nazarian, B, & Velay, J-L. (2008) Learn ing through Hand- or Type writ ing

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American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 17

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Brit ish Jour nal of Oc cu pa tional Ther apy, 48(7), 205-207. Re ported in

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the 1980s and fu ture pros pects. The Jour nal of Ed u ca tional Re search, 88

(6), 329-351.

(33). Doidge, Nor man (2007). The Brain That Changes It self. Vi king Pen -

guin: USA.

(34). Ridley, Matt. (2006). Ge nome: Au to bi og ra phy of a spe cies in 23

chap ters. NY: Harper Col lins.

(35). Nakamura, K., Kuo, W.J., Pegado, F., Co hen, L., Tzeng, O.J., &

Dehaene S. De cem ber 11, 2012). Uni ver sal brain sys tems for rec og niz ing

word shapes and hand writ ing ges tures dur ing read ing. Pro ceed ings of the

Na tional Acad emy of Sci ences U S A, 50, 20762-7.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1217749109. Epub 2012 Nov 26.

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Form ing let ters is key to learn ing, mem ory, ideas. Wall Street Jour nal.

(37). Henry S.R.K., Wai S. L., Meilin, G. & Hui, C. (2012). Cog ni tive ef -

fects of Eng lish brush hand writ ing: the case of vi sual-spa tial ap ti tude.Asia Pa cific Jour nal of Coun sel ling and Psy cho ther apy, 33(2). 190-201

(38). Kao, H.S.R. (2006). Shufa: Chi nese cal li graphic hand writ ing (CCH)

for health and be hav ioural ther apy. In ter na tional Jour nal of Psy chol ogy,

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thol ogy in ma jor psy chi at ric dis or ders. In ter na tional Jour nal of Crim i nal

In ves ti ga tion, 2(3), 199-219.

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 18

(41) Stokes, K. (2011). Why Schools Should Keep Teaching Handwriting,

Even If Typing Is More Useful. In di ana Pub lic Me dia.

(42). Longcamp, M., Boucard, C.I., Gilhodes, J., Anton, J.L., Roth, M.,

Nazarian, B, & Velay, J-L. (2008) Learn ing through Hand- or Type writ ing

In flu ences Vi sual Rec og ni tion of New Graphic Shapes: Be hav ioral and

Func tional Im ag ing Ev i dence. Jour nal of Cog ni tive Neu ro sci ence, 20(5),

802-815.

(43). Welds, K. (n.d.?) Cognitive Value of Handwriting in the Digital Era.

(44-47). Manley, Edda, “His tory of Hand writ ing,” 2013.

(48). Manley, Edda, “Hand writ ing for the Suc cess of Our Na tion,” May

17, 2014.

(49) Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Jones, J., Wolf, B. J., Gould, L., An -

der son-Youngstrom, M., Shimada, S., & Apel, K. (2006). Early de vel op -

ment of lan guage by hand: Com pos ing, read ing, lis ten ing, and speak ing

con nec tions; three let ter-writ ing modes; and fast map ping in spell ing. De -

vel op men tal Neuropsychology, 29(1), 61-92.

(50). Connelly, V., Gee, D. & Wals, E. (2007). A com par i son of

keyboarded and hand writ ten com po si tions and the re la tion ship with tran -

scrip tion speed. Brit ish Jour nal of Ed u ca tional Psy chol ogy, 77, 479-492

(51). Christensen, C. A. (2005). Ibid.

(52). Connelly, V., Gee, D. & Wals, E. (2007). Ibid

(53). Morin, M-F., Lavoie, N., & Montesinos-Gelet, I. (2012). The ef fects

of manu script, cur sive or manu script/cur sive styles on writ ing de vel op -

ment in Grade 2. Lan guage and Lit er acy, 14(1), 110-124.

(54). James, K. H. (2009). Sensori-mo tor ex pe ri ence lead to changes in vi -

sual pro cess ing in the de vel op ing brain. De vel op men tal Sci ence, 13(2),

1-10. doi: 10.1111/j.14677687.2009.00883.x

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 19

(55). James, K. H. & Engelhardt, L. (2012). The ef fects of hand writ ing ex -pe ri ence on func tional brain de vel op ment in pre-lit er ate chil dren. Trendsin Neu ro sci ence and Ed u ca tion, 1(1), 32-42.

(56). As so ci a tion for Psy cho log i cal Sci ence. (April, 2014). Take Notes byHand for Better Long-Term Comprehension.

(57). Mueller, P.A. & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). Ibid.

(58). Hat field, I. 2007

(59). Klemm, W. (2013). Ibid.

(60). Zezima, K. (April 27, 2011). “The case for cur sive,” The New YorkTimes.

(61). Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Jones, J., Wolf, B. J., Gould, L., An -der son-Youngstrom, M., Shimada, S., & Apel, K. (2006). Early de vel op -ment of lan guage by hand: Com pos ing, read ing, lis ten ing, and speak ingcon nec tions; three let ter-writ ing modes; and fast map ping in spell ing. De -vel op men tal Neuropsychology, 29(1), 61-92.

(62). Christensen, C. A. (2005). Ibid.

(63). Medwell, J., Strand, S., & Wray, D. (2009). The links be tween hand -writ ing and com pos ing for Y6 chil dren. Cam bridge Jour nal of Ed u ca tion,39(3), 329-344. doi: 0.1080/03057640903103728

(64). Connelly V, Camp bell S, MacLean M, Barnes J. (2006). Con tri bu tion of lower-or der skills to the writ ten com po si tion of col lege stu dents withand with out dys lexia. De vel op men tal Neuropsychology, 29, 175-196.

(65). Mont gom ery D. (2012). The con tri bu tion of hand writ ing and spell -ing remediation to over com ing dys lexia. In Dys lexia - A Com pre hen siveand In ter na tional Ap proach (Taeko N. Wydell and Liory Fern-Pollak,Eds). The Author(s).

(66). Niel sen, K., Abbott, R., Grif fin, W., Lott, J., Raskind, W., &Berninger, V. (2016). Ev i dence-based read ing and writ ing as sess ment for

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 20

dys lexia in ad o les cents and young adults. Learn ing Dis abil i ties. A

Multidisciplinary Jour nal, 21, 38-56. NIHMS 752395 PMCID:

PMC4739804 doi: 10.18666/LDMJ-2016-V21-I1-6971

(67). Shapiro, T. R. (2013). Ibid.

(68). Klemm, W. (2013). Ibid.

(69). Klemm, W. (2013). Ibid.

(70). Woods, W. C. (Win ter, 1985). Rob ert Stone, The art of fiction No.

90. Paris Re view, 98.

(71). Madcubans (2011, No vem ber 3). [Web com ment to L. Rourke, Why

creative writing is better with a pen. The Guard ian, 2011, No vem ber 3.

(72). Cameron, Julia, The Art ist’s Way (2002), Pen guin Press: U.S.A.

(73). Rivkin, Lena, “The Lost Art,” campaignforcursive.blog, March 16,2012.

(74). Mangen, A. and Velay, J-L. (2010). Ibid.

(75). Stokes, K. (2011). Why Schools Should Keep Teaching Handwriting,

Even If Typing Is More Useful. In di ana Pub lic Me dia.

(76). Spencer, L. (April 12, 2012). "Does Cursive Handwriting Need to Be

Taught in a High Tech World?"Chi cago Tri bune Lo cal (April 12, 2012), In

Na tional As so ci a tion of State Boards of Ed u ca tion, (2012).The

handwriting debate. Policy Update, 19(7). 2012.

(77). Yank, J. (2010). Effects of visual feedback in handwriting

movements in a pursuit loop-drawing task. Doc toral dis ser ta tion.

(78). Esposita, S. (2015). Handwriting: An instrument of understandingand empathy.Sym po sia Melitensia, 11, 45-55.

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 21

(79). Klein, R. (2001). Fully mod ern hu mans. In G. M. Feinman & T. D.

Price (Eds.), Ar chae ol ogy at the mil len nium: A sourcebook. NY: Kluwer

Ac a demic.

(80). Grigorenko, E.L., Mambrino, E. & Preiss, D. (2012). Writ ing: A Mo -

saic of New Per spec tives. NY: Psy chol ogy Press.

(81). Klein, R. (2001). Ibid.

(82). Had dock, V. (2007, Feb ru ary 25). We shouldn't write off handwriting

just yet. San Fran cisco Chron i cle, p. E-1.

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 22

About AHAF

The Americn Hand writ ing Anal y sis Foun da tion is a 501(c)6 non profit ed -

u ca tional or ga ni za tion founded in 1967. In 2013, in re sponse to in for ma -

tion pub lished about cur sive hand writ ing train ing be ing re moved from

pub lic school cur ric ula in more than forty states, AHAF formed the Cam -

paign for Cur sive com mit tee (”C4C”). Since then, C4C has worked to pro -

vide in for ma tion about handwriting to the public.

For ad di tional in for ma tion:

Www.ahafahandwriting.org

Www.cursiveiscool.com

https://www.facebook.com/CampaignForCursive

https://www.facebook.com/Cursive-is-Cool-254006231286933/

American Handwriting Analysis Foundation 14