Thoughts on cursive

It makes them slow down…and that is a good thing. :-) It takes some practice however. I like the Hermann method to teach cursive. It starts out big and with certain letters that are foundations like a, then m and so on..It is great for those kids who don’t have the small motor skills down.

I agree with Patti- though I like Handwriting Without Tears- part of the benefit is certainly that it slows them down. However- for many kids, cursive is easier motorically than print- because it is inherently smoother- and it is virtually impossible to reverse letters in cursive.

I always taught cursive when tutoring- not as a separate lesson but as an integrated part of whatenver letter or letter combination we were working on. In severe cases, coordination with the OT and the Speech person was really helpful in insuring consistancy of sequence.

Robin

You don’t say what age group you’re working with but I encourage all my 5th graders, LD or not, to type. We are living in the last stages of using pencils just as our distant ancestors lived through the last stages of quill pens. Years ago, caring teachers asked, “Should I have them still use the quill pens or should we do this pencil thing?”

Those of my students who do not or can not type, I allow to use either cursive or print. If the point is to have them write their thoughts, what difference does cursive or print make? Handwriting and expressing our thoughts through writing is such a highly individualized thing that it should lie in the writer’s hand. Some people like myself use an interesting combination of cursive and printing that serves well. Some children absolutely struggle with cursive and why have them struggle even more than they do to get their thoughts onto paper?

I thought cursive was going to help my 3rd grade dysgraphic son who struggles with reversals, inconsistant letter size and spacing in his penmanship. I was very wrong. His writing took a horrible nose dive when they began cursive. His cursive in isolation (i.e. on a worksheet) was beautiful. However, the carryover to spontaneous writing never occured. And, it is not true that a child cannot reverse letters in cursive - my child did. Worst of all, his manuscript writing dropped by more than a year. He produced more reversals than he did in first grade.

I let the school stick with cursive for the first half of the school year in hopes that the regression was temporary and would quickly improve. When that did not happen, I asked that they stop with cursive entirely. Now that he is back to manuscript only, his reversals are getting better unless he is tired.

Personally, I think if a child is struggling with writing, you should take the path of least resistance. If cursive “clicks” for a child, then go that way. If not, then do not waste the precious time. Practice what works for the child and give him lots of exposure to the keyboard.

This is an interesting thread as our Language Arts Curriculum Committee put in their recommendations this year that all students in grades 2-12 use cursive writing. I don’t know what their goal is behind this. The high school English teacher stated that she had some kids who had forgotten how to write their signature. To me as a 5th grade teacher it is not a priority. I have the kids write their spelling words in cursive. (If there is someone who prints better than writes, I have them print.) Years ago I would write study guides and things on the board in cursive. I have switched to printing as there is always at least one student in the room who can follow the print easier than the cursive. Since I need to teach all the kids in the room, I switched to print. If anyone knows of good reasons why cursive should be used exclusively, please post. I

Obviously mine is not the majority opinion in this thread- which is fine:) Here are my thoughts, for what they are worth, in response to the themes in the messages above.

If a child is having a huge amount of motor difficulty with writing, then obviously you do something else- that is simply common sense. The vast majority of the kids that I have seen in middle level resource room and classrooms over the years do not have that problem. What they do not have is the automatic muscle memory for correct letter formation that allows them, to produce legible handwriting without thinking about it.This is a practice issue for many- not all- but many kids. IMHO, unless there is a valid reason why not- every writer owes his readers the courtesy of being legible- print or cursive. Given an early enough start and enough practice, cursive is easier for MOST people. We do not teach it, by and large, in a way that encourages automaticity, certainly not with as much practice as print. Kids begin to learn to print in Kindergarten- and practice daily with some focused instruction for three years. Cursive maybe gets a year- with an occasional hit of direct instruction after fourth grade. And we expect kids to be fluent? LOL

With regard to typing- I type a lot, but I don’t type everything. No one does. I do not type cards, job applications, credit applications, quick notes to school (I have fancy stationary that drives my kids nuts- “Mom can’t you just use paper!”), grocery lists, my day planner, or phone messages. Despite the increased availability of technology, not all students have access to a computer- in school or out. Until that is the case, I can’t see the equity in having them rely only on typing. I don’t think the pencil is quite at the obsolesence(sp) level of the quill yet.

Also- Victoria and I had an interesting conversation a while ago about this- if we are going to require students to type- shouldn’t we attempt to require keyboarding? Typing is hard when you don’t know how (like anything else), and requires a certain level of motor skill. Not everyone can do this. However, there does have to be some minimum level of competence in order for it to be efficient.

Robin

My son fits the profile you describe—not having the automatic muscle control. He simply does not have great fine motor skills. He is currently getting therapy—outside school as well as qualifying for OT at school—so we’ll see where it gets him to. His writing is actually not bad looking but he makes many letters incorrectly. This comes from K when, no matter what I did, I could not get him to make them in a conventional manner. His main problem now is writing is very tiring to him.

He goes to third grade next year where cursive is taught. I just wonder what might be the best approach for a kid at risk. Should I/can I insist that an approach like Handwriting without tears be used? As I said, he does qualify for OT. Should I just see what happens? If so, how long should I wait before intervening? I would feel better if there was some contingency plan in place. I feel like it is just one more thing to worry about!!!

Beth

I am a mom of an 8 yo boy in second grade. My son is LD and dysgraphic and absolutely hates anything to do with wrting. That is, until he learned cursive. His cursive is very good, much more legible than his printing and best of all HE IS ENTHUSIASTIC about cursive. But despite this, his second grade teacher forbade him to use it in his regular classroom and on assignments. Here is a kid who struggles all day long, and now he is put down for mastering a new skill. This just broke my heart. Please, please, allow your students some room to do what works for them! And yes, we are teaching him keyboarding skills, but there is nothing that will replace hand written notes, even in this technological age.

Greetings,

I recently read a very interesting article about introducing cursive writing while a child is still learning to read. This article linked some reading problems to cursive writing as the child is still learning to recognize and read type-written text. So not only does the letter ‘b’ NOT keep it’s meaning depending on how it’s placed on a page (‘p’, ‘d’, ‘q’), it now can be this funny-looking, squiggly thing too! If I can relocate this article, I will post it here.

My now 14yo daughter was introduced to cursive in 2nd grade, just around the time it was becoming apparent that she was having reading difficulties. She went from having a beautiful, legible print to a knarled, illegible mess of print/cursive. Her illegible handwriting has lasted until this year when she completed the Getty-Dubay Italic handwriting course. I chose this course because it is basically connected printing, it is faster to learn and to write than regular cursive, and it’s beautiful. I even switched my very legible cursive to italic because it’s faster, neater and easier for all to read.

Good written communication skills include the ability to write legibly. Look at all the serious doctor/pharmacy prescription errors due to illegible writing. Legible writing should be the primary goal, no matter what writing method is used, but teaching cursive in 2nd or 3rd grade is not the answer.

Blessings, momo

I would see what the OT recommends actually. I was introduced to Handwriting Without Tears by an OT (for the OT’s here it is the program of choice) so you may not even have to worry about it. One thing that you should have from them are exercises for developing hand strength and relaxation exercises. We had them for my son when he had OT as a primary student. They were fun and I still use them occasionally when I see kids changing grip frequently while I am testing. Hand fatigue is a big problem for people with graphomotor issues.

BTW- my son still does not hold his pencil correctly- he can but will not (he is now 12-arghhh) and does not form all his letters correctly either. However, his handwriting is quite legible, as is his printing. It took until fifth grade or so for the motor piece to be less of a struggle for him. He is far more fluid now, and actually likes to write, though for longer assignments he prefers to compose on the computer. I used to scribe for him- e would rather die now:) It does come together in the end. Now- I need to make sure he is doing his homework….

that different things work for different kids. I would love to see that article. I learned cursive as a second grader- Catholic School, the world was different then- and I am left handed, which is a handicap all it’s own in some respects- at least as far as writing with a number two pencil. I loved cursive- but I have certainly met children like your daughter momo- and you are right- the answer is to be sensitive to the child and back off if they aren’t ready.

Robin

My son doesn’t receive OT for his handwriting—they think it is fine because it is legible(don’t know how tired he gets). His OT is for visual-spatial issues but I will bring up the issue anyway.

I thought it was interesting that your son’s problems with handwriting diminished so much by fifth grade. There must be something developmental going on. I have a fifth grade daughter who, until this year, also had severe problems with fatigue. She also doesn’t hold the pencil correctly. All her teachers were always on her case but it never did any good. While she never received any services, I see a big difference now.

Beth