Handwriting without tears cursive?

HI! My son is dysgraphic and we did HWT cursive. He doesn’t write great but it helped him tremendously. Actually writing magic C was VERY impotant because it is used for many letters thruout the program. We didn’t veer from the program at all. Jan

The magic “c” cursive is easier than the “c” in manuscript (we are first working on capitals as per the instructions). IMO, the cursive “c” is much more natural than the manuscript “c” which starts in the middle. He had lot of trouble with it, and I can see why. OTOH, the cursive “c” is much easier to make.

This is also a less severe kid so I don’t think he will have some of the same problems anyway.

Thanks,

—des

Has anyone tried “Retrain the Brian” exercises from Jeanetter Farmer? These are done to music.

I’m afraid that I took the easy way out. We eliminated cursive altogether and settled for legible manuscript and accurate typing skills. My 7th grade daughter has severe dysgraphia. It takes her 3.5 minutes to write the alphabet in manuscript, in cursive we’re looking at 9 plus minutes! Students are taught cursive but they are not graded. By this, I mean, there is no report card grade. So her IEP states she is allowed to print in manuscript vs cursive. However, if a teacher wants cursive the appropriate time allotment must be made which is 18 times that of the “standard” student.

Question: Does anyone think that I have disadvantage daughter by not requiring her to learn cursive as a secondary writing method?

Carmen,
It seems that printing should be her “secondary writing method” and keyboarding and word processing should be her primary method! If it takes her three and a half minutes to print the alphabet, how can she ever complete school work in time?

I think an important consideration for some kids will be the new written essay component of the SAT. My understanding is that it is handwritten. I do not know whether print or cursive matters. But I do know it is going to be a real pain for some kids. Maybe it will cause handwriting instruciton to be re-emphasized, though.

Janis

Janis,
It would be discriminatory to require that it be in hand-written format from what I understand. There are students who are physically unable to produce handwritten work and students with visual impairments also require alternative methods to produce written work.

Carmen, I decided to go to cursive with my son because he absolutely couldn’t print. By teaching him a whole new form of writing he had more success. I don’t think it matters when they get older if they do cursive or not. My husband always prints and he is a computer scientist.You can’t read anything he writes in cursive.About the SAT and essay questions, my son’s dr. says that they MUST give him accomodations on that as well as extra time because of his documented LD in Written Expression and processing speed. I hope it is true. Jan

I would think the process for getting modifications on the SAT for writing will be similar to what has to be done now to get extended time.

I did ask someone and it does not have to be cursive, though. I spoke with a handwriting expert this weekend and she says she strongly prefers italic handwriting programs for children with handwriting difficulties as opposed to Handwriting Without Tears. One she named was Getty-Dubay. She said it is attractive and can be used as print or joined somewhat like cursive but that kids do better with it than traditional cursive.

http://www.cep.pdx.edu/titles/italic_series/index.html

Janis