Everything you wanted to know about handwriting!

5 Questions Answered about Handwriting

The facts and myths about handwriting – tips for giving your child the best start possible when putting pencil to paper.

Handwriting is often one of the most challenging and important skills for a child to learn during their schooling life. Whilst important for academic learning, handwriting is the gate to learning across not only school life but future tertiary study and adulthood. Below listed are some of the most common questions we get at All About Kids regarding handwriting and our top tips to help your little ones nail the perfect sentence.

1. Do we need to bother with handwriting in the new digital age?

In today's fast-paced digital age where typing and touchscreen devices have become the norm, many parents find themselves question teaching their children handwriting skills. After all, with keyboards and smartphones at our fingertips, is there really a need to bother with cursive or printing anymore?

The answer however, is a resounding yes! Handwriting remains an essential skill for children to acquire. Recent studies have reported that only when writing are children’s brains recruiting the same network observed in literate adults. This implies that children learn reading and recall of content best by writing rather than typing or tracing. This has implications for future study and learning, as written notes will likely result in greater retention of information compared to typed notes. Furthermore, the personal touch of a handwritten note or letter can never be truly replicated by digitally types words. So, while we embrace the digital world, let's not forget the importance of teaching our children the art of handwriting as it will benefit them greatly in not just academic but play and creativity.

2. What can I do to make sure my child’s handwriting is meeting classroom expectations?

In the digital era, nurturing children's handwriting abilities remains a crucial endeavour. Participating in enjoyable and instructive activities alongside your kids can serve as an engaging method to cultivate their fine motor skills and develop their handwriting ability, which is vital for their academic journey and future endeavours.

Engagement in extra home based activities can bridge the gap between home and classroom learning experiences.

• Practice writing where possible

Aiming to write one sentence every day (amount depending on age) will make a significant difference to their progress at school. Making sure that each letter/sentence is not traced, as tracing letters has limited benefit for learning correct letter formation motor patterns. Using Sky Grass Dirt Paper is a great way to practice correct formations and sizing.

• Working on thumb stability, mobility and opposition

One of the most important building blocks of handwriting and correct pencil grip is successful thumb finger opposition. This means the tip of our thumb can reach and touch the tip of our pointer finger creating the same length. Activities such as making small balls of playdoh between those fingers, using tongs/other implements and posting coins all build strength within this area.

• Developing in-hand manipulation

Another important building block skill is in-hand manipulation, the ability to manage one or more items within a single hand. This is a key skill not only for handwriting but across many areas of child/adult daily life (i.e. managing change, gardening, opening containers/packets, grooming). Board games with multiple implements (monopoly, marble run, mouse trap) are fun ways to practice this skill. Having your children involved in cooking is another great opportunity using multiple implements and managing multiple items within their hands.

• At the dinner table, practicing recall of stories from day

Being able to verbally recall events is a vital cognitive skill for handwriting. Practicing the classic “what happened in your day” at the table recalling events from day, or even recalling fun things that have happened in the past (holidays, birthdays, favourite toys) will greatly benefit their handwriting and communication skills. Not only will this support your child’s ability to handwrite, but this will have great benefits for their speech and language.

• Using tongs and other implements wherever possible

Try serving food buffet style in the middle of table! Have children use tongs to grab grapes, chicken, potatoes and whatever other food possible. Again board games are great opportunities to build children’s skills in a meaningful and fun way. Playing board games with tongs instead (picking up connect four coins, monopoly money/houses). Some board games even come with tongs, see some of our personal favourites below;

https://www.thetherapystore.com.au/product/avalanche-fruit-stand-game/

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/shaky-shark-42752943/

https://www.thetherapystore.com.au/wriggleworms-fine-motor-activity-set

https://www.lemonygem.com.au/p/Games/Board-Games/Goliath-Barbecue-Party-Board-Game/91497

https://www.fishpond.com.au/Toys/Thin-Ice-Game-Pressman-Toy-Co/0021853096101

• Writing in multiple mediums

A child’s primary occupation is always seen as play, so adding fun play based writing tasks in different mediums will greatly benefit motivation and skill development. Try writing on the driveway in chalk, painting letters/words with fingers, writing letters in shower condensation and using a blackboard/paper easel. These increase opportunities for fine motor skills development through messy play and use of implements (tongs, paint brush).  

• Household Chores

At the same time this builds resilience and empowers your children how to cope and overcome uncomfortable feelings such as boredom. Have your child use a cloth to run a long the architraves, picking weeds out of the garden or washing the car. All these tasks require use of fine motor skills linked with handwriting.

3. Does pencil grip really matter?

One question that frequently arises during intervention is whether a child's pencil grip truly matters when it comes to their handwriting. Pencil grasp is often viewed as a developmental milestone and still holds importance in assessing quality of movements within the hand and how a child manages the instrument. The answer is both yes and no as the underlying skills are more of a priority than the grip itself, however delay in specific developmental areas will cause a poor pencil grip and impact quality of handwriting. Above the age of 7, it can prove more challenging to shift strongly formed patterns and is dependent on how amendable and motivated the child is to change the grip. This is always going to depend on the child themselves, the type of grip they are holding and how it impacts their writing. In short, if the grip mildly incorrect and the child is performing quality handwriting with no endurance concerns, then changes may not be needed. Concerns regarding pencil grip should always be discussed directly with an OT.

4. If my child can read well, will their handwriting catch up eventually?

As parents, we often take great pride in our child's reading abilities. It's a milestone that signifies their growing intellect and key to unlocking a world of knowledge when reading and writing. However, many parents wonder whether a child's impressive reading skills will eventually translate into their handwriting. Physically writing letters/forms within recent literature indicates greater activation in key areas of the brain causing improved retention of letter form and sounds. One study in particular (Berninger et al, 2006) even found that children who were given specialised support in handwriting demonstrated improved word reading when it had not been previously taught. Both handwriting and reading can be seen as significantly challenging tasks, patience and persistence continue to be key for children working towards improving their handwriting alongside their reading abilities.

5. Does cursive matter?

With children, we regularly pick our battles on what is important to teach them and what can be skipped. Cursive is often overlooked as an unnecessary skill particularly in the digital age we now live in. Cursive handwriting has its origins in ancient Rome, where it was known as "cursiva" or "italic" script. It evolved from Roman cursive and became a popular way of writing in medieval Europe, characterized by its flowing and connected forms. In modern times, cursive handwriting continues to be widely taught in schools, but it has seen a decline in usage due to the increasing prevalence of phones, tablets  and typing, leading to debates about its continued relevance in education.

When it comes to cursive handwriting, you might be surprised to learn that it offers more than just an elegant way to put pen to paper as it can actually provide significant neurological benefits that can positively impact your child's cognitive development. This has been observed in recent research with use of functional MRIs that printing and cursive writing result in greater activation of locations within the brain of a child, including the same areas that would be activated in literate adults. Furthermore it has been identified that cursive writing in particular results in greater retention of information than typing. This for our children will result in improve spelling, sentence composition and memory of school content. So, while digital communication may be the norm today, there's still a strong case for the importance of cursive handwriting to give your child the best start possible.

In conclusion, handwriting continues to be and will likely into the future regardless of technology advancements be a key area for play and learning for our children. If you have any further concerns regarding your child’s handwriting, feel free to reach out to the All About Kids team for support.

Written by Cameron O’Reilly (OT)

Cameron is an OT Team Leader at All About Kids. He is passionate about leading his team towards their individual areas of passion. 

References:

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Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Jones, J., Wolf, B. J., Gould, L., Anderson-Youngstrom, M., Shimada, S., & Apel, K. (2006). Early development of language by hand: Composing, reading, listening, and speaking connections; three letter-writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29(1), 61–92. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326942dn2901_5

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Longcamp, M., Boucard, C., Gilhodes, J.-C., Anton, J.-L., Roth, M., Nazarian, B., & Velay, J.-L. (2008). Learning through hand- or typewriting influences visual recognition of new graphic shapes: Behavioral and functional imaging evidence. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(5), 802–815. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2008.20504

Longcamp, M., Velay, J., Berninger, V. W., & Richards, T. (2016). Neuroanatomy of handwriting and related reading and writing skills in adults and children with and without learning disabilities: French-american connections. Pratiques, (171–172). https://doi.org/10.4000/pratiques.3175

Longcamp, M., Zerbato-Poudou, M.-T., & Velay, J.-L. (2005). The influence of writing practice on letter recognition in preschool children: A comparison between handwriting and typing. Acta Psychologica, 119(1), 67–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2004.10.019

Ose Askvik, E., van der Weel, F. R., & van der Meer, A. L. (2020). The importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting for learning in the classroom: A high-density EEG study of 12-year-old children and young adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01810

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