Cursive hand writing- Advantages for children With Dysgraphia

The handwriting of our present generation is pathetic. The generation of our grandmothers are
proud of their cursive handwriting because they labored to perfect the art of cursive handwriting.
With print being taught first in schools and many home school curricula, bad habits are acquired
that are difficult to break. The shocking proportions of learning disabilities including Dysgraphia
and Dyslexia in our generation may be to a certain extent, be related to print handwriting. Many
of the deficiencies in the written expression of the handicapped are skill deficits rather than
conceptual deficits. These can be corrected by isolating the principal problems and then targeting
the written expression objectives. (Brigham, Graubard, & Stan, 1972; Hansen &Lovitt,
1973).Providing extra drilling in hand writing instruction to children experiencing difficulty with
this skill may help to prevent hand writing problems.(Graham,2000)

Cursive Hand writing skills

After the child learns manuscript writing , it is time to teach him cursive writing. There are two
reasons for doing so. First the pace of writing increases tremendously at par with his thinking,
which is possible with free flow script of the cursive writing. It gives the child the chance to
attempt adult writing pattern.
Good cursive writing develops slowly and requires great deal of practice. The gradual transition
from manuscript writing to cursive writing should take plac under the vigilant eye of a teacher or
parent.
Cursive writing was used in English before the Norman conquest. Anglo-Saxon
Charters typically include a boundary clause written in Old English in a cursive script. A cursive
handwriting stylesecretary handwas widely used for both personal correspondence and
official documents in England from early in the 16th century.
Cursive handwriting developed into something approximating its current form from the 17th
century, but its use was neither uniform, nor standardised either in England itself or elsewhere in
the British Empire. In the English colonies of the early 17th century, most of the letters are
clearly separated in the handwriting of William Bradford, though a few were joined as in a
cursive hand. In England itself, Edward Cocker had begun to introduce a version of the
French rhonde style, which was then further developed and popularised throughout the British
Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries as round hand by John Ayers and William Banson.
Back in the American colonies, on the eve of their independence from the Kingdom of Great
Britain, it is notable that Thomas Jefferson joined most, but not all of the letters when drafting
the United States Declaration of Independence. However, a few days later, Timothy Matlack
professionally re-wrote the presentation copy of the Declaration in a fully joined, cursive hand.
Eighty-seven years later, in the middle of the 19th century, Abraham Lincoln drafted
the Gettysburg Address in a cursive hand that would not look out of place today.
Note that not all such cursive, then or now, joined all of the letters within a word.

In both the British Empire and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, before the
typewriter, professionals used cursive for their correspondence. This was called a "fair hand",
meaning it looked good, and firms trained their clerks to write in exactly the same script.
Benefits of Teaching Cursive Handwriting
1.Relative ease in introducing cursive penmanship to preschoolers.
Contrary to common beliefs, it is very easy to teach cursive handwriting. It only requires 3
movements: undercurve, overcurve and up and down. Print handwriting necessitates an even
more complex stroke of straight lines and perfect circles.
2.Prevents reversals and confusion of letters
The letters "b and d", "f and t", "g, q and p" are confusing for young children. In cursive, writing
the letter "b and d" require a huge difference in directionality.
3.Enhances spelling ability
In cursive, children learn to spell correctly since hand movements create some muscle memory
that retains the spelling patterns.
4.Develops internal control systems that can be used as tool for learning
In a cursive writing, the incorporation of movement, pressure and visual processing is a bit
multifaceted. This augments visual spacial and coordination skills. In writing lowercase letters in
print, six strokes are required against three movements in cursive writing. Fluent movement is
developed. With cursive writing practice, the neuron connections in the brain, responsible for
organizing other kinds of information and skills, are greatly strengthened.
5.Potential for errors are diminished
Cursive handwriting reduces errors because of the continuous flow of writing. In print, the child
picks up the pencil from the paper to start a new letter in a word, thus the potential for mistakes
is higher.
6.Improved reading skills
The goal in reading is to read words instead of letters at a time. Cursive writing promotes reading
words, instead of a distinct letter. After words, reading will move to sentences. Thus, remedial
support for comprehension and reading of words are occurring less. The child reads what he or
she writes as "whole words" rather than as individual letters.
7.Enforces the skills for patterns in reading and writing
Unlike print writing, lower case cursive writing starts from the same beginning point. In print,
various letter start from the top, down, middle and many different positions . Letter inversions
and reversals are eliminated.
8. Prevents erratic spaces between letters and words
In cursive, the flow of writing moves from left to right. It teaches spatial discipline. In print, the
child's handwritings are difficult to discern. The spaces between words are so tight. It is hard to
tell where the words begin and end.
9. Helps Left Handed Children
In print, the left-handed child proceeds to write printing from left to right but will cover what he
has written with his arms. This is called the hook position. In cursive writing, the left-handed
child learns to write from bottom up and turns the paper clockwise causing great comfort and
legibility.

10.Use as a tool to put thoughts on paper quickly and easily

Mastery of cursive will be to the advantage of any student in the long-run. The child will be able
to write faster. The student can get his or her ideas on paper quicker. It can also be advantageous
in taking notes from lectures.
Advantages of Cursive Hand Writing for children with Dysgraphia:
1. For many children with dysgraphia, cursive writing has several advantages.
2. It eliminates the necessity of picking up a pencil and deciding where to replace it after
each letter.
3. Each letter starts on the line, thus eliminating another potentially confusing decision for
the writer.
4. Cursive also has very few reversible letters, a typical source of trouble for people with
dysgraphia.
5. It eliminates word-spacing problems and gives words a flow and rhythm that enhances
learning.
6. For children who find it difficult to remember the motor patterns of letter forms, starting
with cursive eliminates the traumatic transition from manuscript to cursive writing.
7. Writers in cursive also have more opportunity to distinguish b, d, p, and q because the
cursive letter formations for writing each of these letters is so different.
Conclusion:
Decent hand writing is a skill that can have many far reaching consequences. In school, good
penmanship means that a students work is neat and legible, enhancing the image of a disabled
child.Hand writing must be taught directly drilled continuously and practiced vigorously till each
letter is mastered for its size, shape, proper letter formation and legibility.
Finally if we are to improve in any meaningful way how and what students with LD write, we
must be dedicated to the importance of writing.(Graham, et, al).The success of schools in
teaching will be greatly judged by the way their students write. In our efforts to improve the hand
writing of the LDs we do not want to lose sight of the critical goals of helping students learn to
appreciate writing and to enjoy doing it. In the present day schools the focus is shifting more and
more to reading and other activities and writing takes a back slot in the priorities of a teacher as
to what a child should learn in a class room due to the time taken for writing assignments which
could always be done at home. But the fact is there is no proper guided writing at home with the
result children turn in poorly written careless works. But writing is a very important task needing
the monitoring and guidance of a teacher on the nuance of writing properly for a meaningful and
purposive writing activities.
Alyssa L. CrouchJennifer J. Jakubecy(2008), in a study on Dysgraphia: How It Affects A
Students Performance and What Can Be Done About It, applied two techniques, drill activities
and fine motor activities, to find whether they help improve the handwriting of a student with
dysgraphia.This action research used an ABAB single subject design to find which technique

workedbetter over an eight-week period. The results were inconclusive on which

techniqueworked better. However, the combination of both improved the subjects handwriting
andincreased his score by 50%. Therefore, this study suggested that using both techniques
canhelp improve the problems associated with dysgraphia, especially in the area of handwriting.
Dikowski (1994) studied childrens visual-motor skills related to handwriting. He found schools
offered little help to students with handwriting or visual-motor disabilities. He observed that
when children had visualmotor integration problems this led to problems with hand-eye
coordination. Since the brain, hand, and eye all work together to perform anything written,
Dikowski believed that it is important to work on both fine and gross motor strengthening to
increase the ability to stabilize the hand when writing.