"Writing lies at the root of our civilization;
it is the accumulated memory of humankind."
- Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts by Georges Jean

 

Handwriting is a basic communication skill. Even with the ease and popularity of computers and email, there is still a need to write notes, jot down instructions or directions, address an envelope, and maybe send a letter or greeting card to a friend.

Handwriting remediation specialists are studying the correlation between the marked decrease in formal handwriting instruction and the rise in such conditions as attention deficit disorder. In researching studies on the brain, one specialist identifies the preparation for learning that penmanship practice provides. Hand and finger movements stimulate nerves that, in effect, exercise the brain.

So practicing our letters until we can make and identify their shapes easily, is apparently creating some excitement in our brain cells, encouraging the left brain to learn.

And as students acquire more comfort and experience in creating the physical shapes of their language, they also gain confidence in their ability to express themselves through writing. Perhaps our comfort in communicating with others begins at this basic level. Beyond speech, now we teach a way to record those thoughts and ideas for themselves and for others. The more familiar they become with this basic form of communication, the more we prepare them for the variety of ways they'll need to communicate in the future.