HANDWRITING...CURSIVE OR PRINT

ADHD...ADULTS AND CHILDREN

My personal sample

Note here without lines the smoothness of the cursive with no spaces between letters. Pen comes off the paper only one time at the completion of the word to cross the letter “t”.

Note here the number of spaces between letters and the number of times the pen comes off the paper plus the multiple directions of the letters to complete.

Now continue to read to discover why there is a large benefit for both children and adults to learn and use cursive handwriting.

For adults, your stress will be reduced significantly almost immediately by using cursive handwriting. Make it readable.

Medical...Mayo Clinic

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder.

"Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental health disorder that includes a combination of persistent problems, such as difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior."

Adult ADHD can lead to poor interpersonal relationships (family, friends and colleagues), incomplete work performance, low self-esteem, poor organization, time management, communication (written and verbal), and ineffective "active" listening skills with management, and customers/clients.

Though it's called adult ADHD, symptoms start in early childhood and continue into adulthood. In some cases, ADHD is not recognized or diagnosed until the person is an adult. Adult ADHD symptoms may not be as clear as ADHD symptoms in children. In adults, hyperactivity may decrease, but struggles with impulsiveness, restlessness and difficulty paying attention may continue.

Treatment for adult ADHD is similar to treatment for childhood ADHD. Adult ADHD treatment includes medications, psychological counseling (psychotherapy) and treatment for any mental health conditions that occur along with ADHD.

Handwriting and ADHD

Another option to medication or in combination is Cursive Handwriting. Adults and children with ADHD and/or dyslexia who have difficulty learning to read letter combinations actually are more efficient when using the cursive method of handwriting since the skill requires integration of hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and other brain and memory functions compared with the print method.

Unlike printing, all letters start at the baseline and move consistently in a left to right motion. This motion prevents letter reversals and thus can reduce dyslexia. Cursive’s fluid motion makes it more natural for beginner writers. It is faster, has fewer stops, and is less cumbersome than printing. Since cursive has only three main strokes, it is actually less difficult for a five-year-old to learn.

Printing has at least six strokes plus circles, and many letters have different starting points that a child must learn. This makes learning to print more complicated. Having to lift the pencil off the paper between strokes tends to disrupt the train of thought. Whereas the connecting letters of cursive allow the brain to maintain a thought without interruption. Spacing of the letters within a word written in cursive is more even than the printed word. The spacing between words often will be more uniform in cursive.

"The cursive alphabet is not an arbitrary set of forms devised to make life difficult for first graders. It is the ultimate refined product of hundreds of years of trial and error in which the need for legibility and speed required such compromises and refinements as to maximize both. It was devised to make life easier, not more difficult, to provide man with one of his most useful tools of self-expression and communication.” (from p. 144, cited in Spell to Write and Read p. 35-36).

Cursive benefits a child's brain development. Research shows that learning cursive first improves reading and spelling skills. Pediatric occupational therapist Danielle Shulman lists these cognitive factors that improve when a child is taught cursive:

·       sensory-motor coordination

·       hand-eye coordination

·       fine-motor skills development

·       dynamic brain hemisphere engagement

·       thinking memory...reading, and spelling

Adults

Each person has their own individual handwriting style for their daily business documents or their personal signature, which can also be legally identified by a handwriting expert.

Cursive handwriting has some significant advantages such as being able to write faster, and at a smoother pace due in part to not having to lift the writing implement for each letter, which is a great skill set to have when taking notes at a college lecture or a work meeting. Some colleges require cursive to take exams because it is more difficult to cheat and it actually takes less time to complete the exam. Some professors state that a student who uses cursive will complete an exam while one who prints rarely completes the exam thereby getting a lower grade.

Handwriting Characters

·       have specific shape of letters; round or sharp.

·       have regular or irregular spacing between letters that are unique.

·       have a slope to the letters in one direction.

·       have a smooth rhythmic repetition of the letters

Wet Signature

A wet signature in the United States is traditionally required to permanently affix it to a document as a witness and certification of all or part of the content. This is especially true for architects, professional engineers, financial institutions, and business contracts to validate the documents authenticity.

Online worksheets There are many online workbooks that can be downloaded for free for the purpose of learning cursive handwriting. For an adult with ADHD from childhood and for a child diagnosed with ADHD/dyslexia, learning cursive handwriting would likely ease the stress associated with the print method for them.

Historical

The ancient Romans were among the first to develop a written script for transactions and correspondence that included upper and lower characters. After the Roman Empire fell, penmanship became a specialized discipline that was specifically used for classical texts across Europe. By the late eighth century Charlemagne, an English monk set cursive handwriting to a standardized format that was Influenced by Roman characters, for maximum legibility and featured lowercase letters, word separation and punctuation. Elegant handwriting emerged as a status symbol, and by the 1700s penmanship schools had begun educating generations. Some signature handwriting styles became associated with specific professions and social ranks.

Present Day

As the United States became more unified, professional penmen were responsible for copying official documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

With the introduction of typewriters and word processors in business the schools in the U.S. began to eliminate penmanship classes. However European countries did not follow suit, rather students are still given rigorous handwriting instruction, which sets them apart for being qualified in high-level government positions including politics.

My Take-Away

For me I almost always use cursive handwriting as it was the primary teaching method decades ago. There have been countless positive comments on my handwriting style. When I changed from a Catholic school in fourth grade to a public school, my teacher was pleased to see how well my penmanship was. She told my dad it was beautiful, as have others as an adult.

I have always found the print method cumbersome as it requires the lifting off the paper for each letter and word change. I prefer the smooth movement of cursive handwriting.

Generally speaking, I am able to read almost anyone’s cursive writing style including doctors and engineers. People that learned printing typically have difficulty reading cursive, however those that learned cursive have no difficulty reading printing.

In some countries a rubber stamp or a mechanical computer signature is allowed, however I would nearly always prefer and request that the wet signature with a notary stamp for authentication for any legally binding document.

Peace and Joy

Copyright June 2022, All Rights Reserved.

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