Handwriting:

Its Role in Developing the

Mind

www.unicornchildrensfoundation.org

What hand did you use in the womb?

90%

Lefty & righty –God made them

bothWhy?

10%

All older adults who went to school in any country had Explicit Handwriting

Instruction- Years and years of repetative practice

Explicit Handwriting Manual writing taught intensively as a technically

precise skill with 3 elements1. Quality and quantity until mastery

2. Running ovals 3. Push-pulls

Can typing replace

handwriting?

These must produce a kinetic melody!

34 Muscles-17 palm (9 control thumb) + 18 in the arm

Muscles in palm & forearm -control

the fingers

The process of handwriting has

a profound effect on brain development.

schools-wikipedia.org/wp/w/writing.htm

Evidence:1. History

2. Brain Research

3. Remedial Studies

Scribes

Moses with 10 Commandments

1500 BC

Hebrew Alphabet

A sample of American handwriting from the 1700s

Triune Brain - 3 BrainsCore, Limbic, & Cerebral

cortex Attention Loop

Farmer: “Handwriting builds the attention loop like nothing else can”

Paying attention is elemental to learning

What do we want in children? Self-Controlled or Impulsive

Self-Control=Maturity

This child has a larger left brain

This child has a larger right brain

Normal-ADHDPET Scans

Normal children have a Lopsided brain- necessary

Brain wiring system 100 billion neurons unwired at birth

Picture- myelination= white matter, connects gray to gray, new info not

automatic yet

Synapses connect dendrites

Neural growth & pruning. However, recent brain research finds our brains are

plastic and can grow more neurons at any age

¼ of motor cortex for the work of the hands

Dendrites grow, myelination occurs, through repetative actions, building

communication in the brain

Handwriting builds a larger left brain –For right handed people

What about lefties? h

Hemisphere functions EmotionalLogical

Wired for oppositesKing, L. (2007)

Major problem in learning disorders?

Levine:”Won't write or can't write”

Levine-”Writing is one of the largest orchestras a kid has to conduct.”

Stressed kids start out wrong with a tense grip.

Doesn’t look stressful??

Want your students to hate writing? Then force them to write before they are ready.

Tragically, this

problem persists

into adulthood.

Maria Montessori 1870-1952 – The hand is

key to building the brain.

Just 27 lessons: 15 minutes /day improved all aspects of

handwriting

– Only the right hemisphere is built

TV prolongs right brain dominance

TV and video games do not build left hemispheres

Here is a good grip.

Another “legal” pencil hold

Artist gripVery relaxed

His teacher taught him correctly

Kandel: “Whenever the brain learns something the

brain changes”

Any grip that requires

precision...

Must be a light and

relaxed grip

“Teaching is not a job of just cramming as much info

as we can into a brain..getting students to learn means that we must

use every pathway to connect them to the info.”

Ainissa Rameirez; for Edutopia on what works in education-

Students should not computers--taking notes by hand gets the information in better

Boys are not as ready to start school as soon as

girls.

Handwriting is drawing

Handwriting is art

“Because it involves the hand, nothing else done in the classroom can begin to

compare with the massive regulation created by handwriting's rhythmic,

repetitive manipulation of thumb and fingers in its impact on the young brain

over time.”

Jeanette FarmerHandwriting specialist of 30 years

Train the Brain to Pay Attention the Write

Way-a proven handwriting course: children pay

better attention

Handwriting has a profound effect on the building of the mind!

Learn a new script at any age to increase your brain power or learn an instrument!

References

Never Too Early- D. Claggett Study of highly literate American education in colonial

days and the genius’ it produced

Retrain the Brain- J. Farmer supplement for learning explicit handwriting

The Brain That Changes Itself- N. Doidge also now a 1 hour video on utube

pearcem9@gmail.com