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    B S G

    he famed playwright HaroldPinter, having just been intro-duced as a very good writer, wasonce asked by a six-year-old boy

    if he could do a w .1 I suspect that w was adifficult letter for this young man, and he judged the writing capability of othersaccordingly.

    Tis students assumptionthat beinga good writer means having good hand- writingis not as off base as you mightthink. In dozens of studies, researchers(including, but certainly not limited to,myself and my colleagues) have found that,done right, early handwriting instructionimproves students writing. Not just its leg-ibility, but its quantity and quality .

    Of all the knowledge and skills that arerequired to write, handwriting is the onethat places the earliest constraints on writ-ing development. If children cannot formlettersor cannot form them with reason-able legibility and speedthey cannottranslate the language in their minds into written text. Struggling with handwritingcan lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which students avoid writing, come tothink of themselves as not being able to

    write, and fall further and further behindtheir peers. Just as young readers mustlearn to decode uently so they can focuson comprehension, young writers mustdevelop uent, legible handwriting (andmust master other transcription skills likespelling*) so they can focus on generatingand organizing ideas.

    Handwriting and theDeveloping WriterImagine you have been asked to writesomething using a Chinese typewriter. Tisis a very complicated machine, containingabout 6,000 characters. op typing speedsare 11 characters per minute, so youll haveno hope of typing fast enough to keep up with your thoughts. As you write your mas-terpiece, some of your ideas are likely to

    Want to ImproveChildrens Writing?

    Dont Neglect Teir Handwriting

    slip from memory. Any time you have tohunt for the next character, your memory will be taxed further, resulting in even moreof your ideas being forgotten. he act oftyping is so demanding, cognitive resourcesthat could be devoted to planning, evaluat-ing, and sharpening text are diverted tosimply transcribing it.

    For young children, the act of writing isalmost this demanding. Te thought theymust put into how to form letters interferes with other writing processes. 2 Eventuallmost peoples handwriting becomes uentand automatic, minimizing that interfer-ence. 3 Researchers do not yet know whenmost youngsters reach this point, but itdoes not appear to be during the elemen-tary years. In grades 4 to 6, handwritinguency still accounts for 42 percent of the variability in the quality of childrens writ-ing,4 and students handwriting speed con-tinues to increase at least until grade 9. 5

    Legibility is also a serious problem that,unfortunately, is inversely related to uency.

    Steve Graham is a Currey Ingram Professor ofSpecial Education and Literacy at VanderbiltUniversity. Graham is the editor of ExceptionalChildren and the former editor of Contempo-rary Educational Psychology . He is the authorof numerous scholarly articles and coauthor ofseveral books, including Handbook of WritingResearch , Handbook of Learning Disabilities , Writing Better , and Making the Writing Process Work . He is also a consultant for Zaner-Bloser, acompany that produces handwriting materials,and a senior author of Imagine It , a basal read-ing and writing program published by SRA/ McGraw-Hill.

    *For an in-depth article on spelling instruction, seeHow Words Cast Their Spell in the Winter 20082009 issue of American Educator : www.aft.org/ pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/winter08_09/

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    these results in mind, the rest of this articleis devoted to describing effective handwrit-ing instructioneverything from whichscript to teach to tackling difficult letters toincreasing speed. As youll see, effectivehandwriting instruction involves manycomponents. o make it more manageable,my colleagues and I have developed andtested a handwriting program for first-

    grade teachers. I describe it in the sidebaron page 24 and have posted it online at www.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/casl.xml for teachers to use free of charge.

    Manuscript, Cursive,DNealian, or Italics?

    One of the most fundamental issues inexplicitly teaching handwriting to studentsinvolves the script(s) students are to betaught. In the United States, children aretypically taught both manuscript and cur-

    sive, as the former is usually introduced inkindergarten or grade 1 and the latter ingrade 2 or 3. One relatively common varia-tion on this theme is to teach slantedmanuscript letters (the DNealian alpha-

    bet) that more closely resemble their cur-sive counterparts than the more traditionalmanuscript alphabet, which is character-ized by round upright letters that resembletype. 16 Te supposed purpose of this modi-fied, slanted manuscript alphabet is tomake the transition between manuscriptand cursive writing easier and more effi-cient. Despite the generally agreed-uponpractice of teaching both manuscript andcursive writing, some educators have chal-lenged the desirability of teaching bothmanuscript and cursive, recommendingthat only manuscript be taught 17 or thatcursive be emphasized from the start. 18 Still others have advocated the exclusiveuse of italics. 19

    Unfortunately, research does not pro- vide a definit ive answer on the relativeeffectiveness of different scripts. 20 Even so,I would like to proffer the following recom-mendation: instruction should start withtraditional manuscript letters for the fol-lowing four reasons. One, most children

    If students have to write more quickly, whentaking notes or working on a timed test, forexample, the legibility of their text declines. 6 Estimates of handwriting legibility difficul-ties in the elementary grades range from 12percent of children to as high as 44 percentof children in urban schools. 7 And, as allteachers no doubt know, boys are at greaterrisk for such difficulties than girls. 8

    Legibility obviously causes problems forthese students teachers, but it causes prob-lems for the students too. Studying for a testis quite difficult when students cant readtheir own notes. Furthermore, readers form judgments, positive or negative, about thequality of text based on its legibility. Whenteachers are asked to rate multiple versionsof the same paper differing only in legibility,neatly written versions of the paper areassigned higher marks for overall quality of writing tha n are versions with poorerpenmanship. 9

    All beginning writers struggle with fluency and legibili ty tosome extent, and that inevitablyaffects their approach to com-posing. Young writers typicallycope with the multiple demandsof handwriting and composingby minimizing the composing process(planning, organizing, etc.). Because somuch of their thinking must be devoted toforming legible letters, they turn compos-ing into a knowledge-telling process in

    which writing is treated as a forward-mov-ing idea-generation activity. A relevant ideais generated and written down, with eachnew phrase or idea serving as the stimulusfor the next one. Mostly absent from thisapproach to writing are more reective anddemanding thinking activities such as con-sidering the constraints imposed by thetopic, the needs of the reader, or the mostcoherent way to organize the text. 10 Ashandwriting skills become more automaticand less cognitively demanding, attentionand resources for carrying out other writingprocesses, including those involving morereection and careful composing, becomeavailable. It is important that this occursearly, as the longer the knowledge-tellingapproach to writing is in place, the moredifficult it is to get children to change their writing habits.

    Early attention to handwriting is espe-cially important for children who experi-ence difficulty. hey often avoid writing whenever possible, and develop a mindset

    that they cannot write. 11 his, of course,increases the likelihood that they willbecome poor writers.

    Teaching HandwritingTere is considerable scientic evidence,collected over a span of almost 100 years,demonstrating that directly teachinghandwriting enhances legibility and u-

    ency. 12 Tis is not to say less formal teach-ing methods, such as capitalizing onteachable moments, should be avoided.But the available research does clearlyindicate that childrenespecially those who struggle with handwritingbenetfrom carefully planned, explicit handwrit-ing instruction.

    Effective handwriting instruction doesnot require a large investment of schooltime. During kindergarten and grades 13,it should be taught in short sessions several

    times a week or even daily, with 50 to 100minutes a week devoted to its mastery. 13 Tere are considerable returns for such asmall investment of time, as studentssentence-writing skills, the amount they

    write, and the quality of their writing allimprove along with their handwriting. 14

    Just last year, my colleagues and I con-ducted a national survey of rst- throughthird-grade teachers beliefs about andinstructional strategies for handwriting. 15 We were heartened to nd that 90 percentreported that they taught handwriting,devoting an average of 70 minutes a weekto it. In addition, more than half agreedthat handwriting has important conse-quences for students, indicating that itinuences their grades, the quantity andquality of their writing, and time needed tocomplete writing assignments.

    Only 39 percent of teachers said thattheir students handwriting was adequate,however, and just 46 percent indicatedtheir students handwriting was fastenough to keep up with classroomdemands. Even more disconcerting, a mere12 percent reported that they receivedadequate preparation to teach handwritingin their college education courses. With

    Students sentence-writing skills, the amount they write,and the quality of their writing all improve along withtheir handwriting.

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    come to kindergarten and first gradealready knowing how to write some letters.Tese are typically traditional manuscriptletters taught by parents or preschoolteachers. 21 Learning a special alphabet,such as DNealian, means that children willhave to relearn many of the letters they can

    already write. wo, there is some evidence(although it is dated) that traditional man-uscript is easier to learn than cursive writ-ing. 22 Tree, once traditional manuscript is

    mastered, it can be written as fast as cur-sive, and possibly even more legibly. 23 Four,the use of traditional manuscript in theearly grades may actually facilitate readingdevelopment. 24 Tis is likely due to the factthat the material students read is written inmanuscript, not cursive.

    Regardless of which script(s) a child istaught, it is important to realize that chil-dren will inevitably develop their own style.Tis may involve using slightly more curved

    lines, eliminating clockwise movements,combining letters from different scripts,and eliminating or modifying some con-necting strokes. 25 Such modificationsappear to be aimed at increasing handwrit-ing efficiency, as they are commonly asso-ciated with faster handwriting. Tus, teach-

    ers who insist on a strict adherenceto a particular model are likely to

    frustrate not only themselves, buttheir students as well.

    Letter Names

    Several years ago, a teacher toldme that a young child asked how to writeelemeno, thinking that l , m, n, and o weall one letter (the child probably inferredthis from the alphabet song where the

    Students need to be able to quickly and easily name theletters, match each name to its appropriate letter, and writeletters when named.

    To read "Scribble, Scribble, Eh, Mr. Toad?" by Lance Morrow, which appeared inthe print edition of the Winter 2009-10 issue of American Educator , visit

    www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960730,00.html.

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    cadence speeds up for these four letters).Because the name of a letter is likely toserve as a cue for retrieving from memorythe motor program for writing it, 26 studentsneed to be able to quickly and easily namethe letters of the alphabet, match eachname to its appropriate letter, and writeletters when named. wo examples of pro-cedures designed to strengthen these links

    include (1) naming each letter as it is ini-tially practiced and, (2) the alphabet prac-tice game in which the student writes theletter that comes after a series of ve des-ignated letters (e.g., c , d , e , f , g ) and then

    writes the letter that comes before them. 27 (For more on these instructional strate-gies, see the handwriting programdescribed on page 24.)

    Letter Forms

    Te basic goal of handwriting instructionis to help students develop legible writingthat can be produced quickly with little

    conscious attention. A critical ingredientin achieving this goal is teaching studentsan efficient pattern for forming individualletters. Research has found that examin-ing a model of the letter marked with

    numbered arrows (indicating the nature,order, and direction of componentstrokes), combined with reproducing theletter from memory, produced the besthandwriting performance in a study withrst-grade students at risk for handwritingproblems. 28 In contrast, one strategy thatis not effective is asking students to overtly verbal ize the steps for forming a let ter

    while learning it. 29 Most likely, this strat-egy does not work well because it uses upchildrens limited working-memoryresources. 30

    Some teachers are not sure how muchtime students should spend practicingindividual letters. It is not a good idea toapply massed practice procedures, where

    (Continued on page 26)

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    The negative consequences (for both thewriter and the reader) of poorly developedhandwriting led my colleague, KarenHarris, and me to develop a supplementalinstructional program designed to

    accelerate the handwriting developmentof the slowest handwriters, includingchildren with disabilities, in rst grade. Theprograms 27 lessons take just 15 minuteseach and could be used with the wholeclassespecially if the teacher is careful togive extra attention to the students withthe slowest and least legible handwriting.While we created the program forrst-graders, it could also be used with awhole class of kindergartners or as anintervention for second-graders whosehandwriting is too slow or illegible. (Seethe main article for handwriting speednorms by grade and gender.)

    In developing the program, weconducted a study with 39 children andfound, on average, that children madegreater gains in their handwriting andwriting than their control-group counter-parts, both immediately after completingthe program and six months later. 1 Thesegains included faster and more correctlyformed handwriting, greater facility inconstructing sentences, and greater outputwhen writing stories. We calculated effectsizes to gauge the statistical and practicalsignicance of our results. The effect sizefor handwriting was 1.46, for constructingsentences it was .76, and for length ofstories it was 1.21. These are large effects,as an effect size of .25 is consideredpractically signicant, whereas an effectsize above 1.00 is rare.

    Having developed this program underthe auspices of the Center to AccelerateStudent Learning (CASL), we call it theCASL handwriting program and arepleased to share it with teachers for free.Just go to www.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/casl.xml . The programs goalsto teach

    rst-graders how to write letters accuratelyand uentlyare accomplished byteaching children to name and identify theletters of the alphabet; correctly writelowercase manuscript letters in isolation, inwords, and in sentences; and copy con-nected text more quickly.

    The program contains 27 lessons thatare divided into nine units (three lessonsper unit). In each unit, three lowercasemanuscript letters are introduced andpracticed. The only exception involves the

    Pencil on Paper, Lets GoEffectiveand EfcientHandwriting Instruction

    ninth unit, in which just two letters aretaught.

    Letters were grouped for instructionbased on four criteria. First, the letters ineach unit are formed in similar ways orshare common formational characteristics(e.g., slanting line letters v , w , and y aregrouped together in unit 7). Second, lettersthat occur more frequently in childrenswriting are introduced before less fre-quently occurring ones. Third, letters thatare easier for young children to produceare introduced before more difcult ones.Fourth, easily confusable or reversibleletters, such as u and n or d and b , are notincluded in the same unit. It was some-times necessary to emphasize one criterionover another when assigning letters to aunit. For instance, when assigning lettersto unit 1, we included the letters that wereeasiest to produce, but ranked second interms of frequency of occurrence. Theletters for each unit are:

    unit 1 l, i, t

    unit 2 o, e, a

    unit 3 n, s, runit 4 p, h, funit 5 c, d, g

    unit 6 b, u, m

    unit 7 v, w, y

    unit 8 x, k, z, andunit 9 j and q.

    All lessons were designed to be 15minutes long and follow a common

    format, consisting of four activities:Alphabet Warm-Up (two minutes),Alphabet Practice (six minutes), AlphabetRockets (ve minutes), and Alphabet Fun(two minutes). The style of manuscriptletters used in the program is Zaner-Blosercontinuous script. This script uses tradi-tional upright manuscript letters (asopposed to slanted ones), and most lettersare formed using a continuous stroke (incontrast to lifting the pencil from thepaper one or more times to form a letter).

    Alphabet Warm-UpEach lesson begins with Alphabet Warm-Up, a series of tasks designed to teachstudents to name each letter of thealphabet, match letter names with theircorresponding symbol, and identify whereeach letter is placed in the alphabet.Because the name of a letter is likely toserve as a cue for retrieving the motormemory for writing it, children need to be

    uent in naming, identifying, and access-ing alphabet knowledge.

    During the rst lesson, when AlphabetWarm-Up is introduced, children are toldthat just as an athlete needs to warm upbefore a game, we are going to warm upby saying letters before writing. The rstAlphabet Warm-Up task involves studentssinging the alphabet song, while pointingto the corresponding letters on analphabet chart. Once this task is mastered,it is replaced with a second task, where the

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    teacher says the name of a letter andchildren point to it on the alphabet chart.When children can do this task accuratelyand uently for all alphabet letters, it ismodied so that the teacher points to aletter and students name it. With the naltask, the teacher says a letter and then askswhat letter comes before or after it in thealphabet. Initially, children are encouragedto consult the alphabet chart, but its use is

    faded as it is no longer needed. For each ofthese tasks, the teacher provides feedbackand assistance as needed.

    Alphabet PracticeThe second activity in eachlesson is Alphabet Practice, inwhich children are taught howto form lowercase manuscriptletters and receive practicewriting them in isolation and inwords. The format for AlphabetPractice is identical across all nine units ofthe program.

    During the rst lesson of all units, theteacher models how to form each letter inthat unit (e.g., l , i , and t ). Using cards withnumbered arrows that show the order anddirection of strokes for each letter, theteacher traces and describes aloud how thetarget letters are formed. Next, childrenimitate the teacher, tracing each letter,while describing how to write it. Theteacher and students then discuss howthese letters are similar and different. Thisis followed by practice tracing, copying,and writing each letter. With a pencil,

    children trace a copy of the letter thathas numbered arrows showing how toform it, trace three copies of the letterwithout numbered arrows, write theletter three times within the connesof an outline of the letter, and writethe letter three times on regular linedpaper. While completing these tasks,children say the name of the letter asit is traced, copied, or written (butthey do not describe how to write theletter, as that may take up theirlimited working-memory resources).For each letter, children are also asked

    to circle their best-formed letter.The Alphabet Practice tasks for the

    second and third lessons of each unitare similar to the ones used in the rstlesson with the following differences.One, the teacher and students do notdiscuss similarities and differences inhow the target letters are formed.Two, practice tracing, copying, andwriting letters is modied so thatchildren trace each target letter andthen write it on regular lined paper,

    Children in the program made greater gains in handwritingand writing than their control-group counterparts, bothimmediately after the program and six months later.

    circling their best-formed letter. Additionalpractice is provided during the secondlesson by having students copy wordscontaining the target letters (e.g., till , it ,lit , ill , and little for unit 1). During thethird lesson, the children copy threehinky-pinkys (e.g., tutti-frutti , willy-nilly ,and palsy-walsy ). For both of these lessons,students are asked to circle their best-formed word or hinky-pinky, respectively.

    Last, during the second and third lessons,the teacher uses a highlighter to correctone or more miscues children make while

    copying a word or hinky-pinky. This mightinclude highlighting difculties involvingletter formation (e.g., breaks, extra lines,and so forth), slant, alignment, spacing,and size. For instance, if a student fails tocross a t , the teacher adds the cross usingthe highlighter, and the child then correctsthe miscue by tracing the highlighter markwith a pencil.

    Alphabet RocketsThe primary purpose of the third activity,Alphabet Rockets, is to increase students

    handwriting uency or speed of copyingtext. During the rst lesson of each unit,children copy a sentence (26 to 34 letterslong) that contains multiple instances ofthe target letters (e.g., Little kids like toget letters for unit 1 on l , i , and t ). Studentsare directed to spend three minutescopying the sentence quickly and withoutmaking mistakes. The number of letterscopied is then graphed on a performance

    chart containing three rockets (one foreach lesson in the unit).

    During the second lesson, students are

    encouraged to beat, by three letters, theirprevious performance copying thesentence. A gradual increase in uency isemphasized, as rapid increases can beaccompanied by declines in legibility. 2 Afterrewriting the sentence for three minutes,the number of letters copied is recorded onthe second rocket. If a childs performanceincreases by three or more letters, theteacher or child draws a big star above therocket to reinforce the child for achievingthe goal. Identical procedures are followedduring the third lesson, except the goalincreases by three more letters if i t was

    met during the second lesson.

    Alphabet FunDuring the nal activity of eachlesson, students are shown how towrite one letter from the unit in anunusual way (e.g., tall and skinny) oruse it as part of a picture. AlphabetFun was included as part of theinstructional package so that eachlesson ended with an enjoyableactivity. When describing this activity,however, teachers are asked not touse the label, Alphabet Fun, as thismight imply that other activities are

    not enjoyable.S.G.

    Endnotes1. Steve Graham, Karen R. Harris, and Barbara Fink,Is Handwriting Causally Related to Learning to Write?Treatment of Handwriting Problems in BeginningWriters, Journal of Educational Psychology 92,no. 4 (2000): 620633.

    2. Steve Graham and Naomi Weintraub, A Reviewof Handwriting Research: Progress and Prospects from1980 to 1994, Educational Psychology Review 8,no. 1 (1996): 787.

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    Handwriting Speed

    o collect normative data on hand- writing speeds, my colleagues and Iconducted a study 37 with children in

    grades 1 through 9. We established thenorms by asking children to copy the para-graph from the copying subtest of theGroup Diagnostic Reading Aptitude and Achievements ests 38 as quickly as possibl without any mistakes. Students copied theparagraph for one and a half minutes. Teresults are shown in the table below.Because handwriting speed was inuencedby gender, the data are reported separately

    for girls and boys.o assess your students handwritingspeed, simply select a short paragraphfrom a grade-level book and have studentsspend one and a half minutes legibly copy-ing as much as they can. Extra handwritinginstruction may be advisable for students

    the pencil is held between the thumb andindex nger, resting on the distal phalanxof the middle nger, about an inch fromthe point), as soon as they start school. And yet, regardless of the type of grip ini-tially taught and reinforced, 50 to 75 per-cent of children will make some modica-tions in how they hold the writinginstrument as they mature, 33 and suchmodifications do not appear related to

    how legibly or quickly most children write. 34

    In addition to pencil grip, teachers needto attend to how children position theirpaper when writing. Paper position inu-ences the degree and direction of slant inletters. When children are taught tradi-tional manuscript letters, right-handedstudents should be encouraged to placethe page squarely in front of them with theleft side at about the center of the body. 35 When the transition to cursive is made, thepaper should be rotated about 45 degreescounterclockwise.

    Left-handed writers, in contrast, shouldbe encouraged to rotate their paper some- wha t clockwise and hold their pencilslightly farther back (about one and a halfinches from the tip) than right-handersdo. 36 Left-handers who position theirpapers like right-handers are likely todevelop an inverted grip, and this maydecrease both the speed and legibility oftheir writing.

    students practice the same letter over andover again in a single session. Instead, oncea letter is introduced, students shouldspend a short time carefully practicing itunder the teachers direction and thenevaluate the quality of their efforts (e.g., bycircling their two best-formed letters). Teletter should then be reviewed and prac-

    ticed in subsequent sessions as needed.*

    Difcult Letters

    Although w was apparently the most dif-cult letter for the youngster who quizzedHarold Pinter, it is not among the most dif-cult letters for most students. In a studyinvolving 300 children, 31 my colleagues andI identified letters that were particularly

    Te most effective method for facilitating handwritinguency is to have children write frequently.

    * To learn more about the benets of spreading practiceout over time, see Allocating Student Study Time:Massed versus Distributed Practice in the Summer2002 issue of American Educator : www.aft.org/ pubs-reports/american_educator/summer2002/ askcognitivescientist.html.

    Mean Handwriting Speeds:Letters per Minute

    Girls Boys

    Grade 1 21 17

    Grade 2 36 32

    Grade 3 50 45

    Grade 4 66 61

    Grade 5 75 71

    Grade 6 91 78

    Grade 7 109 91

    Grade 8 118 112

    Grade 9 121 114

    (Continued from page 23)

    difficult for children in grades 1 through 3:q, j , z , u, n, and k . Tese six letters accountedfor 48 percent of the omissions, miscues,and illegible attempts students made when writing the lowercase letters of the alpha-bet. When only illegible responses wereconsidered, the following five lettersaccounted for 54 percent of miscues: q, z ,u , a , and j . eachers should pay specialattention to these letters during instruc-

    tion, as they may pose special problems for young writers.

    Pencil Grip and Paper Position

    When asked about the hardes t par t ofbeing a writer, one child responded,Tats easy; your hands always hurt from writing so much. 32 While pencil grip neednot be perfect, it is important. A child whohas a two-ngered death-grip on the tipof the pencil is likely to complain of fatigueor discomfort when asked to write for asustained period of time. o help ensurethat children do not develop such a grip(which can be very hard to change), it isessential that students be encouraged andprompted to use a reasonably comfortablegrip, such as the tripod method (in which

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    Checklist of Best PracticesI Teach Children How to Write Each Letter by...

    Showing them how it is formed.

    Describing how it is similar to and different from other letters.

    Using visual cues, such as numbered arrows, as a guide to letter formation.

    Providing practice tracing, copying, and writing the letter from memory.

    Keeping instructional sessions short, with frequent reviews and practice.

    Asking them to identify or circle their best-formed letter or letters.

    Encouraging them to correct or rewrite poorly formed letters.

    Monitoring their practice to ensure that letters are formed correctly.

    Reinforcing their successful efforts and providing corrective feedback as needed.

    I Help Children Become More Fluent in Handwriting by...

    Providing them with plenty of opportunities to write.

    Eliminating interfering habits that may reduce handwriting uency.

    Having them copy a short passage several times, trying to write it a little faster each time.

    I Promote Handwriting Development by...

    Making sure that each child develops a comfortable and efcient pencil grip.

    Encouraging children to sit in an upright position, leaning slightly forward, as they write. Showing them how to place or position their paper when writing.

    Teaching children to identify and name the letters of the alphabet.

    Teaching them how to write both uppercase and lowercase letters.

    Allotting 75 to 100 minutes per week to handwriting instruction (in grades 1 through 4).

    Providing children with plenty of opportunities to use different types of writing instrumentsand paper.

    Asking children to set goals for improving specic aspects of their handwriting.

    Implementing appropriate procedures for left-handed writers, such as how to properly placeor position their paper when writing.

    Monitoring students handwriting, paying special attention to their instructional needs in

    letter formation, spacing, slant, alignment, size, and line quality.

    Dramatizing childrens progress in handwriting through the use of charts or graphs, praise,or posting neatly written papers.

    I Assist Students Who Are Experiencing Difculty by...

    Organizing my class so that I can provide additional handwriting instruction to children whoneed it.

    Coordinating my handwriting instruction with the efforts of other professionals, such as anoccupational therapist.

    Placing special emphasis on teaching difcult letters, such as a, j, k, n, q, u, and z, as well as reversals.

    Ensuring that they master one style of handwriting before a second style is introduced.

    Considering if an alternative to handwriting, such as word processing or using a speechrecognition program, is warranted.

    Helping them develop positive attitudes about handwriting.

    Talking with their parents about my handwriting program and soliciting advice.

    I Make Sure That I...

    Encourage students to make all nal drafts of papers neat and legible.

    Maintain a balanced perspective on the role of handwriting in learning to write.

    SOURCE: STEVE GRAHAM AND KAREN R. HARRIS, PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION FOR STRUGGLING WRITERS, ININTERVENTIONS FOR ACADEMIC AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS II: PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL APPROACHES , ED. MARK R. SHINN, HILL M. WALKER, AND GARY STONER (BETHESDA, MD:NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS, 2002), 599. COPYRIGHT 2002 BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS.BETHESDA, MD. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER.WWW.NASPONLINE.ORG.

    in rst, second, and third grades who score7, 13, and 14 letters, respectively, below themean. Older students who score 20 lettersbelow the mean are also good candidatesfor extra assistance.

    Te most effective method for facilitat-ing handwriting uency is to have children write frequently. Handwriting speed devel-ops gradually as a consequence of writing

    connected text. A method that has beenused to improve the handwriting speed ofespecially slow handwriters is self-compe-tition on timed copying exercises. Forexample, students count the number of let-ters they copied from a passage during athree-minute period, and in subsequentsessions set goals to gradually increasetheir fluency as they copy the text. 39 Attempts to increase handwriting speed,however, must be balanced against possi-ble decreases in legibility. 40

    Neatness

    eachers need to be sure that studentsknow when neat and legible handwritingis most important. For example, sloppy rstdrafts are just ne, but this does not work well for final dra fts. Likewise, tes t andhomework answers must be readable. Itmay be necessary to teach some studentshow to make handwritten papers neater(e.g., demonstrate how to make good era-sures), and then have them systematicallycheck their final drafts to be sure they

    applied taught skills.41

    In order to maximize handwritingdevelopment, teachers need toexplicitly teach it while simultane-ously capitalizing on incidental andless formal methods of instruction, such asfrequent writing, taking advantage ofteachable moments, teacher modeling ofcorrect handwriting, and so forth. With allthe competing demands that teachers must juggle each day, it can be difficult to con-sistently deliver high-quality handwritinginstruction. o help, my colleagues and Ihave developed the checklist of best prac-tices shown here and a handwriting pro-gram for rst-graders (which we offer at nocost and have posted online at www.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/casl.xml ). For athorough description of the program, seePencil on Paper, Lets Go on page 24.

    * * * With the advent of affordable and more

    (Continued on page 40)

    http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/ww.nasponline.orghttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/ww.nasponline.org
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    9/940 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2009 2010

    sophisticated personal computers andnewer writing tools, it seems that the deathof handwriting draws closer every year.Lance Morrow did a great job of capturingthis sentiment in his tongue-and-cheekarticle (see page 22), in which the pursuer

    of all things shiny and new, oad, of oadHall, from Te Wind in the Willows , enthu-siastically gives up pencil and paper for, inrapid succession, a Smith-Corona portabletypewriter, then an electric typewriter, and

    nally an even more spectacular marvela word processor. In the end, of course, herediscovers the unique power of handwrit-ing, its ability to reveal changes of moodand to result in sentences that take onsome of the sinuosities of script.

    Sinuosities aside, its unlikely that any-thing will ever be as inexpensive as penand paper, and yet, a typed note couldnever be as valuable as a handwritten cardfrom a friend. As oad found, only hand- writing puts the physical shape and ow

    of the authors thoughts on the page.Nonetheless, it is important to use goodcommon sense when thinking about hand- writing. Legible and uent handwriting isthe desired norm, but a small percentageof youngsters will not achieve this goal fora variety of reasons, ranging from physicalimpairments to learning disabilities. (For-tunately, there are a number of viable alter-natives for these students, including tradi-tional word processing, word processing with word predic tion capabi lit ies, andspeech-to-text synthesis word processingprograms.)*

    Handwriting has bedeviled more thanone professional writer. Te handwritingof some of the most successful writers of

    all time, including the likes of VictorHugo, James Joyce, and Lord Byron, wasalmost an illegible scrawl. 42 Difficultymastering handwriting does not meanthe game is lost, it just means writing ismore challenging.

    Endnotes

    1. Mel Gussow, Pinter Confronts His Shadows, New YorkTimes, October 16, 1995.

    2. Virginia W. Berninger, Coordinating Transcription andText Generation in Working Memory during Composing:Automatic and Constructive Processes, Learning DisabilityQuarterly 22, no. 2 (1999): 99112; and Steve Graham andKaren R. Harris, The Role of Self Regulation andTranscription Skills in Writing and Writing Development,Educational Psychologist 35, no. 1 (2000): 312.

    3. Marlene Scardamalia, Carl Bereiter, and Hillel Goelman,The Role of Production Factors in Writing Ability, in WhatWriters Know: The Language, Process, and Structure ofWritten Discourse , ed. Martin Nystrand (New York:Academic Press, 1982), 173210.

    4. Steve Graham et al., The Role of Mechanics inComposing of Elementary School Students: A NewMethodological Approach, Journal of EducationalPsychology 89, no. 1 (1997): 170182.

    5. Steve Graham et al., The Development of HandwritingFluency and Legibility in Grades 1 through 9, Journal ofEducational Research 92 (1998): 4252.

    6. Steve Graham and Naomi Weintraub, A Review ofHandwriting Research: Progress and Prospects from 1980 to1994, Educational Psychology Review 8, no. 1 (1996):787.

    7. Steve Graham et al., How Do Primary Grade TeachersTeach Handwriting? A National Survey, Reading andWriting: An Interdisciplinary Journal 21, nos. 12 (2008):4969; and Graham and Weintraub, A Review ofHandwriting Research.

    8. Lisa Hamstra-Bletz and Anke W. Blote, A LongitudinalStudy on Dysgraphic Handwriting in Primary School,

    Journal of Learning Disabilities 26 (1993): 689699.

    9. See, for example, Clinton I. Chase, Essay Test Scoring:Interaction of Relevant Variables, Journal of EducationalMeasurement 23, no. 1 (1986): 3341; and Jon C. Marshalland Jerry M. Powers, Writing Neatness, CompositionErrors, and Essay Grades, Journal of EducationalMeasurement 6, no. 2 (1969): 97101.

    10. Deborah McCutchen, Functional Automaticity inChildrens Writing: A Problem of Metacognitive Control,Written Communication 5 (1988): 306324.

    11. Virginia W. Berninger, Donald T. Mizokawa, and RussellBragg, Theory-Based Diagnosis and Remediation of WritingDisabilities, Journal of School Psychology 29, no. 1 (1991):

    5779.12. Eunice Askov, Wayne Otto, and Warren Askov, ADecade of Research in Handwriting: Progress and Prospect,

    Journal of Educational Research 64 (1970): 100111; SteveGraham and Lamoine Miller, Handwriting Research andPractice: A Unied Approach, Focus on ExceptionalChildren 13 (1980): 116; Graham and Weintraub, AReview of Handwriting Research; and Michaeleen Peck,Eunice N. Askov, and Steven H. Fairchild, Another Decadeof Research in Handwriting: Progress and Prospect in the1970s, Journal of Educational Research 73 (1980):282298.

    13. Graham and Miller, Handwriting Research andPractice.

    14. See, for example, Steve Graham, Karen R. Harris, andBarbara Fink, Is Handwriting Causally Related to Learning

    *See, for example, Renaissance Learnings keyboard forstudents with special needs (www.renlearn.com/neo/ NEO2/specialneeds/default.aspx), Don Johnstons wor dprediction program (www.donjohnston.com/products/ cowriter/index.html), and Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a speech recognition program (www.nuance.com/ naturallyspeaking).

    to Write? Treatment of Handwriting Problems in BeginningWriters, Journal of Educational Psychology 92, no. 4(2000): 620633; and Dian Jones and Carol A. Christensen,Relationship between Automaticity in Handwriting andStudents Ability to Generate Written Text, Journal ofEducational Psychology 91, no. 1 (1999): 4449.

    15. Steve Graham et al., How Do Primary Grade TeachersTeach Handwriting?

    16. Steve Graham, Issues in Handwriting Instruction,Focus on Exceptional Children 25 (1992): 114.

    17. Patrick J. Groff, Who Are the Better WriterstheLeft-Handed or the Right-Handed? Elementary School

    Journal 65, no. 2 (1964): 9296.

    18. George Early, The Case for Cursive Writing, AcademTherapy 9 (1973): 105108.

    19. Carolyn Moilanen and Charles Lehman, The Effects ofItalic Handwriting on Legibility: The Methods and Findingsof a Three-Year Study, Visible Language 23, no. 4 (1989):327352.

    20. Graham and Weintraub, A Review of HandwritingResearch.

    21. Graham, Issues in HandwritingInstruction.

    22. See Graham and Miller,Handwriting Research and Practice.

    23. Graham and Miller, HandwritingResearch and Practice.

    24. See the review by Graham andMiller, Handwriting Research andPractice.

    25. Graham and Weintraub, AReview of Handwriting Research.

    26. Virginia W. Berninger and Steve Graham, Language byHand: A Synthesis of a Decade of Research on Handwrit-ing, Handwriting Review 12 (1998): 1125.

    27. See Allison Brooks, Katherine Vaughan, and Virginia W.Berninger, Tutorial Interventions for Writing Disabilities:Comparison of Transcription and Text GenerationProcesses, Learning Disability Quarterly 22, no. 3 (1999):183191.

    28. Virginia W. Berninger et al., Treatment of HandwritingProblems in Beginning Writers: Transfer from Handwriting toComposition, Journal of Educational Psychology 89, no. 4(1997): 652666.

    29. Steve Graham, The Effects of Self-InstructionalProcedures on LD Students Handwriting Performance,Learning Disability Quarterly 6 (1983): 231234.

    30. Berninger and Graham, Language by Hand.

    31. Steve Graham, Virginia W. Berninger, and NaomiWeintraub, What Letters Are Difcult for Young Children?(manuscript submitted for publication, 1998).

    32. Dandi Daley Mackall, Kids Are Still Saying the DarndestThings (Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1994).

    33. Graham and Weintraub, A Review of HandwritingResearch.

    34. See, for example, Jenny Ziviani and John Elkins, Effectsof Pencil Grip on Handwriting Speed and Legibility,Educational Review 38, no. 3 (1986): 247257.

    35. Graham and Miller, Handwriting Research andPractice.

    36. See Graham and Miller, Handwriting Research andPractice.

    37. Graham et al., The Development of HandwritingFluency.

    38. Marion Monroe and Eva Edith Sherman, GroupDiagnostic Reading Aptitude and Achievement Tests (Bradenton, FL: Nevins, 1966).

    39. Graham, Harris, and Fink, Is Handwriting CausallyRelated.

    40. Naomi Weintraub and Steve Graham, Writing Legiblyand Quickly: A Study of Childrens Ability to Adjust TheirHandwriting to Meet Common Classroom Demands,Learning Disabilities Research and Practice 13 (1998):146152.

    41. Lynne Anderson-Inman, Stan C. Paine, and LeslieDeutchman, Neatness Counts: Effects of Direct Instructionand Self-Monitoring on the Transfer of Neat-Paper Skills toNontraining Settings, Analysis and Intervention inDevelopmental Disabilities 4, no. 2 (1984): 137155.

    42. Robert Hendrickson, The Literary Life and OtherCuriosities (San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1994).

    Handwriting(Continued from page 27)

    Teachers need to explicitly teach handwriting and capitalizeon incidental instruction, such as frequent writing andmodeling correct handwriting.

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