Why Learning Cursive Handwriting Is Important

Why Learning Cursive Handwriting Is Important

Why Learning Cursive Handwriting Is Important, is a question that a lot of dedicated parents ask.

What do you think the potential benefits of having your child learn cursive handwriting are? Do you think that handwriting is an important skill?

In this day and age, more and more children are forsaking the learning of cursive writing altogether. In countries such as Norway and Finland, traditional handwriting has almost fallen by the wayside. At first, It does seem like a more modern approach to rely on digital products, but are there potential issues from relying solely on typing?

The Cursive Handwriting Study in Montreal

In a study undertaken in Montreal, it was shown that children who learn cursive handwriting over alternatives such as manuscript, actually develop increased skills relating to organizing words and compiling complicated sentences.

Cursive Handwriting has also been found to Provide the Following Benefits

• It increases spelling and language proficiency. They will likely  be able to spell more complex words over time.
• It assists in children forming their letters in the correct orientation or get them back to front.
• It also makes it easier for them to form words
• It assists in children becoming better writers

Learning Cursive Writing Aids In Performing Higher Level Cognitive Processes

Some of the reasoning behind the observations that cursive writing beneficial, come from the idea that text production takes a lot of cognitive and metacognitive ability and its difficult for children to perform other higher cognitive processes at the same time.

Things like ideation and sequencing can only occur when low level processes are taken care of. When writing becomes automatic to a child there is more space for them to devote to other cognitive tasks. This shows us why learning cursive handwriting is important!

Learning Cursive Handwriting Improves Word Production & More!

The Montreal study showed that students utilising cursive writing display more progress in word production than students using manuscript. Cursive handwriting allows students to recall the word unit more carefully and easily. In the study, Cursive handwriting students were the only students who improved their word syntax during the course of the year.

Another study was conducted by Asvik, Van Der Wheel and Van Der Meer 2017. In this study it was purposed to discover whether typing, writing by hand or drawing is better in a classroom setting. Again, as digital devices are so common it could be asked are there any long term implications for less handwriting practice?

An EEG machine was used to study the effects of handwriting, typing and drawing on 12 year old children and some adults (mostly early twenties). They used keyboards, touchscreens and traditional pencils and paper for this experiment.

When the areas of the brain that were studied, it was found that drawing and writing used similar areas in the brain, but typing did not. Important areas of the brain are used in the drawing and writing process.

The activity shown to be used in these areas is for memory and encoding, so should be included in a learning program. The study  concluded that using traditional means of writing was beneficial and is important for early letter learning. 

Adding notes by hand drawn pictures can also aid the learning process. The study concluded that handwriting and drawing should bee used alongside digital note taking  in the classroom for optimal brain development.

The Benefits Of Cursive Handwriting in One Comprehensive Practice Book

If you would like to try an amazing cursive handwriting book that is suitable for 8 – 12 years olds, why not try our Mermaid Cursive Handwriting book! Just like in the study mentioned above, drawing and writing together is extremely beneficial to consolidate early learning. This comprehensive cursive writing book has many pages of upper and lower case letters, joke pages, words to practice and helps put your child in a more relaxed state of mind as they learn. Add this to all the other developmental benefits cursive handwriting creates, how can you lose? Click on the link below!

Check out Cursive Handwriting Practice For Kids (With Mermaids!) Also available in a digital download!