Children's handwriting is in crisis. This negatively affects the brain.

Disturbing data is coming from all over the world. Most first-graders in Germany cannot write well . In Finland, teaching cursive writing has been replaced by lessons with computers and tablets. The situation is similar in Norway and the United States. Only in some schools children still learn classical writing. Most learn to write – and read – printed letters . The situation was worsened by the pandemic, when learning took place mainly in front of a computer screen. This meant that handwriting was used even less by children.

In Germany, as many as 70% of preschoolers do not have the ability to draw one line smoothly or connect lines. This is due, among other things, to the fact that less attention is paid to developing motor skills - such as tying shoelaces, jumping on one leg or threading a needle. ¹ . This, in turn, translates into the development of cognitive skills , because simply learning to write - and handwriting - is of enormous importance for the development of children.

Handwriting supports brain development in children.

As educator Stephanie Mueller said in an interview with "DW" , in many schools children only learn how to write printed letters . This directly affects the way their brains work. – It has been proven that writing words without lifting the pen from the paper and changing the direction of the lines gives better teaching results than printed writing. This way you can also write faster than writing each letter separately, says Mueller.

Handwriting, both learning and practicing it, has many benefits for the brain . Research conducted at the University of Washington shows that while handwriting and typing have certain points of contact in terms of their importance for the development of cognitive abilities and skills ² , different parts of the brain and its functions are used during both activities . Neurologist Dr. William Klemm also writes about this in an article for the magazine "Psychology Today":

“To write legible cursive, you need fine motor control over your fingers . You need to pay attention to what you are doing and think about the activity. You have to exercise. Brain scans show that different areas of the brain are used when writing by hand than those activated when typing." ³ . When using a tablet, we only use the wrist, wrist and thumb , while writing by hand uses all fingers .

Handwriting also facilitates memory and helps identify various objects . According to a study published in 2012 in the journal "Trends in Neuroscience", authors Karin James and Laura Engelhardt point out that handwriting may be crucial for learning the alphabet . After analyzing brain scans of children who learned letters by writing them by hand and on a keyboard, they also concluded that different areas of the brain were responsible for these two seemingly coincidental activities. ⁴ .

Handwriting supports memory, learning and creativity.

Research by Norwegian scientists also proves that handwriting stimulates more neuronal pathways in the brain, which helps you learn and remember new information better. ⁵ . Interestingly, it does not necessarily have to be writing with a pen on paper. Writing with an interactive stylus on the tablet surface is equally effective for activating cognitive functions .

Researcher and author of the book "The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting", Anne Trubek, believes that writing by hand also has other benefits. Namely, it forces a certain kind of automaticity in action. When you learn to write by hand perfectly, you do it automatically, without thinking about specific strokes, which gives you extra space for free thinking and creativity . He compares writing to driving a car: “When you know how to drive, you don't still think: now press the gas pedal, now turn the steering wheel. And we want children to achieve this when they learn to write," she said ⁶ .

He also emphasizes that handwritten wishes will always be more valuable than those sent, for example, by text message. Why? Because they show that someone really cares enough to spend more time.

Bibliography:

1. M.Matzke, “Educators' warning: Children have motor disabilities and cannot write”, Deutsche Welle, June 16, 2014
2. Berninger V, Abbott R, Cook CR, Nagy W. Relationships of Attention and Executive Functions to Oral Language, Reading, and Writing Skills and Systems in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence. J LearnDisabled. 2017 Jul/Aug;50(4):434-449.
3. William R. Klemm, “Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter,” Psychology Today, March 14, 2013
4. James KH, Engelhardt L. The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends Neurosci Educ. 2012 Dec;1(1):32-42.
5. Askvik EO, van der Weel FR, van der Meer ALH. The importance of cursive handwriting over typewriting for learning in the classroom: A high-density EEG study of 12-year-old children and young adults. Front Psychol . 2020;11:1810.
6. Ewen Hosie, “The uncertain future of handwriting”, bbc.com, November 8, 2017