The subject of handwriting has become controversial these days. Should we care about handwriting or not? Don’t we have computers? Pretty soon that will be the only way we communicate! But don’t we all write, for various reasons, with our hand? Computers will never replace handwriting because handwriting can now be proven to have a profound impact on our brains. All intelligent societies have included handwriting as a prime subject. 3 Proofs for the powerful impact of handwriting will be discussed. Throughout history, scribes always held high positions alongside rulers & business people. They helped these people retain power and run their country’s. Brain research now can, through brain scan machines see into our brains when doing a task like handwriting– Montessori is proved right –“ The hand builds the brain.” 90% of people are right hand. These people build their left brain while writing with their right hand. The left brain for right handers is where the thinking brain is. It must be built larger than the right brain. 10% of the population are left handed. These are God’s gift to us. They have perfect pitch, perfect aim (in shooting) and have special thinking brain capabilities in their right brain. Don’t change left handers –they are very creative people! The pencil hold is- counting from the tip of your index finger the knuckles 2 & 3 should be where the pencil rests. Another “legal” hold is between the 2 & 3 fingers and the use of thumb to it in hold in place. This is the favorite hold of the artist while using their pencils and brushes. Handwriting has major impact on building the thinking brain. Everyone needs enough practices to learn to an automatic writing level achieved through an explicit handwriting program. The correct pencil hold helps all children and adult enjoy this skill for a life time. Learn a new writing styles or new language’s script at any age will help you to build a better brain . Recommended resources: Jeanette Farmer – She has an explicit handwriting program that can also be used for remedial teaching. The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge Book and you tube video.

1. Handwriting:
Its Role in
Developing the
Mind
www.unicornchildrensfoundation.org

2. What hand did you use
in the womb?
90%
Lefty & righty –
God made them
both
Why?
10%

3. All older adults who went to school in
any country had Explicit Handwriting
Instruction- Years and years of
repetative practice

4. Explicit Handwriting
Manual writing taught intensively as a technically
precise skill with 3 elements
1. Quality and quantity until mastery
2. Running ovals
3. Push-pulls

5. Can typing replace
handwriting?

6. These must produce a kinetic melody!
34 Muscles-17 palm
(9 control thumb) + 18 in the arm

7. Muscles in palm &
forearm -control
the fingers

8. 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

9. Scribes

10. Moses with
10 Commandments
1500 BC

11. Hebrew Alphabet

12. A sample of American
handwriting from the 1700s

13. Triune Brain - 3 Brains
Core, Limbic, & Cerebral
cortex
Attention Loop
Farmer: “Handwriting builds the
attention loop like nothing else can”

14. Paying attention is elemental
to learning

15. 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

16. Normal-ADHD
PET Scans
Normal children have a
Lopsided brain- necessary

17. Brain wiring system 100 billion neurons
unwired at birth
Picture- myelination= white matter,
connects gray to gray, new info not
automatic yet

18. Synapses connect
dendrites

19. Neural growth & pruning. However,
recent brain research finds our brains
are plastic and can grow more neurons
at any age

20. ¼ of motor cortex for the
work of the hands
Dendrites grow, myelination occurs,
through repetative actions, building
communication in the brain

21. Handwriting builds a larger left
brain –For right handed people
What about lefties? h
Hemisphere functions
EmotionalLogical

22. Wired for oppositesKing, L. (2007)

23. Major problem in learning
disorders?
Levine:”Won't write or
can't write”

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

25. Stressed kids start out wrong
with a tense grip.

26. Doesn’t look stressful??

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

28. Tragically,
this
problem
persists
into
adulthood.

29. Maria Montessori
1870-1952 – The hand is
key to building the brain.

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

31. – Only the right hemisphere
is built
TV prolongs right brain
dominance
TV and video games do not build
left hemispheres

33. Here is a good grip.

35. Another “legal”
pencil hold
Artist grip
Very relaxed

36. His teacher taught him correctly

37. Kandel: “Whenever the brain
learns something the
brain changes”

38. Any grip that
requires
precision...
Must be a
light and
relaxed grip

39. “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

40. Boys are not as ready to
start school as soon as
girls.
Handwriting is drawing
Handwriting is art

41. “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 Farmer
Handwriting specialist of 30 years
Train the Brain to Pay
Attention the Write
Way
-a proven handwriting
course: children pay
better attention

42. 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!

44. 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