Amidst a world of computers, touch screens, and text, good handwriting remains an educational rite of passage for children globally. Unlike print or type, handwriting is a phenomenon distinct in human development. Writing reflects not just our ideas and thoughts; it is also a unique record of our identity. Every child’s handwriting is like their thumb-print – unique and special to them. Point this out to children, even as they are making their first scrawls, and immediately this empowers them with the importance and value of handwriting.
Giving your child positive emotional feedback for their efforts may seem a simple thing to do but, actually, it creates a vital connection in the brain. New research in neuroscience reveals the pivotal role played by emotional engagement in the development of cognitive brain functions, such as learning to read and write.
Up until recently in psychology the role of emotional engagement in learning was considered ‘touchy-feely’ as opposed to hard science. Advances in neuroscience in the past few years have changed this stance dramatically. Positive emotional interaction between teacher and learner is a key trigger in the growth of new neural connections to reinforce cognitive and motor-neuronal processes that result in actions like ‘writing’. Parents and pedagogy have always known this intuitively. But to have this link revealed, in concrete data, shared by world class research centres, highlights the fact that emotional relationships between teacher and learner are paramount in developing successful cognitive skills in reading and writing.
A further finding revealed in neuroscience indicates that while all healthy children are born with the same basic brain, no two children will learn in exactly the same way. In fact human beings don’t even learn languages uniformly. For example, research has found that some children with dyslexia may struggle with English but be fantastic at Mandarin. This ability in Mandarin amongst people with dyslexia is attributed to the fact that their brains may be better geared to processing pictographs that form the basis of characters (containing approximately 50,000 symbols). Whereas English, being an alphabet-based language, requires a different type of brain processing that relies more on correct sequencing of concepts, combined with consonants and vowels. The sentence ‘the cat sat on the mat’ may be captured in a combination of Chinese characters, but in English will take up to six different words. It is not a question of whether English or Chinese is more difficult than the other. Rather this knowledge underscores in brain terms, how different the possibilities are for the individual child in their language development and learning. This is an important factor to consider as children begin to learn how to write. Toward helping your child master this skill, following the five practical tips below will help to ensure their success.
1. Remember children copy what adults do. So let your children see you writing.
‘Seeing is believing’ when it comes to children. Long established in child development is that children copy adults, and place a high value on what they see them doing. While good writing remains the gateway to success in education, the reality is children may see adults typing before writing. A first step to get children interested in handwriting is to let them watch you doing it yourself. Choose a favourite and simple poem. Let your child see you carefully copy it – in your best handwriting (!) onto colourful, attractive paper; their curiosity will be aroused. Practise your writing a bit first so that they see you ooze confidence! Then let them try to copy a word or sentence that is appropriate to the level they are at. Make this shared moment special; eat a special treat. This sets up positive associations in your child’s brain between writing as fun, special and, importantly, valued by adults.
2. Lavish praise for their writing efforts warmly and positively
Super neat, copper plate handwriting is not indicative of high intelligence. Legible handwriting, in a child’s own particular style, is the aim. Praising even the most wobbly initial offering of a letter or word sets up a positive cycle of learning in the mind of your child, so they want to do more.
3. Display children’s handwriting to show them you value their work
Display proudly and prominently pieces of handwriting done by your child, whether in crayon, ink, pencil, pen or felt tips. This will remind your child that you value their handwriting, and they will then feel that it is therefore a skill worth practising and refining.
4. Remind older children that examiners appreciate clear handwriting
It's a fact of life that examiners, given a stack of scripts over a number of hours, may warm to a clearly written and presented piece of work. Sharing this fact with children as they near crucial exams can see their writing improve dramatically. Again if you are going to have that conversation with them, remember to practise a little yourself too, or dig out an old school book showing you mastered this skill. Minus evidence, teenagers in particular will not be impressed!
5. Encourage your child to experience the benefits and freedom that writing brings
Creative writing can be squashed at school due to curriculum pressures, yet remains an effective way to show children the benefits of mastering handwriting. Encourage children to write a poem or story and seek out new words to express their ideas, and they will experience first hand the benefit of mastering handwriting: freedom to focus more on their ideas and creativity.
This last step holds the key to children realising that mastering handwriting opens the door to a magnificent opportunity for them to show the world how brilliant they are. Share that thought with your child, and they are already on their way to wanting to learn more.
