Date post: | 16-Apr-2017 |
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Handwriting:
Its Role in Developing the
Mind
www.unicornchildrensfoundation.org
What hand did you use in the womb?
90%
Lefty & righty –God made them
bothWhy?
10%
All older adults who went to school in any country had Explicit Handwriting
Instruction- Years and years of repetative practice
Explicit Handwriting Manual writing taught intensively as a technically
precise skill with 3 elements1. Quality and quantity until mastery
2. Running ovals 3. Push-pulls
Can typing replace
handwriting?
These must produce a kinetic melody!
34 Muscles-17 palm (9 control thumb) + 18 in the arm
Muscles in palm & forearm -control
the fingers
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
Scribes
Moses with 10 Commandments
1500 BC
Hebrew Alphabet
A sample of American handwriting from the 1700s
Triune Brain - 3 BrainsCore, Limbic, & Cerebral
cortex Attention Loop
Farmer: “Handwriting builds the attention loop like nothing else can”
Paying attention is elemental to learning
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
Normal-ADHDPET Scans
Normal children have a Lopsided brain- necessary
Brain wiring system 100 billion neurons unwired at birth
Picture- myelination= white matter, connects gray to gray, new info not
automatic yet
Synapses connect dendrites
Neural growth & pruning. However, recent brain research finds our brains are
plastic and can grow more neurons at any age
¼ of motor cortex for the work of the hands
Dendrites grow, myelination occurs, through repetative actions, building
communication in the brain
Handwriting builds a larger left brain –For right handed people
What about lefties? h
Hemisphere functions EmotionalLogical
Wired for oppositesKing, L. (2007)
Major problem in learning disorders?
Levine:”Won't write or can't write”
Levine-”Writing is one of the largest orchestras a kid has to conduct.”
Stressed kids start out wrong with a tense grip.
Doesn’t look stressful??
Want your students to hate writing? Then force them to write before they are ready.
Tragically, this
problem persists
into adulthood.
Maria Montessori 1870-1952 – The hand is
key to building the brain.
Just 27 lessons: 15 minutes /day improved all aspects of
handwriting
– Only the right hemisphere is built
TV prolongs right brain dominance
TV and video games do not build left hemispheres
Here is a good grip.
Another “legal” pencil hold
Artist gripVery relaxed
His teacher taught him correctly
Kandel: “Whenever the brain learns something the
brain changes”
Any grip that requires
precision...
Must be a light and
relaxed grip
“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
Boys are not as ready to start school as soon as
girls.
Handwriting is drawing
Handwriting is art
“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 FarmerHandwriting specialist of 30 years
Train the Brain to Pay Attention the Write
Way-a proven handwriting course: children pay
better attention
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!
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