Cursive First
by Paul Raymond
There is more to the actual difference between print and cursive than what most people think – joining versus not joining.
The difference between cursive and print styles lies in the movements used to create the forms, known in the lexicon as start-point and directionality. The difference is in the production process. When choosing between print and cursive the decision is not just a simple choice of letter shape. It is a decision to promote good writing process and fluency. We want our children to be able to use handwriting as a tool to put thoughts on paper quickly and easily. Cursive is the handwriting process that works the best.
By giving attention to fluency through cursive handwriting, we provide a means for allowing children not only to learn how to draw letters more easily, but also develop reading skills, bring awareness to spelling patterns and provide physical training in penmanship that lasts a lifetime.
The Cursive Advantage
✴ Cursive writing eliminates the necessity of picking up a pencil and deciding where to replace it after each letter. This continuous motion is related to all cursive letters except for the letters t and x, which require the child to remove his pencil from the paper twice. Even with these two letters the writing process does not involve relocating any given point to complete the letter.
✴ Cursive handwriting eliminates word-spacing problems and gives words a flow and rhythm that enhances the writing and reading process.
✴ Children who learn to read cursive words first make a very quick transition to reading print. The cursive handwriting process offers a means of informing the child that certain parts form a whole. The blending of the sounds is made more apparent by the joining of the letters.
✴ Cursive helps the child learn to spell correctly since the hand acquires knowledge of spelling patterns through hand movements that are used again and again in spelling.
✴ Most children have an innate curiosity about all forms of lettering and an enjoyment in puzzling out the unusual alphabetical signs that are presented in cursive letter formation.
The Ball and Stick Disadvantage
✴ It is difficult, if not unnatural, for children to draw straight lines and perfect circles, which is required in ball and stick letter formation.
✴ When printing the letter A the child must use three different motions as well as relocate the starting point of the printed letter in order to complete it. In cursive writing the A can be formed in one continuous motion. When writing the printed alphabet, A to Z, one researcher found that the child has to remove his pencil from the paper and relocate the starting points no less than 55 times.
✴ When taught to print first, the writing instrument is held straight up with three or four fingers in a tight grip with great pressure being exerted downward on the paper placed in a straight position. When these children are then taught cursive in the third grade, they do not change the way they hold the writing instrument because a motor or muscular habit has been established that is not easy to alter. This is why so many children develop poor pencil grips.
✴ Print letters do not offer a means of informing the child that certain parts form a whole. The blending of the sounds is not made apparent by the joining of the letters.
✴ In ball-and-stick, some children write the letters backwards, and often the spacing is so erratic that you can’t tell where one word ends and another begins.
✴ Manuscript does not teach spatial discipline and makes it more difficult for the child to see each word as an integral unit.
✴ When writing ball-and-stick so many letters look alike (such as b’s and d’s; f’s and t‘s; g’s, q’s, and p’s ) that children become confused and make many reversals. This also promotes unnecessary reading errors based on poor letter recognition.
More about Cursive Handwriting on the Web:
“Cursive is Making a Comeback in American Elementary Schools”