Should Students Learn Handwriting in School?

You may have heard people say that printing and handwriting aren’t needed anymore because we have digital devices that make it easy to record ideas by typing or voice recognition. However, research shows that writing by hand has positive effects on the brain. It supports cognitive development, fine motor control, and leads to academic and life success in ways that digital devices cannot support. 

Learning to print alphabet letters and words is challenging. It can take several years of practice before a child can efficiently write alphabet letters that are consistently formed and easy to read. Practicing printing and cursive writing helps the brain map words into long term memory.

Schools are returning to explicitly teaching handwriting to help students activate areas of the brain that control working memory, thinking, and language acquisition. Handwriting is important for helping children build strong brains and become more efficient learners. 

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How Handwriting Supports Cognitive Development: Memory, Reading, Spelling, and Literacy 

Studies show that writing by hand engages multiple areas of the brain. This results in connections that make the brain stronger and more flexible. Typing on a keyboard does not have the same deep engagement in the brain that is seen with handwriting. When a child writes by hand, they spend more time processing information which leads to storage in long term memory.

Typing is generally faster. When a student takes notes on a keyboard, they can produce more notes that closely transcribe what the speaker is saying. When notes are handwritten, the information is being processed and summarized in the brain, which requires stronger engagement and deeper thinking.  

Handwriting requires a child to pay more attention to information. We know that this leads to increased processing, understanding, and storing of information for future recall. Interacting with information builds stronger connections and makes the brain more robust. Handwriting is beneficial throughout life and especially important to later life when there is greater potential for cognitive decline.

Why Handwriting is Important for Fine Motor Skills and Letter Recognition

Writing by hand helps children develop fine motor skills and improves hand-eye coordination. Guiding a pencil to successfully combine the strokes that result in a recognizable letter takes concentration. This increased attention helps the brain make connections between letter shapes, letter names, and letter sounds. Making these connections supports decoding of words and ultimately benefits reading fluency and comprehension. 

When children print, they produce a variety of approximations of letters. These variations help them see the basics of each letter shape and ignore other qualities such as size, slant, or serifs that are unique to certain fonts. Exposure to variations helps children see the differences in similar letters such as b, d, p, and q, read a variety of fonts, and decode words printed horizontally, vertically, or at an angle.

When a child recognizes letter shapes and connects them to letter sounds, it’s easier to quickly decode written text. This frees the brain to interact with what is being read. They can think about what the author is saying, decide whether it is true, and how it connects to other things they know. They can also expand on the text by contributing their own thoughts and ideas. 

Why Handwriting is Important for Personal Expression and Life Success

Would you rather receive a typed note or a handwritten letter? My guess is a handwritten note. Handwriting is a tool for personal expression. We know that when someone writes a note, they have to put thought into forming the words because they can’t just press delete and start fresh. Just like fingerprints, the way a person forms letters is so unique that it can be used to identify them.

My Gramma had interesting handwriting. It slanted backwards instead of forwards. The added twists and turns of the letters made it a challenge to read until you became familiar with it. Whenever I see something she wrote, it brings back memories that connect me to her. This is Gramma Mabel’s Pickled Carrot Recipe written in her unique handwriting. ~ Maxine

 

Handwriting is also a very inexpensive and creative form of communication. Writing tools and paper are readily available in an unimaginable variety of styles and colors.

Although it’s not an accurate form of evaluation, handwritten work is often judged on the quality of the presentation. If the writing is messy and difficult to read, the reader will find it challenging to ignore this feature and focus on the quality and message of the writing. This puts the writer at an unfair advantage to writers who have received more explicit teaching of printing and cursive writing.

When children do not receive adequate handwriting instruction and support, writing becomes a slow, painful task that leads them to hate writing. This hinders a child’s ability to learn and to express themselves. 

Taking just 5 minutes a day to practice writing 2-3 letters and eventually whole words, will help your child gain the skills and confidence they need to become a strong writer.

The goal of handwriting instruction is to help your child write quickly and legibly, without putting a lot of conscious effort into it. We call this automaticity. It simply means that a skill has been practiced enough that it can be repeated with little effort. If you can skate or ride a bicycle effortlessly without falling down, you have developed automaticity in that skill.

Summary

“The acquisition of handwriting is a factor contributing to academic and professional success and to social integration.” Palmis, et al, 2020

Learning to write by hand is a challenging but worthwhile skill that takes several years to develop. Legible handwriting, that can be done at a reasonable speed, helps children build stronger brains, improve fine motor control, and increase academic success. 

These findings are supported by research that shows that handwriting requires thinking about and processing material in a way that builds strong connections throughout the brain. These connections support memory and provide the framework for developing strong literacy skills. 

Digital devices are quick and easy to use, but typing or digitally recording information does not build the deep brain connections that help us store information in long term memory. Handwriting helps children learn to read and write and become more efficient learners. Children need to learn both handwriting and keyboarding. These skills will help them reach their full potential in school and life. 

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Sources

Graham, Steve ( 2009-2010) Want to Improve Children’s Writing? Don’t Neglect Their Handwriting. American Educator. https://www.asdn.org/wp-content/uploads/grahamhandwriting.pdf

Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological science, 25(6), 1159-1168. https://www.benjaminjameswaddell.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/mueller-the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-keyboard.pdf

Sarah Palmis, Jean-Luc Velay, Michel Habib, Jean-luc Anton, Bruno Nazarian, et al.. The handwriting brain in middle-childhood. Developmental Science, 2020, ff10.1111/desc.13046ff. ffhal-02983854f 

Van der Weel FR and Van der Meer ALH (2024) Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom. Front. Psychol. 14:1219945. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1219945