Originally published at: Brain-bending experiment reveals why kids struggle with writing - Boing Boing
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Back when I was a kid, we had this thing called Palmer Method. Lots of exercises to get the shapes down before attempting actual writing.
Yes, I am old.
I also quit using cursive in college because I couldn’t write notes fast enough in class. I print everything except my signature.
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Same to all of this! We must be about the same age.
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If you want to feel like a child and understand his problem
try writing with your non-dominant hand.
I’m left handed and broke my left wrist in high school. I attempted to write an English essay exam right handed. Luckily my teacher took pity on me.
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My signature has been described as “loop-loop-line,” but that is the extent of my cursive writing.
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Yeah, but nobody expects your writing to be legible.
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And that’s a good thing!
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My signature is half legible. Well…almost half. My first name is a somewhat legible Danielle, but I tend to drop the final e for some reason. And the second l is shorter and fatter than the first. So it’s like I combined the final le into a single letter. But my last name is just an M and then a swoosh.
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Dani Maswoosh. Nice 
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I had to quit using cursive in college because some of the lecturers would have a hard time reading my answers in tests. In high school it was already going out of fashion, but I had some very old teachers that kept insisting on it, and still prefer to write cursive, and do it faster than block.
I now use some cursive/block lettering hybrid, and keep taking notes all the time, and spend a lot of money on japanese pens. I’m a software engineer, so, I’m the old guy who takes notes and refuse to use collaborative note taking apps in the cloud.
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I missed the Palmer Method by a few years. From what I read, it uses more of the arm and less of the wrist? Is that something you continue to use today?
These days there are a number of methodologies employed for teaching writing. They still have the kids practice letter shapes over and over again, though. From what I’ve seen, it starts with gross motor skills (making big letters) and then using finer and finer skills (trying to write the letters within lines). All the while they’re trying to learn the phonetic sounds to attach to those particular graphemes. So it’s less about developing handwriting and more about understanding that this shape “makes” sounds. (I’m oversimplifying things, but that’s the gist I’ve gotten.)
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I never got a handle on the cursive. I write like an architect. I remember when I had to register for the draft to get a Social Security card and the woman said “No, it has to be a signature” and I said “That’s how I sign my name” and she said “NO. It has to be a SIGNATURE” so I was forced to make up one on the spot - first letter, then keep dragging the pen in random squiggles. 
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I don’t recall if it’s Palmer or Spencerian - but the “write with the arm, not the wrist” was key to my (re)learning cursive. A few colleagues and I, who stumbled into a very strict no-electronics but very information dense corner of the workplace, got into fountain pens. We agreed that if we’re going to use “fancy” pens, we’re going to write “fancy”. At ten or more pages each of varyingly legible script/person/day we happily tormented those who’s jobs were in fact to review the notes for removal from the building. I was one of those too, but I at least could decipher most of our product!
Now that I think of it, all of us were at the time 45yo or older. The “darn kids” had a really hard time with our “hieroglyphics” if we weren’t there to translate. Archivists will have a field day sometime in the distant future…
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Thank you for the reminder! Yes! It was all about the arm and less of the wrist - I had totally forgotten about that! And, no, I don’t do that anymore - I’m strictly from the wrist.
I like that method they’re using now - shapes and sounds at the same time. Though I do recall being able to read before I got to school… My mom, dad, aunt or sister would sit me in their lap and read to me with the book open so I could see the words. I forget who was reading to me when - and this is what it felt like - the words literally jumped off the page and made sense. It was a magic moment!
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My printing is also a combination of cursive and block. I take notes with gel pens. I like the pretty colors, and they’re pretty smooth. Another advantage is that, if I’m looking for a particular bit of information from a meeting, sometimes I can remember what color I was using at the time and that makes it easier to find.
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I was “taught” cursive starting from grade 3 and for many years my handwriting looked like Charlie Brown’s. It was a very discouraging experience. What didn’t help was my logical brain arguing that cursive didn’t make sense (why does the capital Q look like a 2? Why not close the loop?? And why does the G look like…well, whatever it looks like - certainly not a G).
When I was 13 or 14, my mum taught me the method she’d learned in England, which she referred to as italic. Being more angular and less loopy (and no letters disguised as numbers) made it a lot easier to learn. Today’s handwriting is a mix of that and the block lettering I learned in drafting class. Best of all, it’s legible!
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Looking forward to being required to write Devanagari with my littlest toes on at least one foot one day and just making that happen. (Saved us a kidnapping -and- a stroke!)
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[Arms abrigo] well, how are AI supposed to learn how to mark up cursive notes if you don’t take pictures of your notes?
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