4 Steps to Dramatically Improving Your Child's Handwriting

I have worked with children in the 10 to 12 year-old range on and off over the last 20 years and have come upon a remarkable observation. Kids with bad handwriting tend to be poor academic performers. The worse the handwriting the lower the academic performance level. I devised a system to deal with it from the first time I came upon it but did not immediately make the connection. More experience over time made the connection between handwriting and performance clear, but the reason for the connection, so far as I have been able to determine, was surprising, to say the least!

(This article deals with average, normal students and does not apply to children with mental or other serious defects, or anything that would result in a child not being considered normal.)

My first time dealing with this was when I was teaching grade 5 many years ago. It was my first formal job as a (pre-trained) teacher and I was handed the slow grade five class at a primary school. I can recall, as  clearly as if it was yesterday, the result of the first in-class exercise that required handwriting. I took the books to mark and discovered that I could not read the handwriting of most of the kids. In fact, of the group of over thirty students I was able to read only about five! So there I was. I picked up a book, looked at the handwriting and put it aside if I could not read it, then picked up the next one. Pretty soon nearly all the books were in the unreadable pile! I was completely amazed because I were wondering how the previous teachers read their handwriting since I was having such a serious difficulty with what I saw in the kids' books. I decided that I was not even going to try whatever they did and that the kids had to learn to write legibly - like immediately.

I decided on the spot that this problem had to be addressed as a matter of urgency (otherwise I would not be able to mark their work). The whole class went back to handwriting practice - in script (as opposed to cursive or 'join-up' as it was also called). Needless to say, the Principal was not amused but allowed me to continue - much to her credit.

I made it clear to the class that their general handwriting quality was not where it should be, that it was largely unreadable and that I would not accept it -period! They probably never took me seriously. After all, nobody else seemed to have had a problem with their handwriting before. Sure enough, the next handwriting assignment the following day looked very much like the one the day before. So I handed the books back and told them that they had to do it over. Now I had their undivided and very puzzled attention. And so the process began. The redo was noticeably better in most cases, but for those who still didn't get it, there were a few more rewrites and a lot of groaning, complaining and tears.

 I must tell you that in a few short weeks even I was amazed at the quality of their handwriting! Now I had to be careful about my own handwriting as some of the kids' penmanship rivaled my own - which is pretty good I am told. There was, in the end, only one boy who still was struggling. He also attended rather badly so there was no real surprise there. So, one day I sat down with him, held his hand and helped him form letters that he was having trouble with. I then gave him a writing assignment for homework. What I saw in his book the next day will remain in my mind for the rest of my life! The text was so well written that I could not believe he had done it himself. But he insisted that he had done it himself. So, I gave him another one on the spot. True enough, he did it again! To this day its the best handwriting I have ever seen by a child that age -and he kept it up. I also noticed that he began to attend classes more often.

In more recent times I have taken this same approach to kids with bad penmanship and the result has been consistent. So has the initial groaning, complaining and tears! But it became clear to me that all these kids were very capable of really good handwriting. So it was not a matter of ability, they were writing badly because they didn't have to do any better. But once they found they could write well, they also began doing better in other areas too.

The same is true for adult students. I have found it necessary to get a student to develop the internal discipline to write properly before I can help them to improve their maths, English, IT, or any other skill. Poor handwriting, it appears, is a symptom of the mindset that results in poor academic performance - not a reflection of the child's ability. 

As a teacher, parent or guardian you can do this to the benefit of your child if they have poor handwriting. 

1. Let them know that you know they can do better and that you will not accept that poor output from them. Do this calmly and firmly, no shouting, screaming or other dramatics are needed. Where they need help or guidance provide it.

2. Do not accept the poor handwriting and have them do over any work they present that is poorly written (and I mean the whole assignment -not just the bad part), without exception and with no special concession either.

3. Have them redo the same assignment until it is properly done.

4. Congratulate them when they have written the assignment properly. However, if the assignment is late because of this and there are penalties, the penalties still apply.

As I pointed out before you will have to put up with the initial groaning, complaining, tears, tantrums, or whatever your child is inclined to do. Do not loose your temper and have a meltdown - although it might be a little difficult. If you calmly and firmly hold your ground, unless there are other factors, they will comply and you will be pleased with the result.

2GNEC Training Team

Education 2010 And The Way Forward!

Hi !

Its been a while since our last publication and would you believe the changes that have happened? At 2GN Education Centers we have been busy with the development of our education programs and reaching out further. There are many reasons for this and we will be discussing these as we go along.

You will have noticed over the years that academic qualification is bringing lower and lower salary levels to graduates of virtually all educational institutions. You might also have noticed that quality educational training has not gotten cheaper even when the economy is bad. So the level of investment in education remains about the same or increases but the returns are diminishing. Is there an explanation for this?

You bet there is, and you want to pay attention here! There is a "Law of Economics" called the "Law of Supply and Demand". Basically, this law states that prices increase for a given product where there is a greater demand relative to the supply, and prices tend to fall when there is a lesser demand relative to the available supply, assuming that everything else remains equal (or unchanged).

Applying this law we can reasonably conclude that in the area of quality academic training the demand is either static or increasing. This would explain, to a large degree, why the price for quality academic training is either static or increasing. If you think about this you will begin to see how this could be so. Today, some level of education is needed for nearly every job, and even relatively common jobs, are now demanding greater levels of skill and knowledge to perform effectively.

But if there is greater demand for better training at the employment side then how can the price for jobs be falling? There are a number of reasons for this, but generally, there is a greater supply of qualified persons than there are jobs for them. This may seem puzzling as many employers are having difficulty finding the right persons to fill job vacancies!

Having been in all these categories myself at various times (employee and employer; teacher and student) I believe I have an advantage over most persons looking at this issue and can provide a bit of insight into the meaning of this and, more importantly, what this means for you.

You see, jobs are largely determined by the goods and services being produced in a given economy. The greater the range and volume of goods and services being produced the greater the need for human input - for the most part. Let's say that you are in an economy that is mainly involved in selling things that are produced in other countries. Your economy will need more sales persons, accountants and customer service skills - up to a certain point. After that point is reached there is no more need for more sales persons as they will not sell large enough volumes of goods to make economic sense. But lets say there is a sales training school that developed to meet the need for sales persons at the time that the demand was greatest. This school will still have persons enrolling to do sales believing that they will find a job with relative ease. So the school trains them.

Then, a dozen trained sales reps show up for the last available job. The employer is now in a position to attempt to pick the best skilled person and offer a lower price for the job, since all the applicants are qualified. As persons realize that the chance of getting the job is 12 to 1 some will be prepared to accept the lower salary. The price has gone down for this skill even though the trainee would have paid the standard rate for their training. And so the process goes.

The school that provides training has no particular interest in knowing the number of jobs available. It will usually just stop offering that course when there are not enough enrollments. Because the school that provides the training and the businesses that provide employment are working with real amounts of money, they know what is happening in their industry very well and can respond quite quickly. The job seeker, on the other had, is not so fortunate.

Conventional wisdom is to get as well trained as you can be and get the highest paying job you can get. This drives the training and employment industry. In the end, the employer calls the shots. This suggests that it may be in your best interest to become an employer rather than a trained job seeker. There is considerable wisdom in this and we will look more closely at it in our next blog post.

In the mean time, we have taken a slightly different approach to our training programs. At 2GNEC we have not only made the learning process more sensible, enjoyable and productive but we have taken the time to do some research and have used our findings to create training programs that more closely match what employers are looking for. This is a significant benefit both to employers and employees. Whichever one you are, or become, you can certainly benefit from our training programs.

So visit our website at www.2gnec.com . Click on our Education link and make sure to subscribe for our free information kit. There is no cost or obligation at all and we might just have the course that is right for you.

We'll be back soon to continue this discussion. Until then, take care.

2GNEC Training Team