Handwriting
TenebraruM
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Gender: Male
Posts: 66
Location: United Kingdom
Heh, Taz, that's probably why I remember you getting 12% in that German test - your paper was illegible
Back on topic - I brought up this in another post I beleive - it took me a long time to learn to read & write. My teachers and parents, as well as grandparents, made me practice a fair bit. Once it caught on, however, my handwriting became neat (probably due to my incessant writing down of all in-game speech, including Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Pokemon etc).
However, my writing has remained painfully slow (my hands start aching after a short time of writing, too). I've noticed other people seem to lift their hands up, reducing pressure between letters, while using joined up writing, I flow through - concentrate on every line. I beleive it's due to some sort of disorder that disallows the brain to learn the patterns of writing - similar to our social deficits. I read into it a while back, though I can't remember its name.
As an extra note, once I caught on reading and writing there was no stopping me. My vocabulary increased at an astounding rate, my reading age increased dramatically, & my spelling age increased to around 3-4 years greater than my choronological age.
_________________
There are no "opinions"; only variations in validity for possible truths & falsehoods
Do not worry about your child. I am 15 and I still print everything none of my teachers mind at all. The only trouble I had was in the 3-4th grade. I had two horrible teachers. So I told them to "back off" and refused to do anything other then print luckly my parents supported me because the the teacher was not happy .
At school I've always hated to to write in print, I prefer cursive but my writing is terrible, I can't write on the line so my words hover in between, and it looks like a bunch of squiggles. People trying to read it tell me there is no difference between my upper and lower case words even though I think there is, they say it all looks the same! No one can read it lol.
I have the same problem sometimes even now. I will write something down, but it is so undiscernable I can't even read my own writing. Some teachers used to say I wrote like a doctor. I had writing help when I was in my teens that helped some, but like I said there are still times that no one can read it.
Jodi
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Joined: 1 Jul 2004
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 61
Location: North Carolina, USA. Earth, Milky Way
I hate writing in cursive. I almost always use print, nobody says anything. I would say my handwritings bad. Its easier to read than some of the teachers ive had in the past. My handwriting looks like a kids, but its legible. I dont call it bad, more like "crude" and i often joke about it. Ive had people try and cheat off my papers, but they dont have the patience to decifer it.
synx13
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: 4 Jul 2004
Gender: Female
Posts: 175
Location: California Central Valley
Printing is pretty horrible actually. They only started teaching it because some bureaucrat thought it would be a good idea if our hands wrote letters the same way typewriters did. Seriously.
Cursive is a connected form of 'Italic' handwriting if I recall. I advise you to get your child immediately home studied on a handwriting book that teaches Italic, and not trust school programs. Handwriting doesn't exactly take a PH.D. to teach, just make sure he gets it well into his head how important it is to be able to control one's handwriting. He probably thinks that as long as he can read it why worry, but it's really other people he has to be worried about: people who he will want to read what he has written in the future.
I honeslty wish someone had beaten better handwriting into me in 3rd grade. To this day I have horrible handwriting, strange shaped letters that I simply can't get into the right shape. My e's look like c's, my w's look like n's, it's really bad. Nobody ever forced me to learn how to draw a quick loop, so anything with a loop in it gets turned into a scribble. Maybe it was always impossible for me to learn good handwriting, but I can also say that the adults in my life during 3rd and 4th grade didn't help much by trying to give me freedom and not push me too hard. Handwriting is communication. It is both the writer and the reader.
A child will hate the parents who humiliate them, who tell the child ey are no good, who tell the child one thing, then discipline harshly for doing another. A child will hate the parents who say the child doesn't deserve love, or recognition as much as they can earn. A child will not hate the parents that make em practice good handwriting firmly and consistently. At least not after the initial tantrums.
I also had a really hard time learning to write. It was really messy until recently. My handwriting still is large, round, and almost illegible to most people - but it's still damn cute. hehehe
Cursive, however, is another world to me, I hated it. I can't write in it even now, and I'm 15. it's okay, though, my teachers don't care. But I suggest extra practice to improve handwriting for anybody. It will look good for job applications and stuff in the future.
I have horrible handwriting as well. Back when I was in elementary school, teachers and other kids were merciless in ridiculing my attempts to write. And having to stand up in front of the class and write on the blackboard with a piece of chalk was comedy hour.
Many of us with AS can write with pencils and pens just good enough to be read and nothing more. If I had a kid with AS, I'd be patient but diligent getting him/her to practice writing in printed letters or cursive, at least well enough that the child can read it and I can too. Beyond that, typing is the way to go. The emphasis on handwriting today has lessened, thank goodness!