In this day and age, with so many digital options, sometimes it’s hard to imagine why anyone would put effort into learning how to write in cursive. Are there any benefits to this outdated tool? Could cursive do anything other than just look attractive? I’m here to tell you YES!!
Cursive offers many benefits, especially for those with dyslexia. Here are a few of my favorites…
Connectivity – Cursive offers the writer excellent connectivity. Connectivity for our neurons and for our letters. For our brains, cursive connects our left and right hemispheres, helping build neuropathways, and increasing mental effectiveness. For our letters, cursive brings all of these seemingly separate strokes together as a unit.
Consistency and speed – Lower case cursive letters begin on a baseline and have only four approach strokes. This consistent starting point, and limited letter approach, reduces reversed letters and increases writing speed due to the connected letters’ fluidity.
Clarity and spelling – Cursive letters are written in a consistent left to right flow verse the stop and start pattern with print. Through this flow and repetition, the writer learns how to maintain an even spacing for letters in a word and between words. This consistent spacing and separation can create a beautiful and clear rhythm in writing. The connectivity of words, creating the word unit, also provides excellent muscle memory to help the writer retain the letters’ name and shape as they continue to write. Correct spelling of a word is more likely to be retained as a word unit verse separate letters.
Confidence – Being able to write and read fluently in cursive is a helpful skill to be mastered. For many children, this added skill gives them a great sense of accomplishment and the benefit of writing and recording at a faster pace than those just using print.
Want more? For a more detailed list of the benefits of cursive handwriting, please check out these articles.
Top 10 reasons to Learn Cursive
Happy writing!!