I hated teaching cursive writing and as a teacher it ‘wasted my time’. I knew they were learning to communicate in another font, but little did I know that they were also building neural pathways to stimulate brain activity!! They were building pathways that enables vision-motor control and language fluency necessary for cognitive development; learning; reading; sports and every day tasks.

Cursive writing combines tactile information with hand-eye coordination and help our brains connect and make sense of the world around us. It naturally develops sensory skills by taking advantage of a student’s inability to fully control their fingers. Cursive writing helps students with deeper and more critical thinking, memory and reading. When the hands are involved, it makes for a strong association between learning and memory.

These fine motor skills through cursive writing supports their executive function by helping their ability to focus and engaging a student’s attention. It also supports the two hemispheres of the brain which allows for inter-hemispheric communication. And this is just in a nutshell!

So, from today, my girls will be doing cursive writing and so will I!!