When Children Learn Handwriting, They Learn to Connect
5 important reasons why we must still teach children to write by hand
My guest this week is Laurence Baudot, a French graphologist whose Substack newsletter I’ve enjoyed reading. She has graciously allowed me to share this post, which is particularly relevant to those of us who want our children and grandchildren to be able to write heartspoken notes.
Welcome, Laurence!
If you’d rather listen than read:
As a graphologist, I am appalled by the declining interest in handwriting. Schools, especially in the United States, spend less time teaching it as if it were doomed to disappear from our digital society.
As a result, we are seeing an increasing number of children and even adults who are unable to write correctly. Too often, they don’t even know how to hold their pen.
I have already written articles and a book on this subject to raise awareness and help solve these difficulties. But I think it is necessary to keep hammering the nail.
So here are five reasons to keep learning to write by hand:
1. Handwriting develops fine motor skills
Handwriting develops critical fine motor skills and the coordination needed to control precise movements. These movements are necessary for conducting everyday school and work-related activities.
2. It helps you remember
Handwriting has important cognitive benefits. Research suggests that traditional pen-and-paper notes are remembered more effectively.
Moreover, learning to read and handwrite are linked. Students become better readers through practicing writing and vice versa.
3. It’s good for well-being
Handwriting and related activities, such as drawing and doodling, are tactile, creative, and reflective sources of pleasure for writers of all ages. Try it if you don’t believe me!
4. It’s very accessible
Handwriting does not need electricity, devices, batteries, a fast internet connection, a keyboard, or the many other things on which digital writing depends.
It only needs a pen and paper. And can be done anywhere.
5. It’s about thinking
Learning to write and learning to think are intimately connected.
Ideas are formed as students write. They are developed and organized as they are composed. Thinking is too important to be outsourced to bots!
And more importantly:
Our handwriting is a unique reflection of our personality. And we can’t deny the creative pleasure we get from forging our own personalized letters and inventing the unique seal that our signature represents.
When we write by hand, we offer a vibrant personal trace of ourselves, unlike the cold, uniform letters of a typed message.
Even without being handwriting experts, we can all feel the lively emotions expressed through handwriting compared to lifeless typed text.
But what about the threat of AI?
Will handwriting vanish completely in a world dominated by AI and robots?
I hope this vision of the future is just science fiction. But the rise of generative artificial intelligence means bots can now write human-quality text without even having hands.
And with the use of speech-to-text, even humans don’t need any tools to put down their thoughts. What will “write” mean when with help from AI? Will text be generated by decoders that read brain activity through non-invasive scanning?
Nevertheless, handwriting may regain its importance if tests and exams are required to be handwritten again to stop students from using generative AI to cheat. What an ironic comeback that would be!
To conclude, I don’t know if AI will make handwriting disappear soon, but I can tell you that we humans still need to learn to write by hand.
About Laurence Baudot
Laurence Baudot is a graphologist and graphotherapist.
A graduate of the Société Française de Graphologie (SFDG) and the Groupement des Grapholgoues Conseils de France (GGCF), she also holds bachelor's degrees in psychology in English.
Trained in psychogenealogy, for over 20 years, she has put her expertise at the service of companies and individuals and has published books and many articles.
Laurence’s website: Graphologenealogic
Laurence’s books (note some are in French and this is my affiliate link)
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Have a great week, and always remember: whether written or spoken, words from the heart will never fail you!
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An important message for all parents. It is hard to understand how schools could ever drop teaching this basic communication skill.
JAC
I really regret that so many US schools decided not to teach handwriting. Hasty decision without enough thought for the consequences. and I had no idea of the connection between handwriting and memory! Good story.