Cursive or Print (when you write) | ADHD Information

[QUOTE=ivanhoe]CURSIVE IS FASTER FOR BOTH HERE WHO HAVE ATTENTION PROBLEMS. [/QUOTE]

Cursive takes more concentration (in general) for "most" people to do. That is why the study found that ADD'ers tend to print much more often then cursive. I just thought it was a very interesting finding. I cannot cursive to save my life, well I can, but you won't be able to read it :-)

Does Your Handwriting Express Your Personality? Posted by Marisa Brook on May 25th, 2006 at 2:49 pm

It is a technique used all over the world, and training in it is widely offered. Many employers, especially in France, rely on it heavily to evaluate contenders for high positions. Specialists are called upon to share their views in court and even for the Secret Service. Which technique is this? Graphology, or the analysis of handwriting to reveal character traits.

Along with the International Graphology Association itself, handwriting experts generally object to being associated with anything New Age. Yet psychologists tend to agree that graphology is a pseudoscience. The fact is that the empirical evidence overwhelmingly refutes it; of all the studies which have examined graphology, only one has found a correlation between personality and handwriting styles. The British Psychological Association considers handwriting analysis to be absolutely worthless. The consensus from the psychology world is that graphology is only slightly more useful than astrology. Yet the practice continues.

The "slightly" comes in because, as it turns out, it is possible to correctly predict a writer's gender more often than chance could account for. There are also clues that indicate hand preference and certain neurological disorders, but psychology has found nothing else to be reliably determinable from handwriting. How, then, has graphology won over so many? What about it is so persuasive-especially when a lot of its devotees are critical of astrology and the like?

Arguable difficulties with astrology are that a) you had no control over your zodiac sign, and b) you share it-and your horoscopes-with more or less 1/12 of the world's population. Neither of these issues seem to affect handwriting, however. First of all, your writing style is unique, just as is your personality. Second, you have total control over how you write.

However, these factors doesn't lead to a necessary connection with personality. As mentioned, the differences in people's handwriting styles come mainly from specific physiology-something else no two people have in common. Not to mention that it depends, to some extent, on how you learned to write. The "in-control" argument can also be taken in the opposite direction: handwriting is not difficult to change. Hey, want to be competitive? Then start using sharp angles to connect upwards to letters, such as between w and h. Athletic? Emphasize and enlarge everything below the base line, including the bottoms of y, g, and j. More social? Make sure your letters slant to the right!

This is clearly problematic. If personality determines handwriting, there is no way to account for the fact that a normal distribution of personalities in early 20th-century American children all ended up with relatively similar handwriting through the Palmer Method. Conversely, more recently there have been courses offered in handwriting improvement. It's silly to think that its students generally emerge with brand new character traits. And, finally, what to say about calligraphers, or others who specialize in many forms of lettering?

These are only the logical reasons, though. Some of the appeal of graphology lies in its emotional effects. Social psychology tells us that handwriting analysis relies in part on the "representativeness heuristic", meaning that similar concepts can intuitively feel connected. "Like goes with like." It makes sense, for example, that someone writing in sharp angles instinctively seems fierce, confident and even cutthroat. Naturally someone writing with a leftward slant is seen as going "against" the proper course of left-to-right script, thus subtly appearing reluctant and perhaps even withdrawn. As for someone crossing a double T with a single line supposedly being efficient…well, that's obvious.

And then there's the Forer effect, which also befalls astrology. Based on experiments done in the 1940s by psychologist Bertram R. Forer, it holds that people tend to accept generic personality descriptions as not only highly accurate, but created specifically for them individually. The effect is related to "confirmation bias", the tendency for people to pay attention only to evidence that supports their pre-existing beliefs.

Alongside increased awareness of these and other factors, graphology's credibility took a hit last year through a single incident at the annual World Economic Forum held in Switzerland. There, reporters presented to several graphologists a sample they claimed was of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's handwriting, and asked for expert opinions. After examining the document, one such expert claimed that "Mr. Blair's" handwriting displayed a "death wish". Another described a perceived "inability to complete tasks" hidden among the letters. This prompted a small but noticeable worry among the British; some began to believe that Blair might not have been worthy of the job.

Only after these views were publicized was it revealed that the handwriting had come not from the politician, but from…Bill Gates. Bill Gates-worth over billion-a man with a death wish? Unable to complete tasks? It sounded absolutely ludicrous. Needless to say, the press quite enjoyed it-and ensured that a lot of readers found out.

Another handwriting expert later protested, claiming that the analysis was taken out of context and meant nothing when not coupled with other forms of personality testing. But his colleagues' conviction had been quite apparent.

Indeed, it all points towards graphology being a rather misguided-if earnest-attempt at nailing down the mystery of personality and the mind. From a distance, it doesn't sound as baseless as it is. But if the lack of objective evidence epitomized in the Blair/Gates switch is any indication, then your handwriting is most certainly not a means of unwittingly giving away your innermost thoughts and attributes.

What Your Handwriting Says About You

Part III: Evaluating what's likely to hold true, and what isn't
Lots of naturally skeptical people take graphology with a grain of salt. The Skeptic's Dictionary, for example, says, "... there is no evidence that the unconscious mind is a reservoir of truth about a person, much less that graphology provides a gateway to that reservoir."

The same book also says "real handwriting experts are known as forensic document examiners, not as graphologists"--which indicates a certain bias toward hard science over the more squishy stuff devoted to understanding personality.

In fact, people who call themselves graphologists can be called on to examine court documents and the like. They often can identify forgeries based on their techniques. What's more, some arguably offer empirical evidence that the things observed in handwriting can predict personality traits.

For example, if you study the margins on a handwritten document, you can sometimes spot a criminal, according to graphologist Andrea McNichol. In her book Handwriting Analysis: Putting It to Work for You, she writes that a study in Europe showed that 99 percent of the general population naturally lines up the left margin on handwritten documents--but a measurably higher percentage of convicted felons do not. This reflects the criminal's inability to "toe the line" of society, McNichol argues.

On the Web

Brainprints.com: the Web site of graphologist Andrea McNichol

American Society of Questioned Document Examiners

Even more provocatively, she writes that 80 percent of convicted felons display a writing characteristic known as the felon's claw. Writers create this shape by going from a straight downstroke--say, in the lowercase letter g--and flip the end up into something that looks like a talon.

I'd like to see multiple, named studies reproduce the same 80 percent finding before I totally buy off on this one, particularly since I can remember experimenting with that same letter shape when I was an innocent eighth-grader.

Even without citations of multiple studies, though, I find I am more convinced by a factoid than I am by nonscientific statements such as this: "When you make a claw shape you are going underhand. You are coming under, reversing the natural direction you've been taught."

While this sounds intuitive--criminals do disobey the rules they've been taught--that doesn't mean they reveal this propensity in their handwriting. If science were strictly intuitive, then it wouldn't be so darned hard figuring out why some things are the way they are.

And frankly, the idea that we might someday be able to study a handwriting sample and categorize its author as a potential criminal is scary. Sometimes, after all, a felon's claw is just a procrastinating eighth-grader.

10 Secrets Your Handwriting Might Reveal Ever wonder what your handwriting says about you? A lot, a graphologist would say--and chances are, not all of it would be pretty. Find out.

What's more, not all graphologists are in complete agreement on the meaning of certain things. My husband, for example, writes exclusively in print. One analyst said this was because he's hiding something, and he's self-centered. I would believe that if what he was hiding was the fact that he's self-centered, because frankly, I've never seen that side of him. McNichol goes easier on printers. While she says it can be an easy way to disguise personality, it can also be a way of sparing readers from illegible cursive.

That aside, what's really fun about McNichol's book are the case studies she presents detailing actual crimes she has helped solve. For example, when people are lying about facts, they will often pause when writing, creating a little extra space before the falsehood. The handwriting exhibits of crimes she solved demonstrated this, and I find it believable. After all, if we can use computers and human experts to weed sincere facial expressions from false ones, why can't we do the same with handwriting?

See how the handwriting of a Parkinson's patient changed

Equally interesting are links between handwriting and disease. While your handwriting won't predict if you are going to get sick, changes in it can be a clue that you are sick. Over 100 years ago, for example, a doctor noticed that shrinking handwriting was linked to the onset of Parkinson's disease. The same has been observed for other neurological disorders.

This is useful information that can be verified in other ways, as opposed to being something that just satisfies curiosity or the hunger for revenge--as was the case when I learned the boy who spurned me was "irritable."

What this means to me is, even if you do learn how to analyze handwriting, and you use it to pick your prom date (or any other date, for that matter), you're still going to have to spend time with the person to independently verify the traits the handwriting analysis lined up. This seems especially true when McNichol concedes in her book that you can change your handwriting--and also the personality traits revealed therein.

So there you go. For some of life's most important things, the writing is on the wall: There are no real shortcuts--even if it makes you feel a little irritable finding that out.

Watch out where the artemis go and don't you eat that yellow snow.......wonder if Zappa had ADHD, sure seems like the type .

Only a person with ADHD could write and compose some of the stuff he did. The man was talented, gifted,innovative and loved to provocate.

My brain is in pinball machine mode as usual.

worldisround39058.002662037Oh, I love Zappa! My ex-husband introduced me to him way back!! Don't go where the Huskies go!!!! Then Weird Al did a silly spoof of him, too...CURSIVE IS FASTER FOR BOTH HERE WHO HAVE ATTENTION PROBLEMS. I print ten times faster than I would ever do cursive!!!!

my cursive is like then chiken wee ink on its toes!!!!!!

[QUOTE=LCdc]I print ten times faster than I would ever do cursive!!!! [/QUOTE]

Me too !! Cursive just seems to take too much time. I mean I guess I could do cursive faster then print, but nobody "including myself" would ever be able to read it. I read on the oneaddplace.com website about how most "not all" but most ADD persons find it much easier to print then to use cursive. So I thought it was an interesting observation.

Mia

yeah, me too. i do a sort-of print-cursive hybrid. Mostly print. Cursive always dumbfounded me.

In high-school art class I tried to learn caligraphy......holy CARP....that was terrible.

My ADHD son prints...and always very badly. Unless he's medicated, then he can write cursive nicely.

I get carsick when I cursive.

I've always been a printer, 'cept for my signature.

That's a mess.

I love keyboards, b/c they're clean and clear.

And they clatter and clack.

i almost always write in print. If i force myself to write in cursive mid
sentince, i switch to print and dont even notice it.

I found this thread very interesting because my ds18 just does printing and has an accommodation for word processing.

At seventeen he decided he should have a signature and learned how to do that. Sounds similar to david above.

he has learned to do some cursive but it is excruciatingly slow. He was required on the SAT to write a statement in cursive that the work on the test was all his own.

Since then, I thought that perhaps he should spend a few minutes everyday learning and practicing cursive because you never know when cursive may be expected as an adult. So I have had both my boys start a practice notebook. Actually they each spent almost 30 seconds on it. I'm not kidding.

Writing always seemed like such a personal thing, that I never pushed them to work at cursive.

So my question is, "How does this affect you in your adult life?" in a practical and social sense. Does it make much difference?

< ="text/">yWXxso(1,"yWXTimeout('enableDesignMode()', 20);"); I have a tremor in my hands so my print looks like crap. And when I was little, for some reason, I really wanted to learn cursive. I barely write in print. doubletriple39054.229525463

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

That's probably the only cursive writing I could do! And poorly since I'm a gal and don't have the right precision "writing" instrument. Keep it PG. Keep it PG. Keep it PG. My mantra.

artemis,

when I first glanced at your post, the words cursive snow and pissed stood out. I thought maybe you were posting about yellow cursive writing in the snow

Ds' doc types his prescriptions out, he's ADD too. Great guy.
ALWAYS print. Even my signature looks kinda print.World, you would be proud of me, 8 in. snow here where I live and I did not even shovel the drive or walk. Don't plan to. Could care less. Am just hoping for warm weather by Sat. How's THAT for oppositional. My neighbors all kinda pissed at me. Tee hee.

Sorry, I totally posted the previous msg in the WRONG thread.

My total lack of cursive has had no effect on my life at all. I'm in publishing, we type everything anyways. Haven't had to care about cursive since Catholic school, 5th grade.

[QUOTE=jfla2]

Since then, I thought that perhaps he should spend a few minutes everyday learning and practicing cursive because you never know when cursive may be expected as an adult.

[/QUOTE]

I might forego this entirely. I think there might be bigger fish to fry, even tho Emily Post may object. My boss writes like crap and makes 6 figs. Can't read back his own notes to himself. Same with doctors. But now I think they can type prescription information into PDAs.

Heell, yes!

It ruins my art.

I'm an artist, and have to title and sign my work, and that's the ugliest spot on the marco.

I'm even thinking of designing a computerized signature, and transfering it through a pressure applique, so my titles look neater.

I told my publisher I don't like to sign and title my work, b/c it looks like a drunk chicken scratch...

I'm sure it's affected my sales.

See how professional I look in type?

heheheh!

i HEAR TX. NO LONGER WILL BE TEACHING CURSIVE. SOME PLACES DON'T ALREADY. I wonder if computers will replace this class altogether one day. I sometimes can't even read my own writing but really no preference though, if I'm in class taking notes, I write in cursive and, when I not in a hurry, I print. Also, when I print, it is very small. I went to parochial school as a kid (in my 30's now) and started out as a lefty but Sister Cecile made me switch to righty. My three kids are all lefties too. The last thing, when I'm bored in class, I practice writing with my left hand and, surprisingly, I write pretty good but the mechanics aren't very good. I do both in mid sentence I guess I get bored with it one way and do it the other way, Heck who knows.I never write cursive, I always print
And I have chicken scratch writing
I always blamed it on being left-handed though
Yeah my signature is a mess and has been accused of being "childish" haha
thinking about writing in cursive makes me break out in a sweat and shake a lot. I was punshed in school in 4th grade for not getting it!!! I never write in cursive and don't even remember some of the letters when my youngest asks me how to do a certain letter. I sign my name in some semblance of cursive and people always comment on how they can't even read it.

cursive suits me heaps because i'm always in a hurry and its quicker than printing!

my printing even looks a bit cursive!

Have any of you ever heard that A LOT of ADD people never really use cursive when they hand write. Most ADDer's print because they never had the patience or the know how to full get the art of cursive.

I thought this was sooo interesting. Since I am 34 and still cannot cursive. I mean I can if I focus really really hard, but it's hard for people to read it so I just print everything.

Anyone else notice this?

Mia

bharrod39040.3876967593 Strangely enough in germany (Europe) anyways almost everyone writes in cursive. The men's handwriting even is very nice. They are forced to write in ink from the beginning of grade school & everything has to be piccobello because your handwriting is also graded along with the test results .
My son went half his school years to german school & hated to write . (he has ADHD as do I). No patience for cursive.
I like both (print & cursive) & I like to make my handwriting look beautiful & unusual. It has to flow & look like a work of art. May be a girly thing. I keep changing my style in handwriting.
But I imagine this is common with ADDER'S.

worldisround39040.4585185185I like to share.

Nerve wracking for some of you ? All this reading ?

Why would a state not teach cursive ?

Cursive is faster for alot of people. It has a flow that feels and looks wonderful. It's like the female. Printing seems masculine.Have we become so pitiful ? I wonder what came first cursive or print ?
worldisround39063.4514236111 Should kids learn to write in cursive ?

Should students learn cursive writing in school? Teachers, you decide after reading the advantages and disadvantages of students learning cursive writing.

Schools in Canada and the United States introduce students to cursive writing in the primary grades. Montessori schools have students learn cursive writing in kindergarten and allow block printing to develop in later years. As a teacher, I understand the restrictions of time to teach all the fundamentals, but why has cursive writing become a forgotten subject.

Cursive writing is a beautiful art form that connects the letters with swoops and curls. It is an art form that is unique to each individual student. No two handwritten letters are the same even though each word written is identical. Cursive writing speaks about the student's personality and the type of day they are experiencing.

Should we keep teaching kids cursive writing in public schools? Teachers you decide.

Advantages of Learning Cursive Writing

Cursive is faster than printingMore efficient for taking notesAble to write without the use of technologyArt form to display a student's inner feelings and thoughtsEasier for students to learn cursive than printingDevelop fine motor skillsWriting in journals, handwriting in sync with the students flow of thoughtHand written apology more meaningful than one generated on a word documentPersonalize Letters

Disadvantages of Learning Cursive Writing

Takes time to learn

As a teacher, my personal view is for kids to learn cursive writing for the reasons listed in the advantages column. It does take time and some kids become frustrated with the process but I believe it is worth the effort for kids to learn a beautiful art form. If time is restrictive, have students learn cursive writing during art class, as the beauty of the lines is definitely an aspect of art.

worldisround39063.4528240741 See if you agree ? Compare to your own or others you know well ? I'd like to see someones opinion on this.

When analyzing writing style, first look at the handwriting in general, much like you would a painting. Make mental notes of the most outstanding traits and try to get a general feeling of the writer. (After 20 years of experience I can usually put the writer in a category right away.) Then, determine the emotional energy of the writer. This is the most important factor of the personality of the writer. The emotional energy has a direct impact on every other trait displayed in the handwriting. Emotional energy is determined by how much pressure the writer uses when he writes. If you examine the writing you can determine how much pressure was used by how "dark" the writing is. Also, if you turn the page over and feel the underside you can feel how much pressure was used (especially if the sample was written on a soft surface).

Emotional energy is a combination of the physical and mental energy level. Writers with heavy pressure are usually highly successful. They have a lot of vitality and their emotional experiences last for a long time. Writers who write with average pressure are usually moderately successful and usually have enough energy to make it through the day. Those with light pressure try to avoid energy draining situations.

The Slant of the Writing; What Does it Mean?

The slant is the second indicator to look for. The slant indicates the writers emotional response to external forces. A right slant (////) signals one who responds strongly to emotional situations. They are caring, warm and outgoing-- their heart rules their mind. A vertical slant (llll) writer tries to keep their emotions in check-- mind rules their heart. A left slant writer (\) will conceal their emotions and is observed as cold and indifferent.

Putting it Together.

Now let's mix some of these traits and see what we come up with.

1. A writer with heavy pressure and a vertical slant.
Heavy pressure= strong emotions and vertical slant= trying to hold emotions back. This writer is usually the one who keeps his wits about him. When "all hell breaks loose," his head rules. He will not be as emotionally responsive as a right slant writer and will "keep cool". This "heavy pressure-vertical slant" writer won't be able to keep his cool all of the time. When his emotions get the best of him he may "fly off the handle" at unpredictable times.

2. A person with light pressure writing (not much emotional or physical energy) and a left slant (tries to avoid emotional situations). This person will be emotionally withdrawn, cold, indifferent and self centered.

teps 3 & 4: Looking into Emotional Control, Reliability and Concentration.

Last time we covered emotional and physical energy, which is indicated by the pressure applied to the pen when you write. We also covered emotional response to external forces, indicated by the slant of the handwriting.

Emotional Control and Reliability

The next step is to determine the emotional control and reliability of the writer. This trait is shown in the baseline of the writing.

The baseline is a real or imagined line where the small letters rest.
Baseline is best determined if the sample is submitted on unlined paper to ensure that the writer does not follow the pre-printed lines. For best results, handwriting analysts always prefer samples written on unlined paper.

The baseline can be straight, wavy, erratic or sloped. A normal baseline should be slightly wavy. A person with a straight baseline is tense and over disciplined. A very wavy baseline signals a person who is on an emotional roller coaster.

An ascending baseline means optimism. A descending baseline means pessimism, tiredness or depression. A level baseline indicates a healthy balance between optimism and pessimism.

The following is a sample of Charles Manson's handwriting. Notice that baseline is very wavy, indicating a person whose emotions are unstable and out of control.

Concentration

Step 4 in handwriting analysis determines the writers ability to concentrate. This trait is indicated by the size of the writing. Small writing points to someone who has the ability to concentrate on minor details for long periods of time. They are not easily distracted by outside forces. These writers include scientists, researchers, bookkeepers, etc. People who write small like to work alone. They can be trusted to take on tedious tasks and follow them through to completion without being side tracked. Those who write small are usually conservative and thrifty.

Most of us write average size, indicating an average ability to concentrate. We have to force ourselves to concentrate on minor details, especially for long periods of time. Large writers are easily distracted. They have trouble concentrating and easily get "off-track." At work, these individuals should be given varying duties and assignments that are quick to complete.

Here is a sample of Albert Einstein's handwriting, actual size.

Get a pen and paper and try to write this small. You will feel your whole body go tense as you concentrate on making the small letters. I have examined this sample with a magnifying glass and every letter is shaped perfectly. It is a beautiful piece of art.

Putting it all Together

So far, we have covered:

Emotional and physical energy (pressure applied when writing)

Slant of writing ...\.....lll../// (indicates what the writer does with this emotional and physical energy)

Emotional control and emotional reliability (baseline)

Ability to concentrate (size of writing)

Now let's take a look at Sample 1, below:

The writer uses heavy pressure, pointing to a person with deep, long-lasting emotions. The right slant indicates the writer responds freely with these emotions (heart rules the mind). The writing is large and indicates that the writer has trouble concentrating on tedious tasks and is easily distracted. The baseline is only slightly wavy, revealing no inner emotional turmoil.

This is a friendly outgoing person with a lot of energy. This person needs variety and lots of activity. The emotional stability of the baseline indicates s/he is reliable and dependable.

On to Sample 2:

The writers pressure and size if writing is average, indicating s/he usually has enough energy to handle daily activities. Emotional response is slightly inhibited (vertical writing) indicating the head rules the heart. Average size of script shows the ability to concentrate on daily activities without being distracted too much by what's going on around him/her. The baseline is wavy indicating changeable moods- sometimes in a good mood, sometimes not. The wavy baseline is common in vertical writing because people who try to control their emotions have a certain amount of inner emotional turmoil.

worldisround39063.4652083333Mainly print but never had a problem learning or using cursive. Sometimes I find there is a mixture of both in the same word. no idea if ADHD is the reason why

[QUOTE=worldisround] See if you agree ? Compare to your own or others you know well ? I'd like to see someones opinion on this.
[/QUOTE]

no wonder you got poster of the month, what a superb post, how long did that take you

i wanted to give you big clap icon put there not working for some reason

worldisround

i print my writting, i cant do that joined up, from looking at ur post i print heavy, slant to the right, and write in big print

i guess this makes me, highly successful, caring warm and out going, strong emotions, easly distracted, trouble concentrating and easly loose track, (i already know this part lol)

thankyou

this a a great gift you have

This is too funny! I had really fabulous handwriting in 2nd/3rd grade, and always worked to make it the best in the class. In 4th grade or so, we had to move to cursive. I HATED it deep down and thought "how stupid, this looks so much worse than printing!" I always refused to write in cursive.

I remember my 4th grade english teacher telling me "No one will ever take you seriously if you write notes in print. That doesn't 'fly' in the business world." BOY WAS SHE WRONG! I'm very successful for my age, even though I print.

Through high school and college, I always, always printed my class notes while everyone else wrote in cursive.

The sad thing is, I still really like it when people compliment my "wonderful handwriting." How sad is THAT! :-)

wow thats strange but u saying that has made me realise its true of my bf and other ppl with adhd i know how strangeMy cursive was never all that great, and by 6th grade I simply reverted back to printing -- didn't tell anybody, nobody said anything. I think my teacher was just glad to be able to read my school papers. To this day my hand is kind of half-print, half-cursive, and my signature looks like a train wreck.

what about signatures?

mine is an absolute scrawl can only make out the m at the start if u try really hard

[QUOTE=bharrod]

I thought this was sooo interesting. Since I am 34 and still cannot cursive. I mean I can if I focus really really hard, but it's hard for people to read it so I just print everything.

Anyone else notice this?

Mia

[/QUOTE] I am 15 @ I couldnt do cursive at all and i still cant

[QUOTE=worldisround]I like to share.

Nerve wracking for some of you ? All this reading ?

[/QUOTE]

No comment.

I'm headed to a Dr. appointment soon, but will come back and read through the articles later.

Just wanted to share a comment and a question. Printing was nearly impossible for my son until we tried Handwriting Without Tears (when he was 5? I think. Something like that. But people much older than 5 report using it successfully.) His teacher, at the time, ended up adopting that system for teaching all of her students handwriting. It really worked well for them. Not that my son's handwriting is pretty. It's not. But at least it's legible ... usually. lol!

We've kinda left the handwriting struggle behind, for the moment, though. But I've always kept the cursive module in the back of my mind, for possible future reference.

Has anybody here learned cursive (or taught a child cursive) using the Handwriting Without Tears progam? If so, could you please share your perspective?

emergent39091.372025463I avoid cursive at all costs.. in fact I write in all caps most of the time..
this is a very interesting post...

oh, hi by the way.
I'm Chris, and I'm an ADDer.
I'll post my introductions soon. Glad I found this message board!

[QUOTE=kaden67]I avoid cursive at all costs.. in fact I write in all caps most of the time..
this is a very interesting post...

oh, hi by the way.
I'm Chris, and I'm an ADDer.
I'll post my introductions soon. Glad I found this message board!

[/QUOTE]

Welcome Chris!!

I thought this subject was very interesting too. All my life I wondered why I never could get the "cursive" thing. In fact still today when I try to write in cursive (which I can now) - I push so hard that I get a big red indent in my middle finger. I think I am concentrating so hard, that I hold the pen/pencil very tight, not even realizing it. by the time I am done, my fingers are hurting like hell. LOL

So why bother? LOL

Mia

I actually use both print and cursive at the same time....whatever type is easiest and fastest, basically. Just thinking about writing only in cursive makes my forearms hurt! I also throw in captial/lower case letters together...

My handwriting is terrible, as if what just I said didn't imply that....

In November/december I posted in this thread about my interest in teaching my 18 year old cursive and asked for input. Well we have been practicing off and on oover the last month and a half and guess what...he is developing a lovely flowing script.

The following is my post on the parents board:
Like many ADHDers ds has always had poor handwriting, altho he was only diagnosed disgraphic two years ago at age 16. Throughout school he has always printed, forming about half the letters incorrectly, irratic spacing etc etc In fifth grade he was told to abandon cursive because it was too hard to read. Having an accommodation for a word processor in high school, he also uses an Alphasmart for notetaking which has served him well. Through an appeal to College Board we were even able to get a computer accommodation (quite rare) for SAT and AP tests.

Last spring an OT said that between ages 17-22 there is a jump in small motor development. She also mentioned a writing program called Loops and Other Groups.

I figured that this was my last shot before he goes off to college. So last month, I made up writing books for my sons (it can't hurt his younger brother). Guess what, my son is developing lovely flowing cursive writing, completely different than his attempts of one year ago! The other day he came home from school and said, "Mom, you should be proud, because I used cursive in a timed write today." And I am!

jfla2

well done to your son

glad weve got that sorted LOL

thanks Thaigga

You do know what np means right?

LOL LOL

thanks worldisround

&nbs p; = not blaming southpaw. and the p; was supposed to be :p but i messed up lol. Its an inside joke between me and my best friend, were both ADDers, both left handed, same height: 6'3, same shoe size: 14, weve known each other since like 2nd grade, with birthdays that are about 15 days apart. So you can imagine that would lead to lead to some cordination problems that are very similar in occurance such as accidently walking into doorframes

. So when something like that ever happens we say nbs! and

. It doesnt sound that funny unless your actually there though

Thaigg

&nbs p;

i also need to know what this means please tell else im gonna be thinking of this all night LOL

i get lost on things that are shortened it took me a week to work out what dx ment LOL i use it all the time now

but still dont know what dd ds dh means Confused

dd -dear daughter
ds-dear son
dh-dear hubby

but do you ever see dw ? NOOOO !

those SOB's

I can write neater in cursive but for some reason I still print.

its the way to go.My handwriting is actually part cursive and print.
It's fancy print with some connected letters.

Interesting.

I'm kind of like you World.

Some of my cursive letters just arn't legable, so I will use a hybrid cursive/print character instead.

If I try to just use print, it looks like I am in 3rd grade using a fat pencil.

[QUOTE=Parduse]

If I try to just use print, it looks like I am in 3rd grade using a fat pencil.

[/QUOTE]

hahaha same thing with me, I just do it anyways. &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; &nbs p; Thaigga

please enlighten me to what your repetitive &nbs p; are all about ?

Does anyone switch back and forth randomly between the two? I tend to do this, though printing is probably my preferred method. I never thought about it but I would rather print before cursive write. It is not because I don't know how. Printing is much faster for me.