Abstract

Students also want to type their assignments using computers because it is too much work to write them. When I asked students to use handwriting for their assignments as opposed to typing them, Jason, from my Communications Technology class said, " Can I type the assignment? I have forgotten how to write most of the alphabet. Besides, writing is too hard and takes too long" (R. Mowat, Journal Entry, 2003).

In the beginning, I thought typing assignments was a good practice because students would be using computers as they continued their studies. They would also be using them once they graduated and found employment. At that time, I felt they should use the word processing programs and learn all they could about them and the computer. After all, I usually couldn't read their handwritten answers so I couldn't give marks for something I couldn't read. Neither could I give marks for what I thought they were trying to say unless they actually said it. The key words may have been there but I did not believe they knew what they were writing about because their sentence structure was so poor.

Most all the students I have encountered, have one thing in common. They do not like written assignments as their written work and their behaviour during this activity displays this attitude.

Background Research

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the basic skills related to the conventions of written language such as grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, form and presentation are considered essential. They must be mastered if students are to produce clear, concise writing that communicates with ease. Writing is used to develop the ability to think clearly and creatively and to order ideas in a logical and disciplined manner. Writing activities that students see as meaningful and challenging will lead to a fuller and more lasting mastery of the basic skills.

Equally important, writing activities will help demonstrate that clear writing is the result of clear thinking and the disciplined application of basic writing conventions. The Ministry guideline adds, that students learn best when asked to think as they learn. It helps students to produce writing that is interesting and original and reflects critical thought. Students need to become disciplined thinkers in order to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. They need to select, analyze, organize and criticize their ideas. With good handwriting, students will gain command over their vocabulary and develop competence in other areas, especially reading. (The Ontario Curriculum, 1997, p.10 -11).

The use of cursive handwriting begins in Grade Three. Writing should enhance the message as students increase speed and control (The Ontario Curriculum, 1997, p.16 - 24).

The Ministry guidelines lean more toward writing messages clearly and concisely in a logical order. It doesn't refer to neat handwriting as a means to improve self-control, focus or behaviour.

As I searched for ideas regarding this subject, I came across a website created by Melissa Keller. She is a teacher in the United States who has had some success with ADHD students through the use of cursive handwriting. She states, that as students work at improving their handwriting they improve their focus and self-control as well as an appreciation for fine penmanship. Her research suggests that as fine-motor skills are developed, there is a greater number of neurological connections built in the brain and a greater self-awareness is developed that leads to a more precise control of behaviour (Kellar, 2001).

Her research was contradictory to most everyone else who reported on ADHD. Most researchers would use poor handwriting skills as an indicator or symptom of ADHD. Doctors would then use drugs to reduce anxiety in an ADHD person which would sometimes lead to an improvement in handwriting. On the other hand, she was using handwriting to reduce anxiety and foster better attention span and self-control. It was a biofeedback technique where the subject would use handwriting to improve fine-motor skills which would build self-esteem as their writing skills improved. Better self-esteem would then increase self-awareness and help develop better focus and self-control.

Melissa Keller is a behavior specialist for the Gardner Edgerton School District in Gardner, Kansas. With the help of a co-teacher and an occupational therapist, she implemented what she called a Handwriting Club at the school where she teaches. The Handwriting Club uses sensory integration strategies to improve handwriting and attempts to improve self-control and focus simultaneously.

Handwriting is a complex skill that is not often taught directly. It is not unusual for some students with disabilities to have difficulty with handwriting and vice versa.. These students may also have sensory integration problems. The Handwriting Club is a format that provides direct instruction in handwriting combined with sensory integration activities.

Sensory integration is the organization of sensation for use. Our senses give us information about the physical conditions around us. Sensations flow into the brain like streams flowing into a lake. Countless bits of sensory information enter our brain at every moment, not only from our eyes and ears but also from every place in our bodies. The brain must organize all of these sensations if a person is to move and learn and behave normally. The brain locates, sorts and orders sensations somewhat like a traffic policeman who directs moving cars. When sensations flow in a well-organized or integrated manner, the brain can use those sensations to form perceptions, behaviors and learning. When the flow of sensations is disorganized, life can be like a rush-hour traffic jam. (Ayres, 1979).

The seven sensory systems that deliver this flow of information are tactile (touch), vestibular (speech), proprioceptive (muscle/reflexes), olfactory (smell), visual (sight), auditory (sound) and gustatory. Ayres (1979) described the sensory inputs and end products in her chart entitled, "The Senses, Integration of Their Inputs and Their End Products." The integration of the auditory and vestibular senses results in speech and language. The integration of vestibular and proprioceptive senses results in eye movements, posture, balance, muscle tone and gravitational security. Body perception, coordination of two sides of the body, motor planning, activity level, attention span and emotional stability result from the integration of vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile senses. The vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and visual senses result in eye-hand coordination, visual perception and purposeful activity. All of the senses together are required for the end products—concentration, organization, self-esteem, self-control, self_confidence, academic learning, abstract thought and reasoning and specialization of each side of the body and the brain (Ayres, 1979).

Handwriting is a very complex skill that requires many of these systems to work well together. Dobbie and Askov (1995) described the processes necessary for handwriting. These would include visual, auditory, and visuo-motor perception, gross and fine motor coordination, directionality, sequencing skills, recall, letter knowledge, tool holding, lines, sitting and paper position, cursive script, tracing and copying, joining letters, self-evaluation and numerals (Dobbie and Askov, 1995).

The goals of the Handwriting Club were to improve students' cursive handwriting skills, their abilities to work with peers in a somewhat loosely structured and stimulating situation and help teach them to identify some of their own individual sensory needs and strategies in order to address those needs. Most club meetings followed the same basic format. They designed Handwriting Club activities to address all seven of the sensory areas but didn't have the students engage in every activity at every club meeting.

As I looked further, I also came across an editorial written by Maureen Pangan, Director of the Hamilton Learning Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. She wrote in the Hamilton Spectator that students who use handwriting consistently, improve the ways in which the various centres in the brain communicate with each other. Because the act of handwriting is a fine-motor skill that involves centres on each side of the brain, the use of cursive handwriting requires the neurological pathways between those centres to be "hard-wired" by practice. As a result, this cross-brained communication, improves reading comprehension and higher-level thinking. Organizational skills also improve due to the fact that handwriting is a comprehensive skill (The Hamilton Spectator, 2003).

The Question

Handwriting was a subject that I didn't believe I had time to teach. As a teacher of students who are not supposed to have behavior disorders and learning disabilities, I felt more responsible for teaching the knowledge and basic skills within the guidelines of my subject. I did not have time to work on handwriting. However, I felt there was a need to improve their handwriting and hopefully improve their self-control and focus and hence, their behaviour. I felt I did not have time for a Handwriting Club but I could at least review the alphabet and some basic handwriting skills.

I felt that my students were missing out on some very basic neural development and I decided to re-introduce them to the art of acceptable cursive handwriting in order to improve their assignments as well as develop better focus and self-control. I felt that if students tried to write better and more often their focus and behaviour may improve as well as the accuracy and neatness of the assignments . My question then was, "How could I influence students to improve their focus and self-control when completing basic written assignments?"

Procedure

The place to start was with the alphabet. I was not surprised when my students laughed at the idea of relearning the alphabet but I was surprised when many of them could not recall how to make written letters anymore. Leticia, from my Communications Technology class said, " We learned the alphabet in grade three but I have forgotten most of it because we aren't asked to write that much anymore" (R. Mowat, Journal Entry, 2003).

They had forgotten most all of the written alphabet and their fine motor skills, when it came to writing, were awkward, slow and tiresome.

Many students went too fast. Many forgot how to make certain letters and some didn't know when to use upper as opposed to lowercase letters. They would often use lowercase at the beginning of sentences and in titles. Some wrote too big or too small. The art had been lost. I decided at that time to contact an elementary teacher for some writing activities and the alphabet flash cards I grew up with.

The first thing I had students complete was a note on Class Rules and Routines. This was a pre-test to identify weaknesses for each student and to compare later to a post-test note to be done near the end of the semester. After some brief lessons on writing the lower and uppercase alphabet and some sentence writing activities, I wouldn't accept any assignments unless they were handwritten and written neatly. I told them I was marking spelling and sentence structure as well. Once final written assignments were complete, I compared them to the note they had done on Class Rules and Routines at the start of the semester.

In addition to the written tests given before and after the writing activities I collected some student comments in my journal and student photographs.

Observations and Conclusions

There were 47 students who completed and handed in the pretest note. All but two of those students completed a final written assignment and handed that in for a comparison. There were four students who wrote the final note but not the first one. Those assignments were omitted as were the two who wrote the first note but not the last because there was nothing to compare them to. That left me with 45 comparisons.

There were eleven assignments collected in the pre-test that were well written. These students did not exhibit problems with focus and self-control throughout the semester. Their behaviour was excellent as was their handwriting. Notes were given titles and underlined. Upper and lower case letters were used appropriately. Spacing was used. Grammar and spelling was fine.

There were thirteen assignments categorized as medium well written. These students were usually of good behaviour and worked hard to complete the assignment neatly. However, no matter how slowly they went, their results were mediocre.

Finally, there were 21 pretests that were considered poorly written. Five of the students used pencil. Ten of them had one or more spelling mistakes. Five of them used printing instead of writing and five of them did not use upper and lower case properly. These students were a mixed group. Half of this group were top students with good marks and good behaviour. The other half were more easily distracted and showed poor focus more than any of the others. However, of this group only eight were considered to be a behaviour problem although only five were considered weaker students as the others still had good marks.

Of the eleven well written pretests all students also handed in eleven well written post tests. Of the thirteen medium well written pretests five students also handed in medium well written post tests but eight students handed in well written post tests. Of the 21 poorly written pretests only three students handed in poorly written post tests. There were thirteen students who handed in medium well written post tests and there were five who handed in well written post tests.

Of the 45 students, 19 students handed in the same level of writing. Eleven students handed in well written work, five handed in medium well written work and only three students handed in poorly written work both times. Eight out of 21 students improved from medium to well written assignments. Eight students improved from poor to medium well written and five students improved from poor to well written assignments. Sixteen students improved one level of writing while five students showed an improvement of two levels of writing. An overall improvement was shown by 21 students out of 45.

This was great to see as eleven students already wrote well and 21 more improved. Twelve others wrote at a medium well level and only three wrote at a poor level and remained there after the tests were complete. All three of those students were content with that as they all had good final marks. Their abilities to complete the assignments accurately and completely were good as was their behaviour during writing activities.

Another result, the one I was trying to elicit originally, was also there. As the more hyperactive students tried to master their handwriting skills their behaviour and self-control improved. They began to focus longer and they seemed to become more interested in writing neater. Their marks on their assignments also improved. Their written work became easier for me to read and it became easier for me to understand their answers. They also noted that they seemed to find it easier to complete assignments now as their fine motor skills improved and it became less difficult to write as it was in the beginning.

Justin, a student from my Manufacturing Technology class said, "I have found that I can write neater and faster as I'm able to focus better during this activity" (R. Mowat, Journal Entry, 2003).

In the Future

Some activities for the future may be more in-depth and include the following;

1. Gross Motor Warm-up Activities such as jumping jacks, crab walk, push ups on floor, chair push-ups or balancing on one leg;

2. Fine Motor Warm-up Activities such as rubbing hands together, squeezing tennis balls, rubbing hands in circles on the carpet, rolling clay between fingers or walking fingers up and down the pencil;

3. Letter Introduction such as when the teacher models writing the letter on the board and describes the steps then students imitate by writing in the air using large arm movements and repeating steps aloud then continue to say the steps while writing on the table with pointer finger;

4. Guided Practice Activities like writing on the blackboard while wearing wrist weights or writing on another student's back and have him or her guess the letter;

5. Semi-independent Practice where students write in their handwriting books with teachers monitoring and;

6. Independent Practice or Homework activities where they could write for a purpose (eg., make holiday cards or write thank-you notes).

It is also important for students to learn correct posture when writing. Chair height should be adjusted to fit the desk or table height. The table or desk should be at the student's chest level and elbows should be able to rest comfortably on top. The student needs to have his or her back against the back of the chair and feet on the floor. Knees, hips, and ankles should be at a 90-degree angles (Clark-Wentz, 1997). Some chair legs could be fitted with tennis balls for kitty-corner legs to allow the chairs to rock slightly. Padded seats can be placed on some chairs. Occasionally students should be allowed to take turns sitting on a large therapy ball instead of a chair. These strategies address the theory that rocking and swaying are calming activities (Kranowitz, 1998).

External stimulants are also possible to improve student success. Relaxation music could sometimes be played in the background to help integrate the auditory system and self talk during writing practice can be used as an auditory system strategy. Dobbie and Askov (1995) found that students trained with perceptual prompts and verbalization of stroke sequence perform better than students who simply copy models. Using scented markers while practicing may help students to remember the letter formation because the olfactory system has neuronal connections to the memory system (Clark-Wentz, 1997). Students may also enjoy gustatory system activities. Teachers may want to provide hard candy, gum, licorice and straws to have students assess if keeping their mouths busy will help concentration. Kranowitz (1998) recommended chewing and sucking activities as calming, organizational, sensory activities. Equipment that may help with proprioception are wrist weights, Wiggle Pens and weighted pencil holders.

Some students may also need help with their grasp. Pencils marked with dots could indicate where the fingers should be placed or sometimes commercial pencil grippers can be used. Balancing exercises might be used to integrate the vestibular system. Other activities that might be used are designed for integration of the visual and tactile sensory systems. Some students may find that using Right Line TM paper which has raised green lines, may be helpful. It is ideal for helping students stay within the lines because it provides both visual and tactile cues.

Conclusion

I now realize that handwriting is a more important skill than I had previously believed. Our students' inability to communicate legibly puts them at a disadvantage in several ways. Unreadable academic assignments, even though they may be accurate, often result in poorer grades due to negative teacher bias. Employers are also biased against job applications that are messy and illegible. Personal handwritten correspondence will also be a struggle for these students which will no doubt be reflected through frustration and inappropriate behaviour (Greenland & Polloway, 1994).

Research has not been clear in supporting sensory integration. The activities are hypothesized to work through influencing brain organization and, consequently, result in brain change. Brain change is not directly observable, so it is difficult to conclude that a sensory activity has changed the brain simply because a child performed the activity. Instead, it could perhaps be inferred that a change has occurred if a directly observable change has occurred in the child's performance (Cermak & Henderson, 1990).

I am unable to conclude that I made significant brain changes in these students. However, there were obvious differences in performance that may have resulted at least in part from the sensory integration activities. The students did improve their cursive handwriting skills. Their ability to focus improved as did their behaviour when it came to written assignments. Additionally, because of their success, they felt more confident in their handwriting abilities.

References

Ayres, A. J. (1979). Sensory integration and the child. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

Cermak, S. A., & Henderson, A. (1990). The efficacy of sensory integration procedures. Sensory Integration Quarterly Newsletter, XVIII, (1).

Clark-Wentz, J. (1997, October). Improving students' handwriting. Occupational Therapy Practice, 2 9_3 3.

Dobbie, L., & Askoy, E. N. (1995). Progress of handwriting research in the 1980s and future prospects. Journal of Educational Research, 88, 339-351.

Greenland, R., & Polloway, A. (1994). Handwriting and students with disabilities: Overcoming first impressions. Position paper. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 378-757)

Kellar, Melissa, Handwriting Club: Using Sensory Integration Strategies to Improve Handwriting. May, 2003 www.idonline.org/ld_indepth/writing/handwriting_club.html.

Kranowitz, C. S. (1998). The out-of-sync child. New York: Berkley.

Ministry of Education and Training. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 - Language, 1997, p.10-11 and 16 -24.

Pangan, Maureen. Cursive Writing pays big dividends. Hamilton Spectator 22 April 2003.