Handwriting or typing... or both?

For many students who struggle with handwriting, typing notes and stories on a computer becomes a natural alternative.  But as our guest blogger and occupational therapist Melissa Gibbons writes this week, we need to encourage our kids to keep working on both. 

Enjoy!

Rhonda & the Bridgeway team

By Melissa Gibbons

Hands for Growth Occupational Therapy

I’m often asked “when should the student abandon handwriting and turn to typing instead”? The answer is an emphatic NEVER!

Handwriting and typing should complement each other rather than be considered as “one or the other.” Some students with learning disabilities may never have beautiful and efficient handwriting. That’s OK. But that does not mean that they will never be beautiful and creative writers. Typing is a logical alternative to handwriting for students, as there are fewer mechanical demands. While typing, the letters are a consistent size, they all sit in a row and they don’t crowd each other.

There may come a time when the student depends on typing assignments and notes in order to keep up in school, but there will never be a time when the student never has to hold a pencil again. There will be times in their lives that a computer or smart phone is not available when they need to record information, so they need to have some handwriting skill.

As important as handwriting is, typing has become just as important in our tech-heavy world. Children are often ready to learn the basics of keyboard typing by grade 3. This is when they have automatic recall of the alphabet and can identify letters by sight. This is also when they are ready for the fine motor requirements to use individual fingers for key strikes. There are many different typing instructional programs available, but not all are created equally, nor are they all appropriate for kids. A good program should teach the student about the “home row” keys and two handed keyboarding, and should progress in degree of difficulty. Typing practice should take place every day or every other day to create competence.

So until the day that there is an app that can quickly take the thoughts directly from my mind and print them onto the paper (a scary thought), I will keep advocating for good old fashioned handwriting.

Melissa Gibbons OT Reg (NS)

Occupational Therapist/Owner
Hands For Growth Occupational Therapy
www.handsforgrowth.ca
902-489-1847
Melissa@handsforgrowth.ca