Teaching Handwriting: An Explicit and Systematic Approach

As parents and teachers, we have all watched budding hand writers form the letters in their names for the first time. The construction is often atypical and painstaking. If formal handwriting is not taught, this peculiar letter construction gets repeated, and bad habits are formed. If these bad habits slow down the writing process just a little and the handwriting cannot keep up with the brain, then this affects the content of the writing. To combat this, explicit, direct, and systematic instruction on handwriting is vital.

The Importance of Automaticity in Handwriting

For students to become skillful writers, they must be automatic and accurate in handwriting. In Perspectives on Language and Literacy, the IDA  devoted the 75th Anniversary issue to Structured Literacy. In it, Steve Graham said, “If children do not learn to form letters legibly and fluently, they cannot efficiently translate their ideas into text. Any time they must think about how to form a letter, possible ideas for writing may slip from memory. If handwriting is not fast enough to keep up with thoughts, even more ideas may be forgotten” (Graham 2024). Automaticity and fluency are dependent on how students actually learn to form letters.

Brainspring’s Multisensory Approach to Handwriting - Graphemes & Phonemes

Brainspring’s Handwriting: Lessons for Print® is a unique approach to teaching letter formation while building fine motor skills and reinforcing the sound-symbol correspondence necessary for developing early literacy skills.

In this program, teacher-directed introductions, practice, and authentic reviews have replaced the traditional rote repetition model of handwriting instruction. This program utilizes a multisensory, systematic, structured, sequential, direct-instruction teaching approach. It teaches a repeatable process for letter formation while kinesthetically linking the grapheme to its primary corresponding phoneme.

A phoneme is a speech sound. Phonemes are represented by letters written in virgules (i.e., /k/, /j/, /l/, /ŏ/, /ō/). A grapheme is a letter or letter combination representing a single phoneme or sound. Graphemes may be one letter (i.e., c, j, l, o) or multiple letters (i.e., -ck, -dge, -ll, -oe). Some graphemes contain multiple phonemes (i.e., x = /k + s/).

The methods and multimodal techniques support students in moving learning from short-term to long-term memory. The teaching process incorporates scientific research-based learning strategies as detailed by the science of reading, occupational therapy, and early childhood development guidelines.

Developing the Underlying Skills for Handwriting Success

Handwriting is a complex task. The keys to legibility are shape, size, and slant, which require several underlying skills. According to occupational therapists, cognitive and executive functioning skills lay the foundation for students' acquisition and improvement of letter formation. Attention, memory, planning, sequencing, task initiation, letter size, placement on the line, control, spacing, and language comprehension are necessary for handwriting. Sensory processing skills, including visual perceptual skills (visual discrimination) and vestibular (balance control), tactile (sense of touch), and proprioception (coordination) senses, contribute to automaticity and legibility. 

Direct, explicit, multisensory instruction, including the appropriate production of vertical and horizontal lines used in print, is essential for automatically producing graphemes. Lines and shapes are essential for drawing and mathematics. The prewriting shapes use motor paths necessary for letter formations. Starting at the top line for vertical lines allows for more motor control. Teaching specific formations (top-down, left to right, counterclockwise) supports students as they build motor memory for letter formation, which improves letter identification, legibility, and automaticity for letter writing. 

Supporting Handwriting Development in the Classroom & Building Fluency

Practicing prewriting shapes and letters improves visual, gross, and fine motor skills to prepare students for writing individual graphemes and words. Incorporate prewriting skill activities in classroom centers to promote the development of fine motor skills. While many students will naturally develop pencil grasps that support automaticity, many others need explicit, direct instruction on properly holding a pencil, too. In addition, Check and Set procedures should be explicitly taught and reviewed to promote best writing practices, including optimal posture and paper position.

Structured literacy practices supported by the Science of Reading are proven to be “the most reliable method for building expertise in word reading and reading comprehension” (Lyon and Goldberg 2024) and this is also true for writing and writing comprehension. Writing fluency is built upon the foundation of efficient formation of letters. For students to become skillful writers, they must be automatic and accurate in handwriting. Teaching handwriting through research-based methods is the best way to support our students as they grow as writers. Literacy, after all, is the ability to both read and write. 

Graham, Steve. 2024. "Structured Literacy and Handwriting: Explicit Instruction of an Essential Skill." Perspectives on Language and Literacy 75th Anniversary Issue, vol. 50, no. 1: page 58. International Dyslexia Association.

Lyon, G. Reid and Goldberg, Margaret. 2024. "Structured Literacy and Handwriting: Explicit Instruction of an Essential Skill." Perspectives on Language and Literacy 75th Anniversary Issue, vol. 50, no. 1: page 22. International Dyslexia Association.