The history of the alphabet is briefly reviewed to provide background on the controversy about beginning handwriting instruction and the relative difficulty of major instructional methods (Roman capitals, ball-stick manuscript, and chancery cursive). The author suggests that a simplified version of chancery cursive can be used for beginners. (CL)

This paper examines the importance of handwriting instruction, through discussion of four issues: (1) whether handwriting should be taught directly outside other writing contexts; (2) slanted versus traditional manuscript alphabets; (3) use of a beginner's pencil and wide lined paper; and (4) the use of self-regulation procedures within the…

Selecting from a wide variety of sources, this report presents instructional techniques for the remediation of letter reversal errors in young students' writing. The techniques in the report have been applied in classrooms and found to be successful with a great majority of students. Sections of the report include: (1) an introduction; (2)…

Intended for use by teachers, this guide suggests classroom techniques for using "Write Now," an Apple II program with music, motion, and pictures, to facilitate the teaching of manuscript handwriting skills to elementary school students. "Write Now" shows the student how to form curves and lines when writing letters of the…

Reviews software that focuses on writing skills for children aged 2 to 15. Includes information on public domain and commercial programs on learning the alphabet, basic penmanship, sentence structure, and writing book reports and essays. Provides ordering information on the suggested programs. Explains how parents can help. (ML)

Assembled from perceptual data gathered from questionnaires, this report outlines teachers' and administrators' opinions based on their first year's experience teaching handwriting (the Beginner's Alphabet) to first grade children using a new syllabus. Nine supporting tables are included and response statistics are detailed (Appendix 1 contains…

A program to be used by teachers working with children at the stage of emergent writing, generally kindergarten and grades 1 and 2, and based on recognition of young children's development, is outlined. The project operates on the premise that children can independently learn to write by writing if they are immersed in the appropriate social and…