Handwriting

handwriting, writing with the hand as distinguished from print. The term handwriting has come to be more or less restricted to mean the form of writing peculiar to each person.

handwriting

Before the introduction of the typewriter for general use, when handwriting had a greater utilitarian value, schools stressed handwriting instruction. Scales were developed for gauging the quality of the script from grade to grade in the elementary schools, and a series of careful investigations of the handwriting movements were undertaken. Studies showed that the pressure on the penholder (grip pressure) as well as the pressure of the pen point on the paper (point pressure) varies continuously during writing, and the speed of writing is not uniform but depends upon the type of stroke being made. For example, speed of movement usually rises slowly as the stroke begins, comes to a maximum in the middle, and drops off toward the end. The direction of the stroke, turns and loops, the complexity of the stroke, and the type of stroke that preceded will alter the speed of a given writing movement. Speed is affected also by length of letter elements, since it usually takes more time to make long strokes than to make short ones. By comparing the handwriting movements of good and poor writers, researchers found that these two groups differ in position of writing hand, speed, and types of movements in fingers and hand. A considerable relationship was found to exist between the changes in speed and the form of letters, and good writers showed greater uniformity in the speed of formation of similar strokes. Later, other educators, experimenting with manuscript writing and printed script, maintained that the latter type of handwriting is learned and executed more speedily because it resembles printed type more.

The handwriting of adults is so individual that it is considered unlikely that any two people could really write identically. This high degree of individualization occurs even among those who learned to write from the same school and under the same teacher. Investigations into the handwriting characteristics of children have indicated that individualization in graphomotor development begins very early in life. The scribblings of the preschool child as well as the early versions of the child’s copy work are often found to show individual characteristics sufficient to identify the author of a handwriting specimen.

Among the anomalies of early writing development is mirror writing—that is, reversed script which reads from right to left and is seen as ordinary writing only when reflected from a mirror. Reversal of individual letters to some degree is part of normal spatial and motor development in children, but students of the subject disagree on the physiological processes involved in mirror writing. Most agree that it is the left-handed child’s natural form of writing; these children however, tend to conform to the school standard as they gradually assimilate the conventional left-right direction. Brain injuries may result in partial or total mirror writing, which in these instances is considered a regression to the earlier reversal state. The most famous instance of mirror writing is that of Leonardo da Vinci who allegedly did it to keep his scientific work secret.