The End of Handwriting

It is SO important for parents and teachers to instill handwriting skills so that students don't need occupational therapists to help them develop fine motor skills.

Cursive handwriting is especially important for children to learn; they shouldn't just be instructed in manuscript writing.

From the article:

For some grade-school children, occupational therapists are also filling the void left by schools, many of which no longer provide instruction on the mechanics of handwriting. According to a survey conducted by the American Occupational Therapy Association, about 30 percent of their members now work in schools, up from 18.6 percent in 1999. Those therapists, said Ms. Berg of Washington University, tend to spend the bulk of their time helping children write legibly.

“Many teachers don’t know how to do it,” Ms. Berg said. “O.T.’s can help.”

Linda Tulloch waited in vain for teachers at the North Street School, a public elementary school in Greenwich, Conn., to provide her son, Jack, now a fifth grader, with handwriting instruction. “As early as second grade I could see he needed help shaping his letters and numbers,” she said.

ANY teacher who believes handwriting is "old hat" or doesn't know how to teach it has NO business working in a school.