The CursiveLogic Story: How one young man’s simple request inspired a new way to teach cursive handwriting

Presented to the Common Education House Committee, October 11, 2016

Linda Shrewsbury, President CursiveLogic

The Story

PresenterPresentation NotesIn the spring of 2010, I participated in volunteer training at a literacy ministry in Tulsa, OK. A month later, the agency director matched me with a young man who was 23 and had learning challenges…When I met my student, Josh, I got no real background information. I simply knew that he had an uncle who was also his adopted father and who was diligent about seeking help for Josh. I was drawn to Mr. Landry’s pluck in the face of his family’s struggles. Josh was a person who’d fallen through the cracks of the education system. But he his uncle was his advocate still seeking resources for him even at age 23.

We began meeting two days a week for tutoring. Josh was withdrawn with downcast eyes and bowed head with his chin resting on his chest. And he had a throaty mumble. He was a picture of dejection. But knowing that our time together would only be purposeful if there was communication, I saw job one—help Josh understand that we had to communicate, and give him explicit directions on actions.to take for communication to happen. I would speak to him and he needed to talk to me.

2011: Tutoring Josh at the Ministry Center

PresenterPresentation NotesJosh’s Story

I will never forget how it all started, back in 2010.��I was a reading tutor for Josh, a 23-year-old special needs student. One morning during a tutoring session he asked if I would also teach him cursive because he wanted to be able to sign his name. The sincerity of Josh’s request really touched me, and I was determined to help.��But I didn’t think the traditional way of teaching handwriting—letter by letter, day after day, for months—would work for him. I felt there had to be a shorter, less tedious approach. What if I could figure out a faster way?��I wrote the lowercase cursive letters on a large sheet of paper and taped it on the wall.  After a long time of just looking intently, I began seeing ways of grouping the letters I had never noticed before. I wondered if showing Josh these patterns would help him.��I’ll never forget how amazed I was at Josh’s response. ��Using the shape patterns I demonstrated, Josh learned to form the entire lowercase in 45 minutes. He was so excited by his success that he wanted to see his uppercase initials too. After a few minutes practice, he slowly wrote his name!��During the following year, I saw the same thing happen with other students. And that’s when it hit me. Surely other teachers and parents would love instructing cursive in this fast and fun way.��So, I made a plan to create a cursive curriculum for parents and teachers like me who understand the value of cursive handwriting and the worth of preserving it for the next generation.�

2014: Celebrating CursiveLogic with Josh

PresenterPresentation NotesJosh did wake up! It’s been my privilege to play a part in it. In turn, he’s played a part in my life I could never have imagined. His simple wish one day to learn signing his name started a journey that has brought me today, to the National Archives Museum.

January 2015: Josh at the Kickstarter video shoot

The Relevance

Handwriting and the Brain

Mueller, Pam A. and Daniel M. Oppenheimer.

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard: Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking,

Psychological Science, June 2014 Vol. 25 No. 6 1159-1168.

PresenterPresentation NotesStudent who take notes on laptops perform worse on conceptual questionsLaptop usage encourages verbatim transcriptionNote taking by longhand encourages processing, summarizing, and synthesizingEven when told not to transcribe, laptop users can’t help itPersonal story – Law school

Handwriting and Achievement

Lower-level skills: Handwriting, Spelling, Grammar

Higher-level skills: Topic Selection, Planning, Producing, Organizing

PresenterPresentation NotesResearchers consistently find links between quality of handwriting and quality of writingProficiency with lower-level skills frees mental capacity to focus on higher-level skillsWhen handwriting itself is demanding knowledge-telling process decreasesWhen handwriting is taught:Legibility improvesFluency improvesQuality of writing improves(Meta-analysis by Graham and Santangelo, 2012)

Why Teach Cursive?

Academic Performance

Personal Confidence

Cultural Importance

The Method

PresenterPresentation NotesMy purpose Today is

Presenting an overview of the letter strings, then

CursiveLogic: First Strokes & Letter Strings

PresenterPresentation Noteskey features of CursiveLogic

Dividing the lowercase cursive alphabet into four letter sets based on common shape letter (oval, loop, swing, and mound) versus as 26 individual letters andsimilar First Stroke

Teaching letter sets as connected letter strings in a specific letter order (not completely alphabetic).

Associating each letter strings with color-shape alliteration and catch-phrase shape plus direction to reinforce memory

Oval Letter First Strokes

Oval Letter String

Results

PresenterPresentation NotesComments on Monday from a NC therapist

CursiveLogic is the most comprehensive program she’s encountereduses memory tools to facilitate process of learning as well as chunking learning into four groupsless time and so logicalopens up avenues where to go what to do nexta quick way to learn cursive

Young man, third-grade Montessori, struggling with completing work and opting out of workcan really focus on the area, not struggling with directionalityreinforcing so it builds confidence really fast He was thrilled with the way his handwriting looked

Susan Johnston, Willow OaksThird-grader at a Woods Charter School, struggling for several years with directionality, in one month he has gone through the alphabet, his teacher is amazed!Woods Charter School summer camp – woodssummerwonders.com, June 27 – July 1activities – masking tape, ribbon sticks, shaving cream, relays going through the string 

Arlene’s Story –15 year old with Dysgraphia

…handwriting “transformed!”

Before 1 month later

PresenterPresentation NotesArlene’s Story

Carol, a parent who used CursiveLogic last June send us these “before and after” photos of her daughter’s handwriting in just one month.��She relayed the following incident: Shortly after completing her CursiveLogic course, Arlene returned from an outing with friends and slipped off by herself.  When she reemerged later, Carol asked casually what she’d been up to.��Her jaw dropped when she heard Arlene’s reply! “I wanted to write something down in my journal before I forgot.”��For years, Carol had urged and prodded Arlene about journaling—to no avail. Then, within weeks of her new-found cursive skill, and without external prompting, Arlene was confidently expressing her thoughts in writing.

Josh Update—April, 2016

Journaling the Gospel of John

Slide Number 1Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Why Teach Cursive?�Slide Number 11Slide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15Slide Number 16Slide Number 17Slide Number 18Arlene’s Story –15 year old with Dysgraphia Slide Number 20Josh Update—April, 2016Journaling the Gospel of JohnSlide Number 23