"research-based and includes basic letter formation and keyboarding indicators included in the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, national and local technology standards and policy, state handwriting and keyboarding standards, studies in motor skills development from occupational therapists and data on language (written and oral) and brain activation from academic researchers".
You can get more information on the standards on the Zaner-Bloser website.
View the final Written Language Production Standards for Handwriting and Keyboarding.
After perusing the document quickly, it has a great summary of the research on why handwriting is a functional skill that is necessary for literacy, enhances neurological development and facilities writing fluency. It also discusses why children need to learn both handwriting and keyboarding to be successful in this age of technology.
For each grade level kindergarten through grade 8, it provides standards for form and legibility, spacing and size, direction and alignment, rate and fluency, writing application and word processing (only grades 4-8).
Experienced and new pediatric occupational and physical therapists will benefit from reading this comprehensive document.
3 comments:
Thought this was interesting, but I've found that after cursive writing is introduced in 3rd grade, it's not required to be used. Keyboarding is also not a daily activity for most students. I find it hard to improve accuracy and fluency without daily practice.
I also noted that the standards require forward slant for all cursive ... How will that affect users of programs such as HwTears, which require vertical cursive along with vertical manuscript?
Kate - interesting point. Something to remember is that the standards have been created by a group of people but it is backed by Zaner Bloser, a top competitor to HWT.
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