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Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Understand Feelings and Express Emotions

Anyone can become angry – That is easy.
But to be angry with the right person,
To the right degree,
At the right time,
For the right purpose,
And the right way –
This is not easy.
Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethic
"Emotions" by Basia P., 2012

Be happy for this moment.
This moment is your life.
Omar Khayyam 
"Emotions" by Basia P., 2012

You will never be happy
If you continue to search for what happiness consists of.
You will never live
If you are looking for the meaning of life.
Albert Camus
 "Happy World" by Basia P., 2011

Feelings are an important part of our life. In order to live fully and effectively, we need many sources of information (e.g., our senses, thoughts, and perceptions) to guide us, motivate, and help to make sense of things we do and see. Often, there is a strong relationship between the events in our life and our feelings, for example, we feel sad in response to loss, or we feel happy in response to winning a tournament. The feelings are related to our interpretations of events more than to the events themselves. While it is natural to think that we respond only to the events of our life, in fact we make interpretations or judgments of these events, and these interpretations play a key role in our emotional responses. When we stop to think about it, each event could defer a variety of emotional responses. Our interpretation of the event helps link a particular emotional response to that event.

When we feel something we can ask ourselves some questions:
  • What is this feeling?
  • What is this feeling telling me about this situation?
  • Why has this feeling come up right now?
Next comes labeling. 
To learn appropriate vocabularies go to http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/mblake/448/FeelingsList.pdf
Or to http://karlamclaren.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Emotional-Vocabulary.pdf from “The Language of Emotions” by Karla McLaren

Experiencing and expressing emotions are integral parts of our everyday life. We learn to incorporate emotions into our life by observing our surrounding and participating in different situations. Yet, for many people, emotions remain mysterious, confusing, and difficult to express constructively. Just imagine, if it is hard for a grown up how difficult it must be for a child. Just as we have choices about how to interpret an event, we also have options about how to express those feelings we experience. Often we limit the range of our expressive options by believing that there are only two options: either directly expressing them to someone else (e.g., in a personal confrontation), or keeping them to ourselves. In reality, there are many ways to respond to our feelings and express them. To some extent, we express a feeling any time our behavior is influenced by that feeling, but the way we express that feeling, and the intensity of that expression can vary widely. This is where decision - making comes in. First, we consider what our options are, for example, if a close friend is moving away, we may feel very sad about that. We have many options, for example, we can tell our friend how much we will miss him/her and make a special effort to spend more time with him/her. These options may be painful at the time, but they give us the opportunity to express our feelings to our friend. On the other hand, we can avoid the friend until he/she leaves town, so we won’t have to say good-bye, or we can stay busy making other friends, so we won’t miss this particular friend as much after he/she leaves. These choices may allow us to postpone or avoid painful feelings at the time, but they do not provide the opportunity for closure with our friend. The point is that we have options, and it’s our decision.

Here are some questions to think about when deciding how to respond to your feelings:
  • Does the intensity of my feelings match the situation?
  • Do I have several feelings that I need to pay attention to?
  • What interpretations or judgments am I making about this event?
  • What are my options for expressing my feelings?
  • What are the consequences of each option for me?
  • What are the consequences of each option for others?
  • What result am I hoping for?
  • What do I want to do?
  • What if I do nothing?
Our families helped shape our attitudes about emotions, abilities to identify emotions, ways of interpreting events, and ways of expressing emotions. If we are having difficulties in any of these processes and are trying to change them, we may find it helpful to consider what we learned about them from our family. Many people do not recall being taught “family rules” concerning emotions, but such teachings occurred, whether directly or indirectly. A subtle example might be when a parent left the room whenever we got angry, thus indicating that expressions of anger were unacceptable. In other families a parent may yell, “Don’t raise your voice at me,” suggesting a rule against the child’s expressing anger, but subtly conveying the rule that expressions of parental anger are permissible. Identifying our family’s rules can help us change the ways we experience and express our emotions.

En examples of my family rules:

  • Never ignore your feelings, but trust them.
  • Treat other people’s feelings as your own.
  • Don’t use anger to get attention.
  • Express your anger with words in civilized manner.
  • Trust others with your feelings and don’t keep them just to yourself.
  • Be happy when it is time for happiness. Mourn when it is time for mourning. 
As the parents we must help our children to learn, understand and express their feelings and emotions. If our child says that he or she is worried or scared, you shouldn’t say "No you're not!" or "You're fine." That doesn't help our child. Instead, it is likely to make our child believe that we do not listen or do not understand him/her. Instead, we should validate our child's experience by saying things like "Yes, you seem scared. What are you worried about?" Then have a discussion about our child's emotions and fears. Once we have validated our child's emotions and demonstrated that we understand his, her experience and listened to what our child had to say, we should help our child to solve a problem. It doesn’t mean we should solve the problem for our child, but it means we help our child to identify possible solutions. If our child can generate solutions, that is great, if not, generate some potential solutions for our child and ask our child to pick the solution that he or she thinks would work best.

Techniques of Active Listening adapted from The Inner Resilience Program
Paraphrasing - Repeat what was said
Encouraging - Tell me more… Anything else?
Clarifying - Where, why how questions, e.g. When did this happen?
Reflecting - State the feelings. You seem upset, angry, etc.
Validating - Express appreciation for sharing, e.g. I’m glad you came to me.
Summarizing – Restate major ideas and feelings expressed, e.g. These seem to be the key ideas.

Teach your child to express his/her anxiety.
"Angry Girl" by Basia P., 2012
Listen carefully to your child and answer the questions.
Talking, Cambodia 2013
Try to find the best solution.
Vietnam, 2013
Use an interactive book “How Do I Feel?” by Greenhouse Publications http://www.greenhousepub.com/howdoifeel.html
Make emotion prints and masks.

Practice opened questions associate to social situations.
Vietnam, 2013

Play Theater

Concluding: Learning to experience our feelings fully and expressing them in ways that are adaptive and healthy is not a simple process, but there are some key components that can help. In general, it is important to become a good observer of our feelings, to accept and value them, and to attend to what they signal to us. We should pay attention to how our interpretations and thoughts affect how we feel and also how the lessons learned in our family about emotional expression continue to influence our behavior. When deciding how to express how we feel, give some thought to all of our options. And most importantly, we should be patient and don’t become discouraged when we find ourselves struggling with this process. Learning to experience and express our emotions is a life-long process.

References and Resources:
Burns, David (1980 ), Feeling Good. New York: Avon Books
Ellis, Albert (1962), Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy. New York: Lyle Stuart
Jeffers, Susan (1987), Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. San Diego: Harcourt Brace
Lerner, Harriet (1985 ), The Dance of Anger. New York: Harper & Row
Potter-Efron, Ronald & Potter-Efron, Patricia (1989, 1995), Letting Go of Shame. New York: Harpercollins Publishers
Rubins, Isaac (1969, 1997), The Angry Book. New York: Simon & Schuster

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Pet Loss and Child’s Grief

Basia with Terrence, 2013
Children respond to death different way as adults do. Their normal reaction is more natural, inquisitive and diverse. How the child responds depends on the strength of the bond with a pet, as well as child’s age and developmental stage. We may be astonished how much our child does know about death. The universal subject of passing away is known to a child through fairy-tales, legends, TV, movies, or schoolmates and friends.
Basia with Terrence, 2013
The death of a child’s beloved pet matters a great deal in child’s life. It is often the first death experienced by a child. Children naturally develop strong attachments to companion animals, relating them often as siblings, playmates, and even imaginary protectors. Although children experience grief differently than adults, they do grieve. They need support and guidance to understand their loss, to mourn that loss, and to find ways to remember and memorialize their deceased loved one. Children look to us for guidance in word as well action. The death of a beloved pet presents an emotional stress, even for a well-adjusted adult. Thus, it is important for adults to access grief supports for themselves, in order to deal with their emotions and be more effective parents for their children. Also, we must avoid projecting our own over concerns on a child, creating problems that would not have otherwise existed. Children see tears and grief, and they learn from total immersion what grief means. We shouldn’t try to protect them from the reality, but let them share their feelings and hear something about ours, to a reasonable degree - according to their maturity and ability to understand. This will help them to know that grief is normal and is acceptable, in whatever loss they are experiencing. We should teach the kids that ultimately, all life is change and growth. That is a very hard lesson to learn, but a necessary one. They need to understand that tears in a loving and understanding environment can help people get past the worst of the sadness. And through experience they will later learn that time will always help make things feel better. How the whole situation is handled will remain with the child for the rest of his or her life.
Hamster Terrence and Basia, 2014

Age Developmental Stages of Grieving
2-3 Year Olds…
… do not have the life experiences to understand death. They should be told the pet has died and will not return. It is important that they be reassured that they did not do or say anything to cause the death. Children at this age may not understand what death really means, but they will sense and copy your emotions and behavior. Note that it is good to cry and show your own feelings of grief, but these must be controlled and perceived as a normal response to the loss of a loved one. Extra reassurance, as well as maintaining usual routines will help the child. At this age a child will usually accept a new pet very easily.
Terrence, 2013
4-6 Year Olds…
…usually have some understanding of death but may not comprehend the permanence of it. They may even think the pet is asleep or continuing to eat, breathe and play. They may also feel that past anger towards their pet, or some perceived bad behavior was responsible for its death. Manifestations of grief may include a change in playing, eating and sleeping habits. Through frequent, brief discussions allow the child to express feelings and concerns. Give extra reassurance. Drawing pictures and writing stories about their loss may be helpful. Include the child in any funeral arrangements.
Basia with Terrence, 2014
7-9 Year Olds…
… know that death is irreversible. They do not normally think this might happen to them, but they may be concerned about the death of their parents. They are very curious and may ask questions that appear morbid. These questions are natural and are best answered frankly and honestly. At this age they may manifest their grief in many ways, such as school problems, anti-social behavior, somatic or physical concerns, aggression, and withdrawal or clinging behavior. It is important that they be reassured that they did not do or say anything that caused the death.
Terrence, 2014
Basia for her Terrence, 2014
10-11 Year Olds…
… are usually able to understand that death is natural, inevitable and happens to all living things. They often react to death in a manner very similar to adults, using their parent’s attitude as their model. A pet’s death can trigger memories of previous losses of any kind, and this should always be open for discussion.
Basia with Terrence, 2013
Adolescents…
… react similarly to adults. However, the typical adolescent span of expression can range from apparent total lack of concern to hyper-emotional. One day they want to be treated like an adult, and the next day they need to be reassured like a young child. Peer approval is also very important. If friends are supportive, it is much easier for them to deal with a loss. Also, keep in mind that an adolescent is trying to find his or her own true feelings, and may be prone to conflict with a parent on how to express feelings and grief, at this time. It is important to avoid antagonisms over this.
Terrence, 2013
Young Adults…
… can hardly be called children, the loss of a pet in this age group can be particularly hard. They may also have feelings of guilt for abandoning their pets when leaving home for college, work or marriage. There may have been a very close relationship with that pet since early childhood. Among other pressures experienced after the departure from home, this can add additional stress. Due to geographical distances, they are often unable to return to the family home to say goodbye to the pet or participate in family rituals associated with the loss.
Basia with Terrence, 2014

Sharing a book about the Loss of a Pet can provide comfort to a child of different age 
and opportunity for express his, her feelings.
Terrence, 2014

1. Goodbye Mousie by Robie H. Harris
(Aladdin, 2004. ISBN: 9780689871344)

2. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst
(Atheneum, 1971. ISBN: 9780689206887)

3. Jasper’s Day by Marjorie Blain Parker
(Kids Can Press, 2002. ISBN: 9781550749571)

4. Lifetimes: The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children by Bryan Mellonie
(Bantam, 1983. ISBN: 9780553344028)

5. Toby by Margaret Wild
(Ticknor & Fields, 1994. ISBN: 9780395670248)

6. Saying Goodbye to Lulu by Caroline Demas
(Little, Brown and Company, 2004. ISBN: 9780316702782)

7. Murthy and Kate by Ellen Howard
(Aladdin, Simon & Schuster, 2007. ISBN: 9781416961574)

8. Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant
(Scholastic, 1995. ISBN: 9780590417013)
Brave New Publishing www.bravenewpub.com Editing, Marketing and Submission Consulting for the Brave New Author
TheBest Book for Teens www.aimhigh101tips.com 101 Tips to Help Teens Succeed in School & Life. Download Free eBook.

9. Jim's Dog Muffins by Miriam Cohen
(Star Bright Books, 2008. ISBN: 9781595720993)

10. Cat Heaven by Cynthia Rylant
(Blue Sky Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780590100540)

Friday, April 18, 2014

Meaning of Feelings and Emotions

To teach our children how to express own Feelings and Emotions we have to understand and be able to identify them ourselves. Each of the emotion has a specific purpose and place in our life. We need happiness, sadness, anger, fear, jealousy, envy, guilt, grief, shame, and even depression every now and then. One of the biggest trick to leave a happy live is to let the emotion come and go, and to not treat it one better or more important than the other. Here they are after Karla McLaren based on her book “The Language of Emotions.”
Happiness
Happiness is a rest stop emotion. If we treat happiness as an emotion we need all the time, we’ll suffer without necessity when our other emotions arise. If all we know and all we want is happiness, we’ll tend to avoid, ignore, suppress, or mistreat our other emotions, and then we won’t be happy too often. When we work skillfully with “negative” emotions subsequently we feel happy, contented, or pleased.

Sadness
Sadness is an emotion that most of us try to avoid; nevertheless listening to sadness can help us to let go of things that don’t work, so that we can make changes in our lives and room for things that work for us. Sadness has a powerful physical component that drops us downhill - and if it stays activated for too long, it can obstruct our sleep, eating, or even our hormonal system. Just as it is with any other emotion, sadness shouldn’t be with us forever. It should do its job and move forward. Grieving is a negative emotion and much different from sadness. Grief arises not when we need to let something go, but when we have no choice about letting it go, and when we’re losing something over which we have no control. Grieving is a slow and languid process that takes its own time.

Anger
Anger is a mood state, but quite important. It helps us to set boundaries, protect our sense of self, and take our stand in the world. Anger helps us to guard our position, voice, standpoint, and individuality. Anger is a very social emotion, which brings us a great deal of energy, forcefulness, and focus. If we can understand its nuances and subtleties, we can function more intelligently in our social world. When we know we feel anger, we can make an intelligent emotional decision about what to do. We should ask ourselves a question: What must be protected or restored?  Asking the inner question can help us to direct that intensity into a healthy action.

Fear
Fear is our intuition, the emotion that tells us when change is occurring, when we need to adjust to something in our environment, and when we need to take action to avoid harm or injury. We must be aware of the fact that fear requires us to check in and figure out what we’re being alerted to. Asking a question: What action should we take? can help us to identify and work with our fear in useful way. Fear is a lifesaving emotion that primes our brain, muscles, and all of our senses for action. If our fear is stuck in a feedback loop, we may become overwhelmed and exhausted by the activation it causes.  It’s important to be able to calm our body so that we can get back into a workable relationship with our fear.

Shame and Guilt
Guilt is a concrete status; we are either guilty or not guilty, while shame is a natural emotion, a consequence of guilt and misconduct. When we didn’t do something wrong, we are not guilty. However, if we are guilty, and we want to know what to do about the fact of our guilt, then we have to learn to work with the information shame brings to us. Here is a positive aspect of shame. The practice for shame is to understand it as anger toward ourselves, which means that we can make reparation and change our behavior. This kind of shame is called “appropriate shame,” because it relates to something real and fixable. If our shame is appropriate, it will stop us from doing something we shouldn’t do, and it will help us to change our behavior and make amends. However, there is another form of shame called “applied” or “foreign” shame, which comes from shaming messages we pick up from others and incorporate into our life. Applied shame can be toxic, especially if it relates to us not being good enough, smart enough, lovable enough, etc.) In that case we need to work on a good strategy to end applied shame.

Jealousy and Envy
Even though jealousy and envy are separate emotional states they carry similar information. Jealousy arises in response to unfaithfulness or deceit in an intimate relationship, while envy arises in response to the unfair distribution of resources or recognition. Both emotions contain a mixture of boundary-protecting anger and intuitive fear. Both exist to help us to set or restore lost boundaries after they’ve assessed an authentic risk to our security or our position. On the other hand, if we suppress our jealousy and envy, we would have trouble to identify or relate to reliable companions, and we would be disrupted by our disastrous attempts to bolster our self-respect and security. Both jealousy and envy arise when we have detected a risk to our social and personal security. Shutting them down is incorrect. When we stifle our jealousy and envy, we not only lose our awareness of the situations that brought them forward, but also we lose our emotional agility, our instincts, and our ability to navigate through our social world and relationships.
To learn appropriate vocabularies go to
from “The Language of Emotions” by Karla McLaren
Or another choice http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/mblake/448/FeelingsList.pdf

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Handwriting Matters

Basia Practicing Strokes, 2014
The research shows that:
  • “For children, handwriting is extremely important. Not how well they do it, but that they do it and practice it,” said Indiana University Professor Karin Harman James.
  • Indiana University researchers found that those children who printed letters in a four-week study, rather than saying them, showed brain activity more similar to adults.
  • The printing practice also improves letter recognition, which is the No. 1 predictor of reading ability at age 5.
  • Handwriting is faster. Researchers who tested second-, fourth- and sixth-graders found that children compose essays more prolifically - and faster - when using a pen rather than a keyboard. In addition, fourth- and sixth-graders wrote more complete sentences when they used a pen, according to the study, led by Virginia Berninger, a University of Washington professor of educational psychology who studies normal writing development and writing disabilities. Her research has also shown that forming letters by hand may engage our thinking brains differently than pressing down on a key.
  • Handwriting aids memory. If you write yourself a list or a note - then lose it - you're much more likely to remember what you wrote than if you just tried to memorize it, said occupational therapist Katya Feder, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa School of Rehabilitation.
  • Good handwriting can mean better grades. Studies show that the same mediocre paper is graded much higher if the handwriting is neat and much lower if the writing is not.
  • Legible cursive writing averages no faster than printed handwriting of equal or greater legibility. The fastest, clearest handwriters are neither the print-writers nor the cursive writers. The highest speed and highest legibility in handwriting are attained by those who join only some letters, not all of them – making only the simplest of joins, omitting the rest, and using print-like shapes for letters whose printed and cursive shapes disagree.
  • Handwriting proficiency inspires confidence. The more we practice a skill such as handwriting, the stronger the motor pathways become until the skill becomes automatic. Once it's mastered, children can move on to focus on the subject, rather than worry about how to form letters.
  • Handwriting engages different brain circuits than keyboarding. The contact, direction and pressure of the pen or pencil send the brain a message. And the repetitive process of handwriting "integrates motor pathways into the brain," said Feder. When it becomes automatic or learned, "there's almost a groove in the pathways," she said. The more children write, the more pathways are laid down. But if they write them poorly, then they're getting a faulty pathway, so you want to go back and correct it," Feder said.
Check sources of research
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
It is an English-language pangram - a phrase,
That contains all of the letters of the alphabet.
To practice your handwriting use materials listed below. You can also check my other post about proper handwriting http://slpzone.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-to-improve-handwriting.html
Basia Practicing Strokes, 2014
Plain Practice Sheet - Intermediate
Practice Guide Sheets for Calligraphy
Practice Strokes

Handwriting Practices – on easel, practicing patterns into counterclockwise or clockwise direction, 15 minute limit

Handwriting Movement – smooth your print script writing with exit stroke/ cursive

How to Correct Conventional Cursive

How to Fix Common Handwriting Problems

Letter and Word Sheets from KidZone
http://www.kidzone.ws/ to check for more printouts.

Calligraphy for Beginners http://calligraphyforbeginners.com/ with videos

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

How to Improve Tripod Grasp and Handwriting?

When you write your body and mind need collaboration, coordination and right order.
  • Your shoulder needs to stay steady while your wrist and elbow move in just the right way.
 
See Couching Ergonomics - The Position Skills
  • Your eyes have to follow what your hand is doing.
  • Your brain needs to know how words and letters are supposed to look and make decisions about what you want to write.

Steps TImprove Tripod Grasp and Handwriting
  1. Get a Great Grasp!
Follow these instructions when helping your child with their pencil grip:
  • Make an OK sign with your fingers.
  • Place the pencil between your thumb and pointer finger.
  • Rest your pencil on the end of your middle finger.
  • Tuck your other two fingers in towards your palm.
  • Make sure that the end of your pencil is pointing backwards and is resting on the base of your thumb.
“DIY Pencil Grip to Improve Handwriting” by Tiffany Birt, Occupaional Therapist - video

  1. Sick to the Paper with Lines!
Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion. Proportion means that one thing is the right size compared with the other. So your lowercase "a" should be half the height of a capital "A." Be sure to fill up the lined space completely. Those capital letters should stretch from the bottom line to the top one. Lines also can keep you writing straight instead of uphill or downhill.
  1. Slow Down!
Slow down your writing. When you rush, it's hard to control where you stop and start your letters, and you end up making more mistakes and erasing more frequently.
  1. Lower Pressure on a Pen!
When you press down really hard it makes it harder to make the smooth lines needed for writing, especially cursive. Try easing up, don't grip the pencil as tightly, and let your pencil mark the paper without going all the way through.
  1. Play Games!
Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. To have better control of how your hands move try games.
    • “Jenga” Game - During the game, players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. Each block removed is then balanced on top of the tower, creating a progressively taller but less stable structure. The game ends when the tower falls in even a minor way. The winner is the last person to successfully remove and place a block.
    • “Don't Spill the Beans” Game - is a children's game for 2 or more players ages 3-6. The object of the game is to toss all one's plastic beans into a pot without tipping the pot over and "spilling the beans". Players are given a pile of beans, and take turns placing them inside a plastic tipping pot. If a player's bean causes the pot to spill over, all the spilled beans are added to their pile. Play continues until one player has put all of his beans into the pot making him the winner.
    • To strengthen the muscles you need for writing, you can also do that while you're playing board games or acting, e.g.: Pretend you're a famous writer or designer who gives autographs.
See educational video “Practical Advice to Help Improve Handwriting” by Amanda McLeod. She gives tips to parents who want to help support their children with handwriting at home, covering lighting, sitting position, pencil position, paper position, and an overview of the common errors that can be found in writing.

Check also “We Write to Read” from Peterson Directed Handwriting

To see series of lessons on handwriting by Nan Jay Barchowsky go onto Monkey See

Or watch them on you tube:
Setting Up Your Handwriting Practice Area – body position
Handwriting Practices – on easel, practicing patterns into counterclockwise or clockwise direction, 15 minute limit
Essential Elements of Handwriting – pen position
Fine Motor Movement of Handwriting – relaxed, automatic kind of action
Handwriting Movement – smooth your print script writing with exit stroke/ cursive
How to Correct Conventional Cursive
How to Fix Common Handwriting Problems
How to Make Your Handwriting Personal

Articles on Handwriting
Backto the Basics of a Legible Hand by Samuel G. Freedman (New York Times)
Beginning Handwriting by Dianne Paul
FountainPen Makes a Comeback in Scotland by Ellen Delisio and Gary Hopkins (Education World)
Gifted,but Handwriting is Terrible by Noreen H. Joslyn (Family Education)
Groominga Handwriting Champion (New York Times) by Michael Winerip
Handwriting Practiceand Pencil Grips by Sandy Naidu (iSnare)
Handwriting Readiness: Locatives andVisuomotor Skills in the Kindergartner Year by Deborah Marr, Mary-Margaret Windsor, and Sharon Cermak
Handwriting Worksheets by Dave Text (iSnare)
How to Teach Handwriting by Kathryn L. Stout, B.S.Ed., M.Ed.
Lost Art of Handwriting by Gerard Noonan
LD Online: Helping Your Child toBetter Handwriting - American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.and American Occupational Therapy Foundation
Penmanship:Fine Art to Lost Art by Mary B. W. Tabor (New York Times)
Printing, CursiveHandwriting, and Special Needs by Pamela Wilson (BellaOnline))
Putting pencil to paper By Deb Dau (Independent, Southwestern Minnesot'a Daily Newspaper)
Schools back off penmanship, but Morris girls excel by Laura Bruno, Daily Record, May 5, 2009
TeachingHandwriting to Children by Nick Ramsy (article city)
Views on cursive writing by Ryan Platt
Writing Disabilities Common, especially in Boys Article about dysgraphia (problems with handwriting, spelling and organizing thoughts on paper)