Massive Search Spike for "Learn Cursive" After Today Show Segment

Key Takeaways

• After the Today Show on January 20th, where hosts discussed cursive handwriting, results for learning cursive spiked on Google.
• The segment discussed the growing number of schools that have chosen to reintroduce cursive handwriting as an essential part of the curriculum.
• Learning how to write block and cursive letters is linked to the support of fine motor skills and brain development.
• Multiple terms saw a spike in engagement, including searches for “learn cursive,” “cursive writing,” “learning cursive online,” and “abc in cursive.”

There are many misconceptions about cursive handwriting among parents, including that kids just aren’t interested in learning it. However, this isn’t an isolated art form that has no place in our modern world! In fact, cursive handwriting is inextricably linked with a number of developmental milestones for children.

From practicing fine motor skills to enhancing literacy, cursive is an essential part of learning how to read, write, and engage with the world. So when cursive writing search terms spiked after a recent Today Show segment, we reviewed the link between cursive writing, literacy, and general education. Take a look at what Dr. Beverly Moskowitz, pediatric Occupational Therapist and founder of Real OT Solutions®, has to say about it.

Cursive & Brain Development

Handwriting, in general, and cursive writing, specifically, have major effects on brain development. In fact, while handwriting already stimulates brain development, cursive handwriting offers a natural progression of these complex cognitive processes. Once they’ve learned how to write block letters, cursive requires students to enhance their hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills to master the unique, flowing movements of this type of writing.

“MRIs taken of children's brains while they are in the process of writing by hand show huge spikes of electrical activity in the reading centers of the brain.”

—Beverly Moskowitz

Connecting letters as you write requires more concentration and attention to detail than writing with block letters. And as students master the intricacy of cursive, their legibility and speed of their regular handwriting also improve.

Other Benefits

There are many reasons to learn cursive beyond basic cognitive and movement development. Many students report a sense of accomplishment when they master cursive writing, helping them learn about goal-setting and motivation. Others report feeling more comfortable expressing themselves as they develop a unique, completely personalized writing style.

The Downfall of Cursive Writing

In an increasingly digital world, is it really any surprise that schools stopped prioritizing the development of analog skills? Cursive handwriting practice is one of many programs that were discarded over the years, along with home economics and etiquette. 

However, many factors contributed to the decline of cursive instruction over the years beyond simple obsolescence, including:

• The rise of Common Core: Many schools introduced a streamlined new program around the year 2000 with a focus on what they believed were the core competencies of general education. Teachers were often forced to choose where to allocate their resources, deeming cursive writing expendable when pressured to prioritize analytical reading and informational writing.

• A focus on digital literacy: Desktop computers, laptops, cellphones, and tablets saw an exponential rise in accessibility and usage. Why would teachers focus on handwriting when they needed to introduce students to rapidly evolving technology? Typing classes, coding basics, and keyboarding basics became critical to successfully completing assignments.

• Redefining what literacy means: When striving to encompass the digital world in our understanding of literacy, many decided that skills like handwriting were archaic. Cursive was now considered a specialized skill with limited applications when compared to multimodal communication that incorporated images, text, audio, and more.

• Lack of resources: There are only so many resources available for school instruction. From classrooms that needed to be converted into computer labs to choosing the right teacher development workshops to train staff, schools constantly had to make choices on where to focus their time, space, and money.

Using Cursive to Address the Challenges

COVID-19 highlighted a general trend many educators have been seeing for some time: developmental gaps, delays in fine motor skills, and low test scores across all subjects. Additionally, studies show that the rise of AI assistants may have even more significant effects on development. And so, schools and educators are seeking to course-correct with a return to traditional teaching methods, like teaching handwriting.

Some ways in which cursive can address these modern challenges include:

• Reintroducing methodical, repetitive learning that’s essential to acquiring proficiency in new skills through movement.
• Engaging with motor learning theory, where both constant and random variable practice time are essential for ensuring drilled and unconscious learning.
• Focusing on handwriting to develop other life skills, like patience, concentration, discipline, and perseverance.

Bringing basic skills back into the curriculum may enhance reading and comprehension skills, encourage cognitive and fine motor development, and provide increasingly important historical and cultural perspectives.

The case for cursive finds support both in the beginnings of our educational process and through to the end. We start learning cursive writing, which can help students with cognitive function and fine motor skills, and reinforce it to ensure they can read historical documents and engage with famous literature.

Finding Support

If your child’s school is one that’s bringing cursive back into the classroom, you may start to see a difference in their learning development. Students with immature and illegible writing will likely improve over time, and reading will become easier. However, you might want to get a jump on what’s going on in the classroom with a cursive homeschool curriculum to encourage faster skill development.

"Whether in response to parents' demands or their own recognition of the glaring oversight in balanced and holistic learning, the departments of education in numerous states have begun mandating the reintroduction of cursive handwriting in the curriculum."

—Dr. Bev

You can take charge of what your child learns at home with workbooks, posters, and adaptive practice paper that can make a real difference. Find solutions that work when you browse the blog at Real OT Solutions® to discover how you can reinforce handwriting lessons at home.