Learning how to fluently and legibly write in cursive is a skill most of us learned in school. And while many states do require it, many don’t. Learning how to properly write in cursive also comes with numerous benefits! Although some people have some questions, like:
- Why is cursive important?
- Cursive isn’t taught in common core english writing, why should we learn it or teach it to our children?
- Are there benefits to cursive writing?
Well, Here are just five reasons. Afterwards, you (or your children) will know the benefits of cursive writing. And if you’re already learning it’s why to keep going!
5 Benefits of Cursive Writing
1. Improved Neural Connection
Especially in today’s world, many people ask the question “Why do we learn cursive? Why is cursive writing even important?” Cursive handwriting is proven to stimulate the brain in ways that typing can’t.
This type of writing also:
- Improves dynamic interplay of the left and right cerebral hemispheres
- Helps build neural pathways
- Increases mental effectiveness overall
Learning cursive writing is also proven to improve neural connection and activity in parts of the brain. All of these connections interact with language, writing, and memory.
That’s a lot of science speak, but let’s break it down a bit.
Basically, when learning cursive your brain is actively works to memorize the muscle movement. The movement of how you are writing each letter and sentence.
Side note: Although most cursive letters in the alphabet are similar to their handwritten counterparts, exceptions exist. So, learning and writing those letters take a bit of extra time and practice.
2. Motor Skills!
When learning cursive and actively using it, specifically in children, they also learn how to position paper and their writing utensil. They are also learning how much force is needed on their paper and how much force they need to apply to push the words to create fluent cursive writing and to form legible sentences.
When children learn cursive and start writing in cursive they are also learning how to properly form sentences from left to write on paper. They start to understand sentence and word spacing. As an adult or child cursive writing also helps improve hand-eye coordination because of the unique writing style, between the connection of letters and consistency between words and sentences when writing in cursive.
Overall teaching a child cursive doesn’t do any harm. If anything it would put the child ahead of their peers in motor skills development, hand writing, and overall cognition. Learning cursive as an adult may be intimidating but it is extremely beneficial. And will help the gears in your head continue turning and your knowledge to continue expanding!
3. Self Discipline and Professionalism
When learning cursive writing some people may quickly learn that this writing form can be difficult. Whether you struggle with forming the letters, letter connection, or reading cursive, it is understandable that a lot of people may want to give up on the art, but DO NOT!
Cursive writing, as mentioned before, has numerous benefits! Regardless, if you are a child, teenager, or adult trying to learn cursive or actively seeking out to learn the writing form, do it! Cursive writing is great for self discipline, fine motor skills, and advanced hand-eye coordination.
A cursive signature helps with professionalism in a person’s workplace, making the signature and the person look clean, professional, and educated!
4. Grammar, Spelling, and Overall Understanding!
Children who learn cursive writing sometimes find themselves better with understanding sentence form . Plus, a potential correlation between learning cursive with improved grammar and spelling exists. These skillful habits develop overtime when the child is learning cursive because cursive has a lot of repetition when learning the art form.
While the children are learning cursive, rewriting each letter and word they are also learning things like letter structure, word structure, and sentence structure. A study at Université de Sherbrooke, in Quebec, Canada, has actually shown that children who learn cursive at a young age are more likely to become better at spelling and writing. Children and adults who use cursive often write faster and more fluently.
5. Learning Disability Program Aid
Although the topic of aiding children with learning disabilities is pretty prominent in schools today, efficient help isn’t in that conversation. Public education often believes aid is going to be costly and inefficient for the cost. What the public school system hasn’t looked into however, is how the resources they already have can help benefit and rejuvenate their programs and aid.
Children who suffer from dyslexia get their letters, letter sounds, and word combination and pronunciations mixed up. Children with dyslexia specifically were in a study tracking things like their overall reading and spelling progress over a period of time.
The children in the cursive writing program had shown significant progress over a few weeks in their reading, spelling, and understanding sentence structure. Some of the children reported the ease of reading cursive, to their teachers’ surprise, due to the connection between letters when forming words.
Ready to Teach Your Kids (or Students) Cursive?
Overall whether you are an adult wanting to explore a new writing art form, a parent wanting to excel their child to the next step in their education, or simply someone trying to learn cursive writing form, there are no cons to indulging some of your time everyday to learning, practicing, and mastering cursive art form.
Need guidance while learning the cursive alphabet? Head over to our cursive alphabet tutorials. For practical writing tips to get started check out our “Write in Cursive” page!
