Did you know that learning cursive has been shown to boost brain development in key areas like language, memory, and critical thinking? Writing in cursive is more than just a handwriting style—it’s a powerful exercise for a child’s brain. It significantly strengthens fine motor skills while enhancing cognitive function, making it an essential tool for early learning and overall mental growth.
Neurologist Frank Wilson wrote in his book, “The Hand: How its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, And Human Culture”, “teachers should not try to educate the mind by itself. If educators continue to dissolve the disciplines that involve the hands and the body in full movement , much of the knowledge will be poorly processed and inadequately learned.”
Writing in cursive activates multiple regions of the brain simultaneously, enhancing neural connectivity, memory retention, and fine motor skills—especially important in developing children. Unlike typing or print writing, cursive requires continuous movement and fluid hand-eye coordination, which strengthens the brain’s sensorimotor integration and stimulates the left and right hemispheres. Studies have shown that children who practice cursive tend to process and retain information more deeply, leading to improved reading comprehension, spelling, and overall literacy. Cursive writing also reinforces learning patterns that support emotional expression and creativity, offering a cognitive boost that’s difficult to replicate through digital means alone.
4 Health Reasons to Write in Cursive
1. Helps with learning
A study published by the Association for Psychological Science found that taking notes by hand improves comprehension. When a child learns to read and write in cursive, they must effectively apply fine motor skills with visual and tactile processing abilities.
2. Helps brain development
An article in Psychology Today states “the brain develops functional specialization that integrates both sensation, movement control, and thinking.” Brain imaging shows how engaged the brain is while learning cursive:
To write legible cursive, fine motor control is needed over the fingers. You have to pay attention and think about what and how you are doing it. You have to practice. Brain imaging studies show that cursive activates areas of the brain that do not participate in keyboarding..
3. Helps those with dyslexia
The article in Washington Post on dyslexia and cursive writing states, “Because all letters in cursive start on a base line, and because the pen moves fluidly from left to right, cursive is easier to learn for dyslexic students who have trouble forming words correctly.”
4. Keeps Your Brain Sharp
By utilizing fine motor-skills, memory, writing by hand is a very important effective cognitive exercise for aging brains.
Leave a Reply