Domtar posted an article on the benefits of writing by hand. It’s seems odd to me that they would say it helps dyslexics. Sure, I can understand writing cursive is better than printing, but handwriting is something you don’t have to do in this age. As someone who lives with the challenges of dyslexia, I can tell you firsthand that typing and text to speech are the easiest ways to write for dyslexics.
I don’t view dyslexia as a disability. People with dyslexia are wired differently and are not as proficient at some tasks as others. However, we can also do something better than people who are not dyslexic. There are benefits from writing by hand, but I’m not sure it helps people who are dyslexic the same way it does others. There isn’t enough data on the subject.
Most dyslexics are nonverbal learners, we think in picture, 3-dimensional, multi-sensory images, and as a result we have a much quicker thought process. You know the saying about a picture and a thousand words; this is how we can process ideas much quicker. When I have to slow down the way I think, I tend to lose information I want to communicate. It’s like having a great Idea and not being able to write it down immediately, as it slips away.
P. A. Harper writes about sustainability in all its many forms, is the founder of the Brooklyn Writer’s Exchange, loves to read, drinks too much tea, and writes fiction.
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