Posted on 02/27/2018 5:15:07 PM PST by Olog-hai
Children are struggling to use and pencils because the excessive use of touchscreen phones and iPads is damaging their dexterity, specialists have claimed.
Pediatric doctors, handwriting experts and orthopedic therapists are warning that although youngsters can swipe a screen, they no longer have the hand strength and agility to learn to write correctly when they start school.
Increasingly, the use of digital screens is replacing traditional skills such as drawing, painting and cutting out, which boost fine motor skills and coordination.
“Children coming into school are being given a pencil but are increasingly not be able to hold it because they don’t have the fundamental movement skills,” Sally Payne, the head pediatric occupational therapist at the Heart of England foundation NHS Trust, told The Guardian newspaper. “To be able to grip a pencil and move it, you need strong control of the fine muscles in your fingers. Children need lots of opportunity to develop those skills.”
A recent study in found that 58 percent of under-twos had used a tablet or mobile phone and many nurseries have installed interactive “smartboards”, digital cameras and touch-screen computers to try to expose children to gadgets at an early age. …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Well - sometimes I don’t wonder if my scopes doesn’t do some “self-pointing” all on its own accord!
I guess they don’t teach clocks in school anymore? About the big hand and the little hand and the second hand.
What else could possibly explain those misses?
Then there was pig latin....
Ironic. One-hundred plus years ago, the technology was lacking, but the writing was beautiful. Now the technology is beautiful, but the writing is lacking.
Not seeing this in my house. My neurotypical kids have great fine and gross motor control even after growing up with gameboys or iPads. Calling BS.
Making Facebook bots to cost Hillary the election. NOW we know the REAL reason she lost!!!!
Ever had a colicky baby (actually, we found out later she was teething very early)? When my baby was crying inconsolably at 3 months, out of desperation I put on a baby songs video on my iPad. She stopped immediately and was completely engrossed. It doesn’t seem to have hurt her. She plays outside more than anything else and loves her dolls and art supplies. And sports.
Writing as such may not be a 'necessary skill', but fine motor control of the fingers absolutely IS a necessary capability. Writing, drawing, and playing musical instruments develop fine motor control.
John Dewey was evil, not stupid.
True, but his desire to wipe out handwriting was/is STUPID!
Well, before the Flood, when I learned how to write script in school, we used a straight pen ( dip pen ) and had an inkwell on our desks.And besides practicing in school, we had to do a page of handwriting for homework, every night, plus homework in other subjects. :-)
I agree that it is a bad idea, and that it was intended to create stupid (or, at least, ignorant) people. The distinction I’m making is that he promoted his bad ideas out of malice, not out of lack of intelligence.
No, not the idiotic handwriting thing, because supposedly EVERYONE would just use a typewriter. That was just plain old S-T-U-P-I-D !
“I have very little reason to write by hand and notice if all I do is write the occasional check or list, my handwriting goes downhill pretty quickly.”
I have a similar problem. When I write the occasional check I have to write very slowly. Even when I sign my name I have to write slowly and concentrate on forming each letter. It’s frustrating to me.
When my oldest son was in kindergarten (1991), his teacher told me that he wasn’t gripping crayons or pencils correctly, and she was worried that he would have poor penmanship, among other negative repercussions. She accused me of trying to turn a natural left-hander into a right-hander.
I told her that my husband and 4 other members of his family were lefties, so I was quite comfortable with the idea that my son might be left-handed if that was his natural grip. It wasn’t. She insisted that we work on his fine motor skills through the use of clay, which we did.
Fast forward 25 years. That boy, now a man, has the most beautiful handwriting. Whenever I see it, I want to share a copy of his handwriting to the teacher who said he would have problems later on.
I always presume the reverse of Hanlon’s Razor, especially these days. If Dewey wanted to eliminate handwriting, he had an ulterior motive for that rather than being unmotivated and arbitrary.
Same here. I am teaching my 13yo. Schools should continue to teach it. Cursive is a link to the past. The founders wrote letters in cursive. So did most of our ancestry. They need to be able to read the original documents written in cursive English.
Some schools have also quit drilling multiplication tables. Another sticking point with me. Not having those tables down cold in the beginning sets kids back who learn at a slower pace, which is a self confidence buster.
I remember when Penmanship was taught in schools. Others also taught the art of calligraphy.
Also Cursive.
Give them cell phones with rotary dials.
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