How important actually is learning to write?

[grassisjeweled]

I mean, actual handwriting? Especially in this day and age, computers, screens, typing, etc etc.

Just pondering as DS is learning to write at school and obviously the teacher is insisting his handwriting is neater. Which I get. My handwriting was terrible and never got any better BUT that was 1988 and I can understand why they insisted it was better. But nowadays?

Why is it so important?

DS has dyslexia, dyspraxia and ASD. In the classroom, he uses a mix of blue paper exercise books (to reduce visual stress) and his computer for longer writes.

In y5, he's beginning to write his name accuately, all 5 letters of it, and for children like him, there needs to be a balance between the wider benefits of the writing process, and actually getting his ideas into a legible form in a timely fashion which in reality is worth developing his typing skills. He will have assistance either word processing or dictation in exams.

This year has shown the value of traditional learning and that more tech is not necessarily better.

Beyond education, people rarely do extended writing by hand (although doctors were always famed for their illegible scrawl)

It's amazing how little progression there has been on the development of speech/ writing/ text software to make it practical for wide ranging use.

I had an arquement of a dyslexiv fb page as I said how important it was. (my handwritting is terrible.) GReat if you can have a scribe. (I never have.) Acccess to a computer. (again only for driving theory test, when doing exams.). But for every day I do have to do a certain amount of writting. SAying children don,t have to learn is not empowering them.

It's rather like saying "We all have calculators, what's the point in learning maths?" Because as PPs have pointed out, it really really helps with learning! And it's still a vital skill to have.

My ds learned to write in infant school in a particular ordinary style, but when he moved to junior school (not the usual feeder one) they insisted on starting strokes on the initial letters of words. His infant school had not taught them to do this, the feeder one did, so he was alone in not beginning words in this way and had to relearn it. It took him until Y6 to earn "the pen" and this was the only thing that held him back. I thought it was actually stupid; it didn't help with the flow of the word and it took his focus away from what he was supposed to be writing about.

He's in Y8 now and his writing is still lacking fluidity and he is slow to get his ideas down on paper. I wish I had persevered more with getting him to practise loops and swirls, etc, so that he could write legibly a bit faster. I would recommend to you OP that you help your DS to achieve fluidity by practising a lot in different mediums, like in sand, with bath crayons, chalks, even writing in the air (all suggestions made by YR teacher). Frequent practice is really vital!

It does make a difference, and writing is still important and will be for a long time to come. It is a part of learning that promotes other learning. And a child with a disability still has to struggle for a long time before they get to use a computer or scribe instead, so it isn't going to happen for a child who doesn't have any disability.

Personally I have hardly picked up a pen in years to write anything other than my signature
I would have to hunt for a pen if I needed one.

Even in work everything is noted down on my phone.

When I left school I can’t think of any job I had that required me to write anything other than numbers or ticks.

Yes. I am all for children learning to write but I think speed typing might be a better skill or at least one that needs to be part of the curriculum