Petra Starke, May 15, 2015
PRIMARY school children are losing their handwriting skills, as touch-screen pinching,
swiping and typing and a lack of physical exercise leaves them with underdeveloped arm
and hand muscles.
Teachers have warned a growing number of children will perform poorly in the upcoming High
School entrance exams, simply because they relied on technology and sedentary lifestyles
mean they need to gain arm strength and skills to write answers quickly, concisely, and neatly.
A warning from teachers and early education specialists comes as schools launch further
programs to develop students' technology skills, with little thought for the continued
development of the motor skills young children need to live an active and full life.
A spokesperson for the High School based exams said handwriting was included in the
curriculum from grade 1 to grade 6, but if students' handwriting continued to deteriorate, the
government-run education departments "might entertain" the idea of introducing the subject to
the high school curriculum.
"The curriculum is a living document and is always subject to being looked at and altered as
circumstances change, so if handwriting continues to be an issue among young children, we
might decide that it is necessary to introduce it to the high school curriculum," the spokesperson
said.
Sonja Walker, an English teacher of more than 25 years, has about 30 children in her classes,
some as young as four, receiving weekly handwriting tuition and fine motor skills support at her
occupational therapy center, Kids First Children's Services.
Mrs. Walker said 90 percent of her students, most of them aged under nine, have handwriting
problems as a result of the overuse of technology.
These days, “due to an over-demand on a child to use and understand tablets, computers and
smart phones, children's inability to write at length and to have the stamina to be able to express
their ideas clearly and concisely have deteriorated, particularly over the past five years with the
the growing use of keyboards, screens, and other technical devices," she said. In fact, Mrs. Walker
states that “there had been a noticeable increase in the number of children being referred by
schools for fine motor skills therapy since the introduction of the iPad”.
But the impact of technology isn't just that kids are typing. It's the fact that they are more
sedentary in their lifestyle, which has health implications all of its own.
"For kids to have good handwriting, they need to have strong muscles through the trunk of their
body so their arms, hands, and fingers are developed well enough to be able to write clearly and
legibly and at length."
Australian Teachers' Union President Kevin Bates said the number of children entering school
without knowing how to hold a pencil properly was "alarming", with many so lacking in basic
motor skills they are even confused by how to hold a pair of scissors.
"The sorts of things that many of us would look at as being simply childish activities like
working with playdough or dressing dolls or putting blocks together, those sorts of things are
actually critical in developing those fine motor skills and actually lead to the task of writing," he
said.
"Now students are losing traditional subjects like handwriting skills much earlier on by engaging
them with technology in the first few years of their lives,” and he said this is just not right.
These days, "Kids use the iPad to color in, they use it to write, to learn to spell, and parents
think they're a one-stop shop and that the iPad is going to fix their child," she said. But what
parents don’t realize is that children are missing out on the motor skills necessary for life.
But it doesn’t end with children. Ms. Walker said lack of handwriting skills was also a problem
among teenage high school students, with her occupational therapists increasingly being asked to
provide excuses for the ones wanting to avoid handwriting in exam situations.
Mrs. Walker says, "They are being called upon to provide reports for schools for children
who need special permission in examination situations because they just can't write," she said.
"They can't spend two hours writing essays because they are not used to it, and they just can’t do
it."
Starke P. (May 4, 2013). Tech-savvy kids can't push a pencil. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/technology/tech-savvy-kids-cant-push-a-pencil/news-story/0817aadee669a7b723768ffb498c6d1e
PRIMARY school children are losing their handwriting skills, as touch-screen pinching,
swiping and typing and a lack of physical exercise leaves them with underdeveloped arm
and hand muscles.
Teachers have warned a growing number of children will perform poorly in the upcoming High
School entrance exams, simply because they relied on technology and sedentary lifestyles
mean they need to gain arm strength and skills to write answers quickly, concisely, and neatly.
A warning from teachers and early education specialists comes as schools launch further
programs to develop students' technology skills, with little thought for the continued
development of the motor skills young children need to live an active and full life.
A spokesperson for the High School based exams said handwriting was included in the
curriculum from grade 1 to grade 6, but if students' handwriting continued to deteriorate, the
government-run education departments "might entertain" the idea of introducing the subject to
the high school curriculum.
"The curriculum is a living document and is always subject to being looked at and altered as
circumstances change, so if handwriting continues to be an issue among young children, we
might decide that it is necessary to introduce it to the high school curriculum," the spokesperson
said.
Sonja Walker, an English teacher of more than 25 years, has about 30 children in her classes,
some as young as four, receiving weekly handwriting tuition and fine motor skills support at her
occupational therapy center, Kids First Children's Services.
Mrs. Walker said 90 percent of her students, most of them aged under nine, have handwriting
problems as a result of the overuse of technology.
These days, “due to an over-demand on a child to use and understand tablets, computers and
smart phones, children's inability to write at length and to have the stamina to be able to express
their ideas clearly and concisely have deteriorated, particularly over the past five years with the
the growing use of keyboards, screens, and other technical devices," she said. In fact, Mrs. Walker
states that “there had been a noticeable increase in the number of children being referred by
schools for fine motor skills therapy since the introduction of the iPad”.
But the impact of technology isn't just that kids are typing. It's the fact that they are more
sedentary in their lifestyle, which has health implications all of its own.
"For kids to have good handwriting, they need to have strong muscles through the trunk of their
body so their arms, hands, and fingers are developed well enough to be able to write clearly and
legibly and at length."
Australian Teachers' Union President Kevin Bates said the number of children entering school
without knowing how to hold a pencil properly was "alarming", with many so lacking in basic
motor skills they are even confused by how to hold a pair of scissors.
"The sorts of things that many of us would look at as being simply childish activities like
working with playdough or dressing dolls or putting blocks together, those sorts of things are
actually critical in developing those fine motor skills and actually lead to the task of writing," he
said.
"Now students are losing traditional subjects like handwriting skills much earlier on by engaging
them with technology in the first few years of their lives,” and he said this is just not right.
These days, "Kids use the iPad to color in, they use it to write, to learn to spell, and parents
think they're a one-stop shop and that the iPad is going to fix their child," she said. But what
parents don’t realize is that children are missing out on the motor skills necessary for life.
But it doesn’t end with children. Ms. Walker said lack of handwriting skills was also a problem
among teenage high school students, with her occupational therapists increasingly being asked to
provide excuses for the ones wanting to avoid handwriting in exam situations.
Mrs. Walker says, "They are being called upon to provide reports for schools for children
who need special permission in examination situations because they just can't write," she said.
"They can't spend two hours writing essays because they are not used to it, and they just can’t do
it."
Starke P. (May 4, 2013). Tech-savvy kids can't push a pencil. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/technology/tech-savvy-kids-cant-push-a-pencil/news-story/0817aadee669a7b723768ffb498c6d1e
