Dubai: In what is perhaps a sign of the digital times we live in, a teaching academy in Dubai is catering to an increasing number of children who need assistance to improve their handwriting.
Neeta Daswani, member of the UK Handwriting Association and founder of the Jumeirah Lake Towers-based academy Improve Me, said the academy runs a 30-hour handwriting course.
“In recent years, modern technology has dramatically changed the way we communicate. However, despite increased use of computers for writing, the skill of handwriting remains important in education, employment and in everyday life,” she noted.
Motor skills
Innovating the manner in which handwriting is taught, the academy teaches children handwriting through a number programme at the age of four. “Handwriting alone can be monotonous. We also encourage students to do colouring, cutting, collages etc to improve their fine motor skills which is an important factor for good handwriting. It also proves to be more cost-effective for parents.”
Daswani said the biggest challenge for children in a classroom environment is that they do not have the correct pencil grip.
“Most children either have a weak grip which is called the claw grip or the fore finger grip. But the problem can easily be corrected, if it is addressed at a young age between four and seven years.”
She said the academy employs various pencil grips to aid children. It also employs the rubber band method.
“The aim of our course is to teach children cursive letter formation, sizing and spacing. It covers posture, pencil grip and control, basic strokes, long and short connections, number writing and pen licence.”
Handwriting teacher Chandani Motwani said: “The handwriting course starts on a four red and blue lined book. It begins with pre-writing patterns to develop fine motor pencil control.
"Letter forms are then introduced, usually with their connecting lines. Once the writing in print has been mastered, children are taught how to join their letters to produce cursive writing.”
Pooja Dhawade, another teacher, said: “Letters like c, a, d, g, and q are from the same family. Then we move to the ‘l’ family, leading to capital letters, words and paragraphs.”
Parents vouch for the before-after difference. “My daughter has been attending Improve Me for a year. Neeta has been amazing, helping her with her pencil grip through a number programme,” said the mother of Valentina, 4.
Another parent Daksha Budia said, “My daughter Tiana was seven when she first started her handwriting class. After 20 sessions she has one of the most polished writings now.”
