Kathleen S. Wright

Executive Director of The Handwriting Collaborative
Independent Curriculum Consultant
Handwriting Instructional Specialist

Kathleen Wright is the Executive Director of The Handwriting Collaborative and an Independent Curriculum Consultant who has been a Handwriting Instructional Specialist and nationally recognized handwriting research advocate for almost 30 years.

She has served as content advisor on handwriting program and curriculum development – including teacher- and student-facing classroom technology; directed the development and implementation of a national handwriting certification course; presented on best-practice approaches to classroom handwriting instruction at national and state level conferences; organized and directed the HW21Summit research symposium; and is the Founder and Executive Director of The Handwriting Collaborative.

Kathleen can be reached by phone at 614.678.2335 or by email at ks_wright@outlook.com.

The Handwriting Collaborative is a non-profit organization of curriculum specialists, educators, researchers, and school-based occupational therapists who provide consultation and training on best-practice strategies for handwriting instruction and practice in the elementary classroom.

Evidence Base:
Handwriting is more than a fine motor skill. A growing body of research shows that handwriting instruction and handwriting skill impact students’ overall literacy development. Letter recognition is foundational for success in reading. Evidence from brain research shows that children recognize letters more efficiently after printing practice versus tracing or locating letters on a keyboard. The handwriting learning method requires the writer to perform a movement that completely defines the shape of the letter in order to build an internal model of the character. In today’s classrooms the emphasis on student achievement through written expression is at its highest. To write effectively, students must generate ideas, organize those ideas, determine the proper voice for the audience and utilize sources to support their ideas. These steps of the writing process require a tremendous amount of brain power. Current research supports the fact that fluency in handwriting enables students to produce more text and higher quality of text. The only way for students to be fluent in handwriting is through direct instruction of the formation of letters and consistent practice to build automaticity. Just as phonics is a foundational skill for reading comprehension, handwriting serves as the foundation for written composition.

The Handwriting “Butterfly Effect:”  
What Research Has to Say About the Long-Range Impact of Instruction and Practice on Academic Success

According to chaos theory the Butterfly Effect is “the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.” Recent brain research shows the impact that handwriting has on overall literacy development. In this session we will discuss the current research and explore how adding the Butterfly of Handwriting Instruction into the literacy classroom can provide the long-range impact to ensure all learners are equipped with the foundational skills they need to succeed as writers and readers.