I DECIDED TO FIND OUT: The Real-Life Handwriting Speed Test Kate Gladstone 2026-06-08 | I DECIDED TO FIND OUT: the Real-Life Handwriting Speed Test by Kate Gladstone, the Handwriting Repairwoman: 612-I-REPAIR ( = +1 612 473 7247 )You asked. I tested.Here’s a full paragraph, handwritten twice.Top: my plain, barely-joined everyday handBottom: full “join every letter” cursive — culturally claimed to be fasterI tested their soeeds.See what finishes first. (SPOILER: It isn’t what you were told.)So why did the “faster” style lose?Because joining every letter makes your pen travel farther. You loop, you connect, you go up-and-over and round-and-round just to reach the top of an a, c, d, g, or q — when a straight, point-to-point move would have taken you there directly.And that’s before the crossing and dotting. Every time a word contains a letter that needs a dot or a cross, conventional cursive sends you all the way back to the start of the word to add the missing pieces, then all the way to the right again before you can even begin the next word. Meanwhile, the writer who didn’t wait until the end of the word — who didn’t backtrack — which dropped each dot and cross on the fly — is already several letters ahead before you get your chance to catch up.As you go forward, then backward, then finally forward again, each long backward-and-forward round trip costs more time than a quick pen-lift and a promptly placed dot or cross while you keep moving forward.Lifting your pen doesn’t slow you down — no more than lifting your feet slows you down when you walk, run, or dance. The real slowdown is backtracking, again and again: making endless detours to hug the ground and dodge the efficient straight path. THAT’S the slowdown.This is real handwriting — because it’s a real hand, writing. You can see it’s a real hand moving, not a font — writing for the real world, with a logic that matches what the speed tests already show.▶ Didn’t see how I proved it the first time? Watch that one next: youtu.be/SwKXieOsr0o — or use this memorable link: tinyurl.com/WasYourTeacherWrong🔁 Share this video with anyone who still says: “Joining all the letters is faster.” Share ir with your children. You — and they — can share it with your teacher and your school principal, too. Think of the other decision-makers who shape what happens in your school, and find out how to reach them. Do you dare to share?✍️ More at HandwritingThatWorks.com
DANGER — REALITY AHEAD! Not All Joins Are Created Equal Kate Gladstone 2026-08-15 | Can joining fewer letters actually make handwriting faster? Ask Kate Gladstone, the Handwriting Repairwoman: 612-I-REPAIR ( = +1 612 473 7247 )This video puts three handwriting models to the test — from fully joined conventional cursive to much more selectively joined handwriting — and gets a result that may not be what you expect.Three different handwriting models write exactly the same 37-word passage:• Playwrite CA — fully joined conventional cursive• Getty-Dubay Joined Standard — moderately joined• Getty-Dubay Joined Beginning — least joinedTHE RESULTS• Getty-Dubay Joined Beginning: 77.23 seconds• Getty-Dubay Joined Standard: 80.23 seconds• Playwrite CA: 80.38 secondsThe sample that joins the least finishes first. The completely joined conventional cursive finishes last.The differences are small over only 37 words. But over hundreds or thousands of words — in an essay exam, class notes, meeting notes, or other sustained handwriting — small differences can add up.Why can less joining sometimes be faster?Because keeping the pen continuously on the paper does not necessarily give it the shortest or fastest route from one letter to the next. Some joins carry the pen efficiently forward. Others require detours, loops, reversals, or backtracking that a direct pen lift can avoid.But the conclusion is NOT simply:“Join less and write faster.”That would be another hasty conclusion.The more interesting question is:WHICH joins save time — and which ones cost time?Strategic joining means keeping the connections that earn their place and leaving out the ones that do not. Italic handwriting makes that possible: it neither requires every possible connection nor prohibits joining altogether.It gives the writer choices.Strategic choices.CHAPTERS00:00 Danger! Reality Ahead!00:25 Are There Really Only Two Kinds of Handwriting?01:10 Three Handwriting Models Compared03:51 The Results04:24 Small Differences Add Up05:27 Why Pen Lifts Can Save Time06:51 Feeling Fast vs. Being Fast07:23 The Real Lesson: Not Simply “Join Less”08:04 Strategic Joining and Italic Handwriting#Handwriting #HandwritingSpeed #Cursive #ItalicHandwriting #HandwritingResearch #HandwritingInstruction #TeacherLied #LiesMyTeacherToldMe #Penmanship #HandwritingResearch
Was Your Teacher WRONG About Cursive Handwriting? Kate Gladstone 2026-05-18 | Have ‘rhey’ been lying to us about handwriting? Ask Kate Gladstone, the Handwriting Repairwoman: 612-I-REPAIR ( = +1 612 473 7247 ) lMost of us in North America (and in some other parts of the world) were told as children that the right way to learn ro write was to first be taught never to join any letters … and then suddenly we were told to join all of them. The change was made literally overnight or over a weekend. We went home on Friday afternoon writing one way, and then on Monday morning we were told that a very different way was the actual right way instead. And it wasn’t just joining… we were now told that the letter shapes we’d been practicing for a year or two were now to be set aside, because now we would be joining because now we would have to join all our letters and make them quite differently. From the way we have been talked to them before, and this (we were told) was the way to learn to write fast. But is that really so? What happens when a handwriting model which skips the most difficult joints, and uses simple letters that look a lot like print writing, goes pen-to-pen against conventional cursive? Questions and comments: handwritingrepair+FAST@gmail.comResearch in collaboration with Hans-Leo Teulings / Neuroscript.netAnimation by Xin Wan / PrintableHandwriting.comMore information: HandwritingThatWorks.com and HandwritingSuccess.com
READ CURSIVE FAST—what it’s about, why it matters. Make cursive make sense. Kate Gladstone 2025-05-13 | Handwriting should be an open book! READ CURSIVE FAST is now on Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B0GNJ99141/ref=sr_1_1 … see also ReadCursiveFast.com
CAN’T READ CURSIVE Kate Gladstone 2022-02-06 | This video shows what it’s like when you can’t read cursive — and how to learn to read cursive, fast and accurately.The READ CURSIVE FAST process teaches cursive reading to anyone who reads print,READ CURSIVE FAST is now on Kindle: amazon.com/dp/B0GNJ99141/ref=sr_1_1 … see also ReadCursiveFast.com
Why Does A Cursive Capital Q Look Like 2? Kate Gladstone 2019-05-17 | I made this very short video to answer one of the handwriting questions that I am most frequently asked. Prepare to be surprised by the quirky history of cursive capital Q.
TriOn — the invertible pencil grip/pen grip ... two grip-shapes in one; it’s a fun fidget too! Kate Gladstone 2018-04-29 | Kate Gladstone’s TriOn Pen Grip - buy TriOn from NationalAutismResources.com and Therapro.com !
The pen that teaches handwriting ... the SuperStyluScripTipTastic Pen at https://www.pen.guide Kate Gladstone 2016-06-20 | 15 Second vidieo of SuperStyluScripTipTastic pen with scholl of Handwriting tips.
3-D jewelry designed by Kate Gladstone, printed by Peter Shao, and modeled by my niece Kate Gladstone 2016-05-11 | veiw plastic pendants being worn
Perspective Pendant Kate Gladstone 2016-03-19 | Kate Gladstone, designer-calligrapher of the Perspective Pendant, shows how moment changes the initial displayedPersonalize yours at tinyURL.com/ThePendant
The Perspective Pendant in action Kate Gladstone 2016-03-19 | Kate Gladstone, designer-calligrapher of the Perspective Pendant, shows how the initial changes with movement. Personalize your own Perspective Pendant at tinyURL.com/ThePendant
PERSPECTIVE PENDANT: tinyURL.com/ThePendant — 1 pendant—2 views—3-D printing—for calligraphic impact Kate Gladstone 2016-02-23 | tinyURL.com/ThePendantPERSPECTIVE PENDANT: 1 pendant, 2 letter views, 3-D printing with calligraphic impactOwn — or present — the PERSPECTIVE PENDANT. Uniting the precision of three-dimensional printing with the craft of calligraphy, PERSPECTIVE PENDANT brings your initials to life — earning a second look with every move. In materials ranging from a selection of colorful nylon hues through translucent acrylic, bronzes, steels, and precious metals, PERSPECTIVE PENDANT has more to say than the observer sees at first glance. Personalize yours today, at tinyURL.com/ThePendant
Why Mandating Cursive Isn’t “Write” — Part 2 Kate Gladstone 2015-03-31 | I teach handwriting ... I direct the World Handwriting Contest ... and I OPPOSE legislation to mandate teaching cursive. Find out why. (Part 2)
Why Mandating Cursive Isn’t “Write” — Part 1 Kate Gladstone 2015-03-31 | I teach handwriting ... I direct the World Handwriting Contest ... and I OPPOSE legislation to mandate teaching cursive. Find out why. (Part 1)
Handwriting Repair Kate Gladstone 2011-09-12 | Why most of the best handwritings break some of the rules
Handwriting Repair Kate Gladstone 2011-09-12 | Handwriting matters ... So learn why the fastest, clearest handwriters avoid cursive AND print-writing ... Better sound on this revision ...
Kate Gladstones Pocket Note Kate Gladstone 2011-03-01 | Demo of a product under development ... do you want to own one (or more) of these? Why (or why not)? Where would you use them? What would you use them for? Post your answers, and be my focus group!
Learn handwriting on your iPhone! Kate Gladstone 2009-12-04 | http://bit.ly/BetterLetters for program info and download - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = BETTER LETTERS: the iPhone handwriting app featured in GQ Magazine - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = - = GETTING IT "WRITE" on iPhone & iPodTouch: This app, the Better Letters "personal handwriting trainer," featured in GQ Magazine (USA edition, Dec2009, p128, right sidebar) --------------------------------------------- Deep Pocket Series, a firm best known for its medical software, now offers an iPhone/iPodTouch application to cure bad handwriting. That app, Better Letters, launched on November 10, 2009 -- eight days later, it featured in the December 2009 issue of GQ magazine (page 128: sidebar in lower right corner on cyber-age resources for handwriting improvement). Better Letters is the brainchild of two people who care about the proliferation of bad handwriting in our high-tech times: Deep Pocket Series founder Harvey Castro, MD (an emergency medicine physician) and Kate Gladstone, a handwriting improvement specialist known internationally as the "Handwriting Repairwoman." For $2.99, Better Letters provides instructional lectures (both audio and written) along with practice fonts which offer a choice of writing style, guidelines, and directional arrows -- turning the iPhone or iPodTouch into a personal handwriting trainer. Unlike other handwriting apps, BetterLetters takes users beyond mere copying of onscreen worksheets. Over and above providing sample letters and numerals to trace and copy, the BetterLetters application also includes features such as user-selectable "ink" color, a list of 299 suggested practice words (chosen to include every letter combination in the English language), onscreen instructional essays and audio composed and recorded by handwriting specialist Gladstone, a built-in sketchpad for independent practice and application of handwriting skills, and several screenfuls of active links to handwriting instruction web-sites selected by Gladstone to provide further resources for the study and practice of rapid, readable handwriting. Why think about handwriting in the computer age? • Even in the most highly computerized workplaces, computer networks crash or electric power fails. Even when computers and power sources function, physicians and other professionals must often must scribble quick notes, or perform other handwriting tasks. For example, a physician in a computerized hospital will often still need to give ward clerks the day's handwritten records to read and process. • Children, teens, and young adults face high-stakes exams, whose written sections increasingly include timed handwritten essays. (Since 2003, the SAT exam given to USA high school students has included a timed handwritten essay which provides about 1/6 of the total SAT score. When schools neglect handwriting instruction or use counterproductive instructional methods, BetterLetters allows students to gain and maintain competent handwriting.) • Parents and teachers at every level from kindergarten through graduate school -- often need to improve the legibility and speed of their own handwriting in order to teach more effectively. (A teacher's handwriting, if it lacks precision and speed, can derail even the best-planned lesson or demonstration at the board.)
Handwriting Repair Kate Gladstone 2008-06-01 | the woes of handwriting (especially cursive) and some suggestions for what to do about them ... trying for better sound on this revision ...
HandwritingRepair:but see a better one (info in description) Kate Gladstone 2008-05-31 | The woes of cursive and what to do about them : sound/graphics here didn't upload correctly, so please see the upgraded version at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdCB6R1xI5I whether you've seen this one or not
