Should Kids Practice Handwriting on an iPad?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder questions the logic of having children practice handwriting on a tablet when excessive screen time is already a concern.
Key Takeaways
- Handwriting on screens misses the point - The motor skills developed through pen-and-paper handwriting don't transfer from tablet writing
- More screen time isn't the answer - If we're worried about kids' screen exposure, adding screen-based handwriting practice makes no sense
- Paper and pencil work - Traditional handwriting practice is effective, inexpensive, and doesn't require charging
Transcript
It's funny to see this come full circle, but we now have iPad apps that are designed to help kids with problems that they have because they're on iPads all the time.
Check this out.
I saw today someone is making a handwriting app for the iPad.
Now think about that for a second.
We already have a problem with little kids being on phones and iPads too much.
And when they don't color, when they don't use pencils, when they don't use markers and crayons, when they don't do the things that little kids are supposed to do, to develop their handwriting muscles and to develop the skills that they will ultimately use for printing and cursive and all that, then of course the solution is not to put the kid on an iPad more.
But I think what happens in the app development world is that parents want a familiar solution when they don't really know the fundamentals of the problem and they're willing to pay money for things that sound exciting and new, right?
Like I didn't have access to an iPad app to help me with my handwriting.
That's why my handwriting is bad as an adult.
So I will buy my kid an iPad app to help them with their handwriting.
Put down the iPad.
The iPad is the problem.
Put it down.
Get your kid a big box of crayons.
Let your kid color at the restaurant on the children's menu.
Let your kid play the dot game with you.
That is how you will get good handwriting.
It happens one step at a time.
Yes, kids need instruction.
Yes, kids need practice informing their letters.
Teachers can advise you on how to do that if you're not sure.
But what I'm pretty sure we don't need...
is more time for kids on iPads, not holding a pencil, holding, I guess, some sort of stylus.
Maybe that develops some of the muscles, but it is not the same to write on a screen.
I mean, I can tell you every time I sign a receipt on a screen at a restaurant, I can tell you every time I have used a stylus, it is not the same.
Like the mechanics of it, the musculature that you're developing, I do not think it overlaps.
If you are an OT, PT, if you are an expert in this field, let me know what you think.
But I feel like we should not be having kids practice their handwriting on an iPad.
That's what pencils are for.
Let me know what you think.