Learning about how we read and write is extremely interesting. We learn to write at such a young age that once we sit down to think about how we write and why we know how to form letters and words, its almost too late. In 6th grade I broke my wrist, and to make matters wrong i broke my right wrist, my dominant hand. I was placed in a cast, and was unable to use my right hand to the best of my ability. I had to write certain assignments with my left hand, and i can remember thinking "why is this so hard." While we all have different hand writing, styles and lettering, we all have one thing in common, the need to communicate with written words. Page 136 states that "letter sizes, word spaces, space between lines, margins, and other matters of layout also need to be consistent, if a writing style is to be acceptable" needless to say my attempts at writing with my left hand were not acceptable.
This section of the book did not just remind me of my childhood struggles with writing with my left hand, it also made me think about the Kings Speech, an amazing movie. The King was forced to change which hand he wrote with through torturous measures, so i can now better understand how we learn to write, learn to read, and how that impacts someone if forced to change. While i did not have a stutter like the king, I can not even imagine being forced to live my whole life writing with my "non dominant hand." It had to feel unnatural, and over time while he did learn to write, his speech was never the same. His thoughts and brain usage must have been thrown off in many ways, and these problems carried into later life. While my hand switch only lasted a few months, it was great to learn about how we begin writing and reading, the basics of any culture or language.
Comments