Straightening out our handwriting woes won't be easy. "Because children don't play outside games as much, many don't come in with the strength in their fingers and they don't write as well," said Kathleen Zazza, an assistant superintendent in the Hendrick Hudson school district in New York.

"They don't do things kids did before. You could attribute some of it to using their hands in little hand-held games instead of climbing and catching," she said.

Not only do grade-school teachers still drill the skill, they continue to search for ways to make letter forms foolproof. In some cases, the loopy l's and b's of old-fashioned Palmer script — the white letters on green charts that used to ring classrooms — have given way to upright rather than slanted styles.

In one method, the ubiquitous three-lined paper has taken on human characteristics.

"Now, let's remember what the lines are," said Lori Mollo to her first-grade class in White Plains, N.Y. As she taps the top of her head she says, "The top line is called the ... ?"

"Hat line," said the class in response. The middle, broken, line is the "belt line," the third line down is the "writing" line and the line that traditionally is seen to begin a new set is now called the "shoe" line, grazed by the long descenders, j's and y's.

This is all part of the Orton-Gillingham program, which combines writing with printing, spelling and content.

Mollo and her fellow teachers swear by it, saying it does wonders for children who normally write b's, d's and other letters in mirror image or backward. It gets the children reading quickly, and makes "cursive" or "script" easier and faster because the new forms sometimes require fewer strokes.

Just weeks into the new school year, the class had learned 17 letters.

The Orton-Gillingham program also works well at Mauka Lani Elementary School in Makakilo, where Kathy Nobriga not only teaches her kindergartners the appropriate strokes for each letter, but how to properly say and sound it out.

"For example, I'll tell them 'm, man, mmmmm,' " Nobriga said. "... That works well because sometimes, if they don't know what the letter is, I can call back the keyword, like 'man,' then they immediately say 'm.' "

As the students progress, Nobriga does away with the corresponding keyword and picture until they know what the letter and sound are.

In Marily Bartell's first-grade class at Sacred Hearts Academy, students follow the Spalding Method of Phonics for Teaching Speech, Writing and Reading — a program that uses phonograms.

In the writing portion, students are given hints on forming letters, such as "start at 2 o'clock for round letters," Bartell said.

Bartell, a teacher for 36 years, said she hasn't seen a decline in students' writing skills over the years, but that she continues to stress the importance of penmanship in her class.

"Aren't we fortunate that computers are around for those who don't have good handwriting?" Bartell said and laughed.

But being able to write legibly is a must in situations where computers aren't available, such as for college essay tests and the job application process, she said.

"The reason that most people write illegibly is often a function of the impatience and the hurriedness our society lives in," said handwriting analyst Mark Hopper, president of the Handwriting Research Corporation in Phoenix.

He does not subscribe to the theory that our hands just aren't what they used to be. We're just doing everything, including writing, too fast.

"When you look at handwriting a hundred years ago, you will not see very much illegibility. It's not that they had more coordination, it's that their lives were different," he said. "We are racing around at a hundred miles an hour."

Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano contributed Hawai'i information to this report. Reach Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.

How to help your grade-schoolers hone that handwriting

By Zenaida Serrano
Advertiser Staff Writer

• Help them develop fine motor skills, such as by picking up small things, to make fingers nimble, said first-grade teacher Marily Bartell. "Coloring helps because they have to manipulate the lines," she adds.

• Teach them how to grip pencils. Bartell teaches the "birdie beak" technique: hold a pencil (or crayon) between thumb and pointer finger, supporting it with the middle finger.

• Be a model, said kindergarten teacher Kathy Nobriga. Sit down together to write a letter or make a shopping list. "They just want to copy," Nobriga said.

• Keep it fun. "Always have lots of paper with lots of different ... (writing tools), like markers and pens," Nobriga said. "It can get boring, so also let them write on the sidewalk with chalk for something different."