Print-script as Initial Handwriting Style I: effects on the development of handwriting

The effects of using print-script as the initial handwriting style on the development of the handwriting of primary-school children were investigated in a longitudinal field experiment extending from the first through to the fifth grade. Two groups of children were compared. In the first grade, the 103 children in group A learned to write print-script and the 104 children in group B learned to write disjoined cursive letters. From the beginning of the second grade the children in both groups learned the same cursive writing. No difference in mean handwriting-quality scores was found between the two groups at any grade level.