Print-script as Initial Handwriting Style II: effects on the development of reading and spelling

The effects of using print-script as the initial handwriting style on the development of reading and spelling 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 reading and spelling scores was found between the groups at any grade level.