Improve my handwriting

user1

Im not sure if this is the right forum for this but I can't find anywhere else to put it. I have a friend who's started training to be a nurse and he has really illegible handwriting, which is affecting his job. He has tried reading a book on the subject so I don't need tips. What he wants is someone who can tutor him to bring his handwriting up to scratch but I can't seem to find anyone who meets this job description in Ireland, especially for adults, its mostly children. If anyone can suggest someone who meets this criteria it would be of great help. Thank you.

Abi

This will undoubtedly be moved or closed, but tell him to slow down. While at school I used to rush my work, but after my English teacher had a word with me commenting that my work was excellent she said 'what I could make of it'. She was a teacher I had great respect for, so I made an effort to slow up and it worked.

Richard Hillman

Dont use joint writing, go for block caps or as near as possible. Write slower if possible and dont hold the pen as hard. My writing is horrific as well but have reverted to block caps. My writing looks the work of a 6 year old :pac:

GLaDOS

Abi wrote: »

This will undoubtedly be moved or closed, but tell him to slow down. While at school I used to rush my work, but after my English teacher had a word with me commenting that my work was excellent she said 'what I could make of it'. She was a teacher I had great respect for, so I made an effort to slow up and it worked.

Agree with this, my writing is much better when I slow down.

Wasn't much use in exams though with the time limit

kfallon

Tell him to take up gambling (not online or by phone), all those dockets to be written out will improve it no end

Abi

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Agree with this, my writing is much better when I slow down.

Wasn't much use in exams though with the time limit

Can't help you with the last bit :pac:

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Dont use joint writing, go for block caps or as near as possible. Write slower if possible and dont hold the pen as hard. My writing is horrific as well but have reverted to block caps. My writing looks the work of a 6 year old :pac:

Oh no, that would look way too harsh.

I found if I wrote in joined writing it was a disaster. I also have a sway to my writing, which looks better in print.

finipops

My handwriting is terrible also and me being left handed doesn't help at all!

kfallon

finipops wrote: »

My handwriting is terrible also and me being left handed doesn't help at all!

You are halfway to becoming a doctor so, their handwriting is usually brutal. Still convinced the scribbles they say are prescriptions are really code that the pharmacist understands which says, "Rip this prick off to the tune of about €40!" :pac:

Keith186

Start with basics and practicing over and over and over again.

Will be harder to learn at this age but 'correct' practice is important.

http://www.nala.ie/publications/better-handwriting-adults

Is that the book your mate has?

Scioch

Stay away from joined writing, any letter which he has trouble with get him to practice it until he finds a good way of doing it and then stick to it. Just sit down and do A's until your happy you have found a good way to write and A then onto B.

I always had bad handwriting but after a bit of practice with the letters I had trouble with and scrapping joined writing (which is utterly pointless seeing as even good joined writing is tough to read at times) I improved a lot. I had particular trouble with lower case r's so I changed it to a small upper case R.

My writing looks a tad odd at times but its legible.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Whats with members of the medical profession and bad hand writing? Its seems to be a bit of a jokey stereotype that has a lot of truth to it. :pac:

Fromthetrees

You'd definitively be better off with the non joined block capital writing, it's so hard for it to be illegible, my dad always uses this way of writing for clarity purposes and so do the Gardai when they're taking a statement, my dads not a Guard just to say.

Practice makes perfect and all that, my Grandad use to tell me if I kept practicing my signature than no one could ever rob me, it was pre internet time, now my signature looks great, wouldn't say that in 'real life' it's just when I sign my name I go that's actually quite impressive, people have said it to me too so it must at least look acceptable, just keep practicing and stuff and you'll be grand.

Fromthetrees

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Whats with members of the medical profession and bad hand writing? Its seems to be a bit of a jokey stereotype that has a lot of truth to it. :pac:

I think you'll find most peoples hand writing is very poor, most are borderline illegible, it seems intelligence has nothing to do with it either.

shopaholic01

Try different pens, they can really make a difference. Fountain pens in particular tend to force you to write slower.

SafeSurfer

user1 wrote: »

Im not sure if this is the right forum for this but I can't find anywhere else to put it. I have a friend who's started training to be a nurse and he has really illegible handwriting, which is affecting his job. He has tried reading a book on the subject so I don't need tips. What he wants is someone who can tutor him to bring his handwriting up to scratch but I can't seem to find anyone who meets this job description in Ireland, especially for adults, its mostly children. If anyone can suggest someone who meets this criteria it would be of great help. Thank you.

Tell him to become a doctor. Illegible handwriting is a prerequisite.

kincsem

buy stuff here and practice
http://www.dippennibs.co.uk/

I think he might need to practice. If he doesn't want to practice my advice is "write clearly".

Odysseus

Practice and as stated get a good quality pen. I used to have really bad handwriting, but putting time into it a I found a good Cross pen made a big difference. Mount Blance are great too but expensive.

Capt'n Midnight

try a pencil.

Jev/N

Try the other hand

Mr Simpson

This is most definitely not the right forum to ask a serious question

kowloon

I've lost the ability to write legibly. I can think of the shapes I want to make but my hand won't have any of it. It's bad enough that I stopped trying to take notes in lectures and any exam that requires me to write any significant amount is a serious problem.

I find joined writing and pens that glide too easily make my writing harder to decipher. That said, while pens with more resistance make my writing better they tire my hand if I'm writing for any extended period, so I slow down further.

delw

SafeSurfer wrote: »

Tell him to become a doctor. Illegible handwriting is a prerequisite.

Or become a pharmacist because they seem to be the only one able to read it

kowloon

Odysseus wrote: »

Practice and as stated get a good quality pen. I used to have really bad handwriting, but putting time into it a I found a good Cross pen made a big difference. Mount Blance are great too but expensive.

I actually found the opposite. Good pens were smooth and encouraged me to write faster with less pressure. It led to all sorts of mistakes. I think people with a good hand tend to benefit more from a good pen.

I suppose it depends on what makes your handwriting bad in the first place.

Pedant

When I was a kid, I was pedantic about having good handwriting. I used to practice to improve it all the time. I honestly think that if you were just to sit down with a pen and paper every evening and write down a few sentences from a book/articles, etc., and write it over and over again for a few hours, first slowly, then faster and faster, you'll drastically improve your handwriting. A good pen with a firm grip will help. Use a pencil (HB2), felt-tip pen and fountain pen when practicing. It might be a good idea to start off with a pencil when writing slowly, then as you get faster use the felt pen and finally the fountain pen.

If the practicing fails you and you still find you have bad handwriting, then you may have a mild form of dyspraxia or just very bad dexterity which may require some professional help.

1ZRed

Pedant wrote: »

If the practicing fails you and you still find you have bad handwriting, then you may have a mild form of dyspraxia or just very bad dexterity which may require some professional help.

Wow, what a come down that post was:(