D'Nealian

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The D'Nealian script, lower case and upper case

D'Nealian is a style of writing and teaching cursive and print (block) handwriting for English (and perhaps other languages written with the Latin alphabet). It was designed to ease the learning of cursive and print handwriting. It was developed by Donald Thurber, who developed the system while teaching in a primary school. It is reported that D'Nealian cursive handwriting, when it is taught to children, is, in theory, easier to learn and that students more quickly and easily acquire the skill with less frustration than traditional cursive writing systems. The name of the script comes from Donald's first name contracted with his middle name ("Neal"). The trademark is licensed exclusively to publisher Pearson Scott Foresman.

The system was designed as a method to alleviate the problems with teaching children the standard Zaner-Bloser Script method and the subsequent difficulty in transition to cursive writing. D'Nealian Script was unique in that the manuscript form has many similarities to the cursive version.

[edit] Criticism

D'Nealian has drawn criticism in many locations, as it effectively adds a "third step" to how children are supposed to write. Moreover, a common issue is that D'Nealian is taught extremely early, to first and second grade students, many of whom are still learning the rudiments of print-style writing. This has seriously hindered the penmanship of many students in districts that have changed styles amidships, and the students are arbitrarily failed due to their penmanship no longer being correct where it had been before.