I used to have rotten handwriting, because of a whole
bunch of innate neurological disabilities (which I still have,
despite the fact that I now also have good handwriting.)
At age 24, I dug into the history and ergonomics of our
handwriting on order to learn how to help myself,then others.
Today, I teach/re-teach handwriting, and help people
become aware of its continuing importance today.
(What kind of handwriting do I teach? I teach and advocate a
simplified, "back-to-basics" handwriting method based on my own
research and experience in this area.)
I've put in two years as New York State Director for the
Annual American Handwriting Competition (under its founder and
first national director, Charles
"Chuck" Lehman), during which I researched and
successfully employed media/PR outlets for increasing public
knowledge of, and interest in, this competition. Owing to these
and other efforts, I attained the position of national director
for 1997 and subsequent years - becoming worldwide director in
2000 when I upgraded the competition into an annual World Handwriting Contest.
I also spent a year honing high-schoolers' handwriting and
literacy skills via a "Calligraphy Club" in a hard-bitten area
of Brooklyn, NY (my home town).
And, from 1995 through 2000, I conducted long-term by-mail
handwriting-improvement programs for young men in a Missouri
correctional institution (for which I received a 1995 Missouri
Correctional Systems commendation).
At times, I have taught a course on handwriting improvement
for the Schenectady City School District Continuing Education
Program.
And ... in 2002 and 2003, I presented at the free Handwriting
Celebration (educational credit available) given annually under
the sponsorship of the educational publisher Therapro, Incorporated.
These yearly events feature a range of speakers and approaches
on the subject of handwriting. They normally take place in
Boston, Massachusetts (at the John Hancock Hall - where else?)
in mid-January each year. Since each year's workshop typically
seats 80 guests, reserving early will ensure your seat. To
reserve a seat at the next workshop, or to receive additional
information on this and other Therapro workshops, contact Therapro's director,
Karen Conrad, at kcotr@theraproducts.com or (in the
USA/Canada) via toll-free phone at 800/257-5376.
I am listed in Who's Who in America 2011 edition.
In many other ways, too, I've provided handwriting help to
individuals and groups since 1992. Most recently, my work has
focused on mending the penmanship of physicians (permitting
greater legibility at emergency-room speed), and on sharing my
knowledge of handwriting instruction with parents,
teachers/school-administrators, occupational therapists,
remedial/rehabilitation specialists, and other educators. (For
more information, and to arrange for services, reach me via e-mail
at handwritingrepair@gmail.com,
by phone at 518/482-6763, or via the Medical Education Speakers'
Network which lists me as a speaker on handwriting in the
medical workplace.)
Here follows a short list of some of my
works on handwriting and how to improve it (published articles and
more):
"Calligraphy: Rx for illegible writing?" in ADDendum
(a quarterly for those with Attention Deficit Disorder), Spring
1992
<"Handwriting Hints: advice from an uncoordinated writer
of italic" in Handwriting Review (the annual of
the Handwriting Interest Group at the University of Reading,
England), 1995
"Handwriting: the perspective of a survivor"> in Their
World (the annual of the National Center for Learning
Disabilities), 199
OTHER WORKS:
- "STAGE WRITE Handwriting Practice Paper" (available in 6
formats from Therapro)
a six-stage series of handwriting paper that gets it right
for writing! Students begin with clearly defined writing spaces
and perceptual cues in Stage One - then, the perceptual cues
fade in successive Stages as the student gains mastery. Stage
Six helps the student make the final transition to conventional
lined notebook paper. The high-quality paper erases easily, and
the distinctive lines and spaces make success easy for every
student. To
order
STAGE
WRITE
directly from Therapro, or just to learn more, click here.
- "It's Your Handwriting, Stupid! Writing Prescriptions so
that Pharmacists will Love You" by Jim
Plagakis and Kate
Gladstone (appearing January 23, 2009:
National Handwriting Day. For availability, contact the Pharmacy
Alliance or click here
for more information and pharmacists' comments about the
project.) - a guide for doctors to improve
the legibility and other aspects of their prescription writing.
(Revised and expanded edition of "Writing Prescriptions so that
the Pharmacist will Love You and Your Patient will Get the Right
Medicine in the Right Dosage at the Right Time" by Jim
Plagakis.)
These days, I keep myself busy putting together books and other
materials/media to help people (young and grown) to learn
handwriting and to improve their existing handwriting skills.
Credit must go to my
loving husband, Andrew
Haber, a lawyer and occasional web-site designer. He
designed this web site for me. Without him, I might not have made
it as far as I have done.
For some reason, people at times have asked my precise
birthdate, birth-time, and birthplace: March 19, 1963 - 7:24
a.m., Brooklyn, New York, USA.
My parents named me "Karen Sue Gladstone" - I changed my name
to "Kate" because I liked that name - I never thought of myself
as a "Karen Sue." Also, far too many other people my age had the
name "Karen."
<(In any case, people who marry lawyers should not have
"sue" for a middle name.)
Long Island University
(New York City/New School campus), Greenville, NY - MS-LS
(Master of Science - Library Science), 1990
top Here
follows a short list of newspaper and magazine articles about my
work. The articles include some by me, and some by others:
Handwriting Review (the journal of the Handwriting Interest
Group (University of Reading, UK), "Handwriting Hints," 1995
annual
New York Times,
"In a Scribbler's World, The Fountain Pen's Flourish Gets Some
Glory" - July 26, 2004 - section E, page 1.
StudentBMJ(student
publication of the British
Medical Journal), "Thou Shalt Write Legibly,"
September 2003 - pages 324 - 325; also see this article's
sidebar
personal stories/recollections/observations about
handwriting and how you have seen people teach and learn it
comments on specific problem areas (such as
left-handedness, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder with
or without hyper-activity, autism, Asperger's syndrome,
learning disabilities, and/or physical disabilities) as
these affect the learning and performance of handwriting
comments and/or writing-samples from anyone who has improved
(or otherwise changed) his or her handwriting style,
for any reason, at some time. (I particularly enjoy seeing
samples from people who have changed to the Italic style
of handwriting.)
comments/experiences of those who've grown up
writing the Italic way
Lefties' Lounge
page here - with left-handed readers' writings,
links to cool lefty sites, handwriting help. and much, much
more ...)
anything else that you think I might like to read,
view, add, or just think about
