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.
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):
PUBLISHED ARTICLES:
"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), 1995
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
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
tips/experiences/links re left-handers &
ambidexters (once I have enough stuff, I plan to add a 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
