When you think of teaching phonics, handwriting might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But did you know that the simple act of writing letters and graphemes by hand actually supports phonics instruction and plays a powerful role in helping kids become fluent readers and spellers?

Research shows that handwriting activates neural pathways that are directly linked to reading and spelling. When children form letters by hand they engage the parts of the brain responsible for connecting what they see (the letter shape) with what they hear (the phoneme) and how they say it.

Structured literacy and Orton-Gillingham approaches have long emphasized the power of multisensory learning. While there’s limited direct research comparing multisensory to single-sensory instruction, we do know that combining seeing, saying, and writing strengthens memory and builds orthographic mapping (Graham & Hebert, 2010; Moats, 2020).

Sometimes the best way to understand how important something is… is to think about what happens when it’s not in place. Think about those students you’ve had who really struggle with letter formation. It affects everything! Writing takes longer, it’s harder to read, it pulls focus away from spelling or what they’re trying to say, and it often leads to frustration or avoidance. When done correctly, early handwriting practice helps students automate letter formation, allowing them to focus on spelling and writing ideas without having to think about it (Graham, 2009).