Handwriting & wounds

[sodzilla]

Quick question; under what circumstances does an adult's handwriting tend to change? I figure it would become more fluid if that person spent a lot more time writing than they had previously, such as a soldier being put in a desk job. Alternatively, is it at all plausible for someone who was wounded in the hand/arm and spent a lengthy time

Comments

[doro_chan]

Well, I can only speak from personal experience here. My handwriting tends to change a lot. It mostly depends on my mood. When I am content, I tend to use big, round letters, when I am creative, the letters look like they are running away and when I am depressed, they are rather small, but very clear.

It depends on training too. My father had a really weird handwriting and when I asked him, he told me that that was because he had to learn to write a certain way to fill out the forms needed in his job and he did not get rid of it. When I told that to a friend of mine, she said that her father did write strange as well and he was in a similar profession.

So I would say, it would be plausible, but I am not entirely sure. Maybe you should reseach cases with injuries as you described.

[yukonsally]

My handwriting changed a lot during college. I had to write a lot more while there.

[acaciah]

My son has mild cerebral palsy, and I have worked some with aphasic patients, most due to TBI or stroke.

Any type of motor impairment will change the handwriting. However, change will most likely be in the form of it being messier. You won't go from having left-slanted writing to right-slanted writing, for example, unless you have to switch your writing hand. Basic letter formation will probably remain the same, for example if they have deep loops in letters that hang below the line, that will remain as well. I hope that helps. :D

[keleri]

My handwriting from a few years ago, at the beginning of high school, is much different than how it is now--it used to be much larger and childlike, and now it's morphed into a very small, flowing script that often only I can read. x) I believe this change was brought on by having to take more and more notes and by having to write quite long essays and things in a limited amount of time.

[sodzilla]

Yes, that's what I was aiming for. The guy was originally in a job where he wouldn't have had to do much writing at all, but then got promoted into a position where he'd have to write out orders and reports, and do some bookkeeping.

[bonesbaby33]

I've noticed my own handwriting become much more fluid by taking so many notes in college lectures. And my mom, when she was in high school (is that old enough?), actually learned how to write with her left hand while her right arm, broken, was in a cast. Once she got the cast removed, the left-handed writing ability stopped completely.