D'Nealian Handwriting Method Abandons 'Ball-and-Stick' Approach

By Debra Viadero

PRINCE FREDERICK COUNTY, MD.--In the old days, they called it penmanship. It was that part of the school day set aside to hone handwriting skills. For most of this century, it was pretty much the same in classrooms everywhere.

To make a "d,'' students were told to draw a circle and add a stick to it. An "a'' was a circle with a shorter stick, a "b,'' another circle and another stick.

That was the way Donald N. Thurber learned to write. If he made a mistake, the nuns at the Catholic school he attended would either rap his knuckles with a ruler or force him to miss recess until...