Theresa Ortega (R) receives certification as a "Cursive Coach" from program designer Iris Hatfield (L).

Theresa Ortega is now Indiana's first "Certified Cursive Coach", utilizing the "New American Cursive" system to teach young and old alike a fast and easy way to learn cursive handwriting.

Online PR News – 20-June-2013 – Ventura, CA – With many schools dropping handwriting training, cursive illiteracy is becoming a serious problem in the U.S. The need for trained cursive handwriting instructors is growing. An enthusiastic group of parents and teachers attended the New American Cursive Training Workshop at the Classical Education Conference in Louisville KY. Iris Hatfield, author of the taught this intensive but fun workshop that qualifies participants to teach a New American Cursive Penmanship Program, a simple and easy cursive, to students of all ages.

A certification as a Cursive Coach was presented to Theresa Ortega from Terre Haute IN, a founding member of Campaign For Cursive, a national program from the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation that aims to bring recognition to the importance of handwriting in the development of the young brain. One of their aims is to partner with corporations, educators, legislators, occupational therapists, parents, grandparents, and anyone else who is interested in this effort. That includes kids of all ages, too, as they want them to enjoy learning to write in cursive and see that cursive is cool!

Having analyzed thousands of high school and college students’ handwriting, Ortega says she can see a big change in the way students express themselves, engage with others, formulate ideas, and relate to the world. She fears that a big disconnect has been formulating with too much attention paid to digital communication and keyboarding. She also disagrees that schools only have time to teach keyboarding by stating, "Handwriting experts such as Iris Hatfield can show you that it only takes 15 minutes a day to teach cursive writing, and the results are phenomenal. Research shows that this type of training has a measurable positive effect on reading levels and behavior."

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t use all the digital technology, I'm a big fan of tech myself,” Ortega said. “I just think we need the connectivity of cursive writing to equalize the force of technology.”

About The Handwriting Sensei
Theresa Ortega's interest in the practical applications of handwriting analysis led her to study this topic. Theresa has made presentations to thousands of people in business groups, trade associations, university business fraternities, college crowds, and has been a frequent guest on radio and TV shows analyzing handwriting "live".

Theresa is the National Chair for PR/Social Media for the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF), and will be presenting a workshop about social media and handwriting analysis during AHAF's annual conference in October 2013, in Oxnard, CA.