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Saw my dad's handwriting go from shaky to clean in 8 weeks, and I want to know if anyone else tracked this
My dad is 74 and had a mild stroke back in March. His writing was all over the place, letters running downhill, his signature looked like a stranger did it. His OT gave him a cheap spiral notebook and had him copy grocery lists for 15 minutes a night, nothing fancy. Last Sunday I watched him write out a birthday card to my niece in Tampa and it was almost his old handwriting again. Has anyone else watched a parent's writing come back like this, and did it stick or fade once the exercises stopped?
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paul_taylor214d ago
My mom is 81 and had the same thing after a small stroke two years back, and her OT said 15 minutes a night is the sweet spot, anything more just tires them out and the writing gets worse. The thing that made it stick for her was adding a little resistance, like signing actual checks and writing thank you notes by hand instead of just copying words out of a notebook. Copying is one thing, but your brain has to care about what you're writing or the progress fades fast. Her handwriting held up fine for about six months after she stopped the exercises, then it got sloppy again, not shaky like before but just lazy, so she went back to the notebook three nights a week and it tightened right back up. That tells me it's less like a broken bone that heals and more like a muscle you have to keep using. Worth asking his OT if they want him doing something with purpose, like the birthday cards, instead of just grocery lists. The fact that he wrote that card without thinking about it is a really good sign.
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