An educational teaching device for children to learn and write the letters of the alphabet, numbers, or other elements in proper sequence. The device comprises an inner board surface with plurality of cavities and a separate plurality of puzzle pieces of elements corresponding to the configuration. Upon proper placement of puzzle pieces, indicators are activated resulting in the emission of visual or audible signaling. The educational puzzle and writing device also comprises a magnetic writing sheet or writing materials using a magnetic pen or writing implement with numbered arrow instructions.

A method for facilitating handwriting practice includes: generating handwriting strokes in response to user input of user-writing strokes; generating an input image that includes the handwriting strokes, and that has a shape similar to a shape of a standard image associated with a standard word character; scaling the input image to generate a scaled image with a size that is the same as a size the standard image; overlapping the standard image and the scaled image; comparing an n.sup.th handwriting stroke in the scaled image with an n.sup.th standard stroke in a standard order of the standard word character; and when the n.sup.th handwriting stroke does not correspond in position to the n.sup.th standard stroke, displaying a notification of a stroke order error.

A method for facilitating handwriting practice includes: generating handwriting strokes in response to user input of user-writing strokes; generating an input image that includes the handwriting strokes, and that has a shape similar to a shape of a standard image associated with a standard word character; scaling the input image to generate a scaled image with a size that is the same as a size the standard image; overlapping the standard image and the scaled image; comparing an n.sup.th handwriting stroke in the scaled image with an n.sup.th standard stroke in a standard order of the standard word character; and when the n.sup.th handwriting stroke does not correspond in position to the n.sup.th standard stroke, displaying a notification of a stroke order error.

A writing guide for enhancing penmanship includes a mask that is substantially rectangularly shaped. The mask has a top, a bottom and opposing sides. An aperture is positioned through the mask. The aperture is substantially rectangularly shaped. The aperture has a top edge, a bottom edge and opposing side edges. The mask is configured to position over a sheet of lined paper. The top edge and the bottom edge of the aperture are alignable with respective lines of the sheet of lined paper. A first writing space of the sheet of lined paper is accessible to a writing instrument positioned through the aperture. The mask covers at least one writing space above and one writing space below the first writing space, such that a user is restricted to writing in the first writing space until the mask is repositioned relative to the sheet of lined paper.

A writing guide for enhancing penmanship includes a mask that is substantially rectangularly shaped. The mask has a top, a bottom and opposing sides. An aperture is positioned through the mask. The aperture is substantially rectangularly shaped. The aperture has a top edge, a bottom edge and opposing side edges. The mask is configured to position over a sheet of lined paper. The top edge and the bottom edge of the aperture are alignable with respective lines of the sheet of lined paper. A first writing space of the sheet of lined paper is accessible to a writing instrument positioned through the aperture. The mask covers at least one writing space above and one writing space below the first writing space, such that a user is restricted to writing in the first writing space until the mask is repositioned relative to the sheet of lined paper.

A handwriting scoring tool and method of use may include a transparency sheet, a plurality of guide boxes of varying sizes, each of the plurality of guide boxes including a dashed midline, a box baseline, and a baseline aligner. In some embodiments, the transparency sheet may include a handwriting reference guide, which includes a plurality of reference characters, each reference character including guide dots which indicate the start position of a writing instrument, and a plurality of guide arrows and numbers which indicate the stroke direction and the stroke order. The method of using the handwriting scoring tool may include aligning the transparency sheet with the baseline of the paper, aligning the transparency sheet with the letter to be scored, comparing the size of the letter with the size of the box and the position of the dashed midline, comparing the bottom of the letter with the baseline aligner, using a guide box to check the space between letters, and using a guide box to check the space between words.

A handwriting scoring tool and method of use may include a transparency sheet, a plurality of guide boxes of varying sizes, each of the plurality of guide boxes including a dashed midline, a box baseline, and a baseline aligner. In some embodiments, the transparency sheet may include a handwriting reference guide, which includes a plurality of reference characters, each reference character including guide dots which indicate the start position of a writing instrument, and a plurality of guide arrows and numbers which indicate the stroke direction and the stroke order. The method of using the handwriting scoring tool may include aligning the transparency sheet with the baseline of the paper, aligning the transparency sheet with the letter to be scored, comparing the size of the letter with the size of the box and the position of the dashed midline, comparing the bottom of the letter with the baseline aligner, using a guide box to check the space between letters, and using a guide box to check the space between words.

A method for forming letters using a template by grouping letters based on similarities in the direction of muscle movement which takes advantage of the similar hand movements used with-in particular groups of letters. The learning of these letters is organized so that after one letter is mastered, another letter is learned based on the similarities of hand movements used in printing a learned letter and the next letter being taught. The handwriting method facilitates learning how to read and write in new languages.

A method for forming letters using a template by grouping letters based on similarities in the direction of muscle movement which takes advantage of the similar hand movements used with-in particular groups of letters. The learning of these letters is organized so that after one letter is mastered, another letter is learned based on the similarities of hand movements used in printing a learned letter and the next letter being taught. The handwriting method facilitates learning how to read and write in new languages.

The present invention is directed to a computer application for analyzing handwriting. The handwriting is digitized by being captured by a computing device such as a tablet. The application analyzes four components of the digitized handwriting. The initial component provides real-time writing speed feedback to the subject. The second fully automated component computes a variety of kinematic measures based on periods of time when the subject is writing versus the pen being off the tablet. A third component is able to concatenate pen strokes into user defined characters and assesses character and/or word spacing based on preset distances. For the fourth component, a 2-dimensional version of the large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) method is used to compare each character to a template character. Together, these components can be used to assess handwriting for a broad range of applications.