Some Thoughts on Handwriting

A few years a go I reviewed a paper about a method, the sigma-lognormal model, to quantitatively assess handwriting (Plamondon et al, 2013). I was interested because I had in the past worked with children with developmental coordination disorder on a project developing ways to take better movement assessment out of the lab and into the clinic, and handwriting is a) something kids and their parents value and want to improve but b) is a beast to quantify. 

Réjean Plamondon kindly sent me his analysis software to play with, and I have three experiments worth of data I am currently analysing in an effort to assess whether it can help me find what I want. Here I'll briefly review the model, the experiments and some lessons I've learned training myself to write with my nondominant right hand.

The Ecological Approach, Explained to an 8 Year Old

About 3 weeks ago I got an email from a person who had found our blog via Robert Epstein's piece 'The Empty Brain'. The email said

I've had a good read this afternoon, and it has been informative to some degree, however ...
I have an 8 year old son, and due to questions we both have, we have had some very interesting laypeople's conversations about the nature of experience and "the mind" (is it a thing, a physical thing, a process?) as well as such things as memory, embodiment and perception.
It seems it would be really helpful for us (and by extension, possibly many others?) if you could summarise the broad strokes of your theory in some way in which an intelligent 8 year old (and his father!) could understand.
Would this be possible?

Ed Yong has taught me that good science communication doesn't have to be dumbed down, it just has to be pitched right, and while I am no Ed Yong, I say, challenge accepted! Let me know how it goes!