I met with Rep. Walberg for forty-five minutes last week, and I was gratified that he and his staff would allocate so much time to one person during final week of his campaign. The meeting was very nice, enjoyable and relaxed.

We put together a short video from some of the photos we took during the meeting.  Enjoy!

I explained the StartDOT Handwriting app, what it does, and why we have been working to develop it. He was very eager to try it out and there were some funny moments when he realized he forms letters incorrectly and the app "corrected his mistakes". He joked his wife always told him she thought he formed some letters weird and this confirmed it. His aide, Dustin Krasny also joked about letter "A" not following certain rules he remembers being taught. Dustin also joked that we might not want to publicize Walberg doesn't write some of letters correctly.

I discussed the importance/positive impact of automatic letter writing on learning and positive correlation between handwriting competence and academic success later down the road. He easily saw connection and even commented that this app is something that would benefit his eight year-old grandson who was born prematurely and is having to work hard to develop his coordination skills We had a 4 year old boy , Simeon Strong, (we have pictures of Simeon and his mother using the app) come in and demonstrate the app. He had just started using 2 days previous and doing very well with it! Every parent loves to hear the words “I can do it!” or “I did it!”, and Congressman Walberg praised our dedication and innovation in working to make handwriting a skill that every child can successfully develop.