My son is a high functioning autistic, he had terrible times with cursive, or any sort of fine motor coordination, I did not push it, as he types faster than most people can think. I know that the Waldorf schools see it as an important developmental excercise, motor memory etc, they are still doing it. He can read cursive, and we have had a booklet of the full Constitution right in the restroom on the shelf of readables since he was 7,(that and the Old Farmers Almanac and garden books). It can be read in print as long as it has not been messed with. If you can get your kids into Calligraphy as a hobby, maybe making home made greeting cards and stuff, that brain hand thing can still be developed. I used to write volumes in script, but my hands are so arthritic it is just too uncomfortable for me.