2019 AHAF/AAHA Online Conference 

Speakers

William Klemm, Ph.D. — What Handwriting Does for your Brain

Dr. Klemm is a senior professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University and the author of 20 books, including: The Learning Skills Cycle. A Way to Rethink Educational Reform (Rowman & Littlefield); Making a Scientific Case for Conscious Agency and Free Will (Academic Press); Mental Biology (Prometheus); Core Ideas in Neuroscience (Smashwords.com); Memory Power 101(Skyhorse); and Improve Your Memory for a Healthy Brain (Smashwords.com).

He has proven himself a champion of cursive writing and its importance in brain development. 

Marie Anne Nauer, Ph.D. (Switzerland) —
The PSI Model of the Brain and its Help in Handwriting

The rather new PSI: Psychic System’s Interaction Model, established by the German psychologist Julius Kuhl, is based on recent studies in neuroscience, neurophysiology, and psychology, thus conceived by the author as a “Quadrifocal Brain.” The model allows to integrate and enhance the ancient theory of the German physician and graphologist Rudolf Pophal, which was based on the neuroscience of his time in the 1940s. We try to understand better and to see in a new light the important role of a modern concept of tension in handwriting. By means of handwriting samples we will discuss a useful implementation of the new model in our every day’s handwriting analysis. 

Born in Switzerland, Dr. Nauer studied Psychology, Philosophy, and History of Art at the University of Zurich. Specializing in Psychoanalysis and in Graphology, she completed her studies by a doctoral thesis in Graphology. For more than thirty years she has run her own professional cabinet for Personality Development and Psychodiagnostics (especially for top management). As one of only a few experts in the world, she also works in the field of comparison of signatures in Art Authentication. She holds a certificate in PEP, one of the new bifocal-multisensory techniques for energy and stress management.

President of the Swiss Graphological Society SGG/SSG, director of the Institute for Handwriting Sciences (former Committee for Research and Quality Assurance) as well as head of the Group of Experts for Handwriting Expertise and Comparison of the SGG. Dr. Nauer holds a certificate and follows continuing education of the Swiss Board School run by the University of St. Gallen. She is postgraduate professor for Graphology in Zurich, London, and Barcelona and author of a considerable number of research studies in Graphology and Handwriting Psychology. She twice won first prize in both the 1^stand 2^ndcontest of the RENNA NEZOS PRIZE for graphological research in 2007 and 2010.

Roger Rubin, BA — Looking at Handwritings: Space, Form, Movement

In his presentation, Roger will discuss a variety of handwriting samples and demonstrate what they reveal in terms of the gestalt pictures of space, form, and movement. 

After starting a career in Advertising management, Roger moved to New York and began his graphology studies with Felix Klein in 1971. A frequent speaker at conventions and conferences all over the U.S., he has traveled as far afield as Johannesburg, South Africa to present lectures and seminars and has appeared on numerous television programs, as well as in newspaper and magazine articles. A prolific writer and researcher, Roger has published monographs including, “Character Structure and Defense Mechanisms,” “Aspects of Anger and Aggression As Seen in Handwriting,” “The Uses and Abuses of Insecurity,” “Identifying Mother and Father From Handwriting” “Narcissistic Borderline Personalities,” “Getting Under the Mask: Persona Handwriting” and “Attachments: The Effect of the Infant-Mother Bond,” among others.

Joyce Smith, LMFT — The Connection Between Trauma and Addiction

At the foundation of all addictions is trauma. Trauma can be defined as too much, too fast (as in a rape or car accident), too little for too long (as in neglect) or too much for too long. Added to that is always an unstable foundation caused by insecure attachment, which is where primary caregivers were unable to provide an environment that was nurturing, calm and non-judgmental. All of this is manifested in a physiological reaction of anxiety/depression and emotional pain. The addiction is a maladaptive mechanism for self-medicating. This presentation will walk you through how this condition is created.

Joyce is a licensed psychotherapist who specializes in trauma and PTSD. She is certified in Havening Techniques, EMDR (eye movement desensitization reprocessing) and TRM (trauma resiliency model) and is trained in Sandplay Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy. She has led a series of seminars at an inpatient addiction facility regarding the correlation between trauma and addiction. She has also created bilateral music and meditations for calming. Joyce has a private practice in Hollywood, CA.

Katie Spoon — Detecting Dyslexia

Katie recently completed her B.S./M.S. in computer science from Indiana University with minors in math and statistics, and with research interests in anomaly detection, computer vision, data visualization, and applications of computer vision to health and education, like her senior thesis detecting dyslexia with neural networks. She worked at IBM Research in the summer of 2018 on neuromorphic computing, and returned there full-time this summer. She hopes to potentially get a PhD and continue bridging the gap between computer science and social good projects.

Literacy has been proven to be the best predictor of success later in life. Dyslexia is a learning disability that hinders a person's ability to read. Dyslexia needs to be caught early, however, teachers are not trained to detect dyslexia and screening tests are used inconsistently. We propose (1) two new data sets of handwriting collected from children with and without dyslexia amounting to close to 500 handwriting samples, and (2) an automated early screening technique to be used in conjunction with current approaches, to accelerate the detection process. Preliminary results suggest our system out-performs the current system.

Christina Strang (England) — The Wordsworth Syndrome

How much do childhood behavior patterns impact on work and relationships in adult years. Christina will encourage us to explore this question through the “Wordsworth Syndrome - The child is father of the man.”

Christina studied graphology with Lorraine Davies one of the founders of the British Institute of Graphologists some 20+ years ago. She works with therapists, counselors and individuals in the corporate, SME’s and self-employed arenas helping them to understand the blockages in their lives and businesses and, with companies seeking to improve their staff retention, team building and recruitment capabilities. Her work as a graphologist has been recognized locally and internationally. With full medical ethics approval Christina carried out a medical research project using graphology as a diagnostic tool. The resultant research paper was disseminated at a scientific conference in Australia and hit the international news wires when she was interviewed for TV around the world. Christina has been asked to set up and run 2 further research studies at different hospitals looking into other diseases.

Dr. Donna Whipple, CG — Oh no!  What should I do?  
Professional Ethics for Handwriting Analysts.

Handwriting professionals frequently find themselves confronted with moral questions and ethical dilemmas while practicing the work of graphology. When faced with such challenges it is often difficult to know what to do or who to turn to for help. This workshop will review the AHAF Ethics Code using many lively examples related to the practice of graphology. After this workshop, participants should feel well grounded in the ethics of HWA and have a basic understanding of an ethical decision-making framework as well as know where to go for help if they are feeling stuck.  

Dr. Whipple is a Certified Graphologist through the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation and Certified as a Cursive Coach by the New American Cursive Penmanship program. She has served as a judge for the national Cursive is Cool contest. Dr. Whipple is on the Board of Directors as the National Ethics Chair of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation and is President of the New England Society of Handwriting Analysts. She has been a featured speaker at local, regional, national and international handwriting analysis conferences and conventions.

Sarah Tucker:  Impulsivity:  How it is Assessed and Reflected in Handwriting

Sarah Holmes Tucker is a professional handwriting examiner who, together with Ruth Holmes, advises individual, legal and corporate clients. She has promoted the value of handwriting for major corporations at conventions across the professional spectrum and she has lectured on the subject to many groups around the country.  She has been reported in the Boston Globe, Penworld, DM News and numerous local papers. She graduated from Boston University in May of 2002 with a Master of Arts in Psychology.

Sheila Lowe - Making the Connection

Sheila Lowe, MS, CFDE is a graphologist and forensic handwriting examiner with more than fifty years’ experience in the field. She has been president of AHAF since 2012 and serves on the board of directors of the Scientific Association of Forensic Examiners. The author of 15 published books, countless articles, and handwriting analyzer software, she lectures around the US, Canada, and her home country, England. 

In this presentation, Sheila will cover some of the basics of connections and connectivity in handwriting