DEAR ABBY: Call me nostalgic, but I miss receiving handwritten personal notes and letters in my daily mail. Has it finally gotten to the point where it's futile to reach into the mailbox looking for a handwritten letter from a friend or relative?

I'm talking about letters handwritten on stationery, in which thoughts and greetings are exchanged. Yes, they did take longer to arrive -- but I miss them!

Today's mailboxes are stuffed with circulars, ads, requests for donations from every conceivable charity or conservation organization, etc. But where is the simple handwritten note from a grandchild, son, daughter or distant nephew?

With the dominance of e-mail, we have lost touch with the elegance of personal contact. Too many inane e-mail messages are immediately forwarded to half a dozen people -- who forward them to another half-dozen people who aren't interested in receiving them in the first place. How impersonal can you get?

Wouldn't it be great to institute a Handwritten Letter Week? It would be one week a year during which we would forgo e-mail and sit with pen in hand to jot a few personal notes on stationery to friends and relatives across the country. Don't you agree? -- WALTER H., OKLAHOMA CITY

DEAR WALTER H.: Yes, I do. Although e-mail is here to stay, handwritten correspondence still has an important place in people's lives.

Each method of communication fills a need. E-mail is fast, cheap and easy. However, it can often also be terse and impersonal. Handwritten messages can be an art form, an elegant skill that expresses emotions. Some examples: love letters, letters of condolence, and thank-you notes for gifts or for having been entertained.

Many people forgo writing to others because they either don't know what to say or are afraid they will say the wrong thing. But anyone can write a letter by following a few basic rules. My booklet "How to Write Letters for All Occasions" contains not only the fundamentals, but also sample letters for almost every occasion. It can be ordered by sending a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus a check or money order for $6 (U.S. funds) to Dear Abby -- Letters Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price.

With the holiday season upon us, and people sending greeting cards through the end of the year, this is the perfect time to enclose a handwritten letter. While letter-writing may always be a chore to some people, there are occasions when the handwritten word is the most appropriate, sensitive and elegant means of communicating one's thoughts.

DEAR ABBY: I am 11 years old. What do you do if you have a friend you swore you'd tell everything to, but you have a secret you just "can't" tell him? -- SEDIKA IN DETROIT

DEAR SEDIKA: Honey, you stop making promises you can't keep!

DEAR ABBY: The letter from "Muddled Mommy in Miami" (Sept. 21) really hit home. A child with Down syndrome had made an inappropriate remark to the writer's 4-year-old son.

I'm the mother of a daughter with Down syndrome. There have often been situations in which she has said or done something inappropriate to another child. I try to intervene when I know about it. I have her apologize to the child and the parent and try to make amends. Sometimes, it turns out that she was misunderstood because of poor speech and language skills.

By all means, Muddled Mommy should say something! This can be a teaching/learning moment for both her son and the other boy. Many children with developmental disabilities are mainstreamed with regular education children in school. Kids with Down syndrome need to be taught proper social skills so they can have a relationship with their peers.

If children with Down syndrome (or other disabilities) are taught to hold to acceptable societal standards, they can lead productive lives as adults. Isn't that what we want for all of our children? -- MOMMY IN WORTHINGTON, OHIO

DEAR MOMMY: Absolutely! It is the responsibility of parents to teach their children -- both abled and disabled -- acceptable behavior. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: As the parent of a special-needs child, I have come to realize that learning needs to take place on both sides. The mother of the Down syndrome child should have been told about her son's comments so she could take corrective action. But "Muddled" should also have taken her son aside and explained about children with special needs and disabilities so he could learn tolerance and understanding. Four years old is not too young to start.

We also have younger twins, who, at an early age, asked why their older brother "acts the way he does." In the six years since then, they have grown to be more perceptive and understanding. They are more forgiving of their peers and willing to help those less fortunate -- "special" or not. They understand that there are many different types of people in this world, and I believe that knowledge will help make them more enlightened adults. -- CHARLES H., FREMONT, CALIF.

DEAR ABBY: I have been both a special education and a regular education teacher. By approaching the mother of the child who threatened her little boy, the writer could have alerted the mother to inappropriate behaviors that may be preventing her child from having positive peer interactions.

Often children with disabilities repeat what they have heard others say. If the child truly meant what he said about "kicking his butt," then the mother should raise those issues with his teachers and therapists. -- SPECIAL ED TEACHER IN NEVADA

DEAR ABBY: As a parent of a child with Down syndrome, I believe it's important that my daughter be treated like any other child. That includes knowing when she misbehaves. Having an extra chromosome doesn't give her a free pass. My expectations for her do not differ from my other children. Standards should not be lowered because she is differently abled.

What that boy said was inappropriate. Perhaps he heard it at school or from a sibling. Either way, his mother should have been immediately made aware of it. Your advice was right on the money. -- P.W., BIG RAPIDS, MICH.

DEAR ABBY: I've worked with people with disabilities for 15 years. They have difficulty learning social skills. Sometimes they learn a phrase and repeat it over and over without realizing its impact. What the child said might have been a defense mechanism to keep others from picking on him. In any case, others should not ignore inappropriate behavior just because the person appears to have a mental disability. -- AMY IN KANSAS CITY

Good advice for everyone -- teens to seniors -- is in "The Anger in All of Us and How to Deal With It." To order, send a business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $6 (U.S. funds only) to: Dear Abby, Anger Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included.)

DEAR ABBY: Please tell people to hang up and drive! This year, five girls who had just graduated from high school in a nearby town were killed in a car crash. The news media carried some stories on the investigation, including the fact that the driver's cell phone had sent and received text messages while the driver was passing a truck seconds before the accident occurred. There is no text message important enough for five people to die for! Unless someone else was using her cell phone, the driver was not paying enough attention to the road.

Talking on a cell phone while driving isn't much safer than texting because, unlike someone sitting in the car with you, the person on the cell phone can't see your distractions and will keep demanding your attention as you navigate with half your mind.

We're all busy. We all need to multitask at times. But pull off the road to use your cell phone, because nothing anyone has to say or hear is worth dying for. Please, Abby, use your influence to get people to hang up and drive! -- ROSEMARY IN NEW YORK

DEAR ROSEMARY: I'll try. Readers, the Los Angeles Times recently printed a picture taken on one of our California highways of a young woman who was not only driving while texting, but also had her left foot hanging out of the side window of her vehicle. Needless to say, with her eyes glued to the screen of her cell phone, she was not watching the road.

I am truly sorry that five young girls lost their lives because of a driver doing something similar. We hear over and over again how dangerous it is to drive with anyone who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A person who is texting is similarly impaired. When, oh when, will people finally get the message?

DEAR ABBY: How do you tell the owners of the company I work for not to bring their dogs to work?

These are very big dogs that bark at the clients when they come in and have eaten people's lunches off their desks. Last week, there was a big to-do when the dogs ate two co-workers' lunches. One of them became very upset. The owners apologized and promised the dogs would "take a break" for a while. A week later, they brought one of the dogs back.

How do you get the owners to understand that this is a professional office, not a mom-and-pop antique store, where dogs do not belong? -- BARKING MAD IN OHIO

DEAR BARKING MAD: Unless it's reflected in their accounts receivable, you don't. Any employee who tries will only wind up in the doghouse. Because you can no longer tolerate the livestock, look for a job in an environment that is less animal friendly. Everyone will be happier -- the owners, the dogs and you.

DEAR ABBY: I have looked everywhere, but I cannot find the answer to my question. If you go out to coffee on a first date, is it a courtesy for the woman to call the man and tell him she did or did not have a good time? -- DONNA IN GRANADA HILLS, CALIF.

DEAR DONNA: If you go out for coffee on a first date and have a good time, it's perfectly acceptable to call the man and tell him so. (Everybody appreciates a good review.)

If, however, you did NOT have a good time, it would be extremely rude to call the man and tell him. ("John, I'm calling to say the coffee was too strong, the service was slow and your company was terrible.")

The call would probably be unnecessary because most people can tell when the chemistry doesn't "click."

To receive a collection of Abby's most memorable -- and most frequently requested -- poems and essays, send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $6 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included in the price.)