Standardized writing assessments such as the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) can inform interventions for handwriting difficulties, which are prevalent among school-aged children. However, these tests usually involve the laborious task of subjectively rating the legibility of the written product, precluding their practical use in some clinical and educational settings. This study describ...

With “inclusive education” in the Dutch school system in mind, a new interdisciplinary counseling was conceptualized. Failing handwriting development in Grade 1 was scrutinized to explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary counseling. The development of two children with dysgraphic handwriting was followed in Grade 1, 2 and 3, and contrasted with the general results of their classmates. Tea...

This study investigated the presence of, and relationship between tactile dysfunction and upper limb motor function in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) compared to typical developing (TD) children. Participants were 36 children aged 6-12 years. Presence of DCD (n=20) or TD (n=16) was confirmed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, second edition. All childre...

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the contribution of perceptual-motor dysfunction and cognitive planning problems to the quality or speed of handwriting in children with handwriting problems (HWP). METHOD Twenty-nine children with HWP and 20 classroom peers attending regular schools (grade 2 and grade 3) were tested with regard to visual perception, visual-motor integration, fine motor coord...

We examined the effects of a cotaught handwriting and writing program on first-grade students grouped by low, average, and high baseline legibility. The program's aim was to increase legibility, handwriting speed, writing fluency, and written expression in students with diverse learning needs. Thirty-six first-grade students in two classrooms participated in a 12-wk handwriting and writing prog...

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a combined visual efficiency and perceptual-motor training programme on the handwriting performance of Chinese children aged 6 to 9 years with handwriting difficulties (HWD). Methods: Twenty-six children with HWD were assigned randomly and equally into two groups. The training programme was provided over eight consecutive we...

Since wrist-joint position affects finger muscle length and grip strength, we studied its biomechanical relevance in prolonged handwriting. We recruited participants from young adults, aged 18-24, and separated them into control (n=22) and in-pain (n=18) groups, based whether or not they experience pain while handwriting. The participants then performed a writing task for 30 min on a computeriz...

We developed and piloted a program for first-grade students to promote development of legible handwriting and writing fluency. The Write Start program uses a coteaching model in which occupational therapists and teachers collaborate to develop and implement a handwriting-writing program. The small-group format with embedded individualized supports allows the therapist to guide and monitor stude...

The handwriting of an individual may vary excessively with many factors such as mood, time, space, writing speed, writing medium, utensils etc. Therefore, it becomes more challenging to perform automated writer verification/ identification on a particular set of handwritten patterns (e.g. speedy handwriting) of a person, especially when the system is trained using a different set of writing pat...