Ninety-nine of the students used one of four pencil grips including the dynamic tripod (38 students), the dynamic quadrupod (18), the lateral tripod (22), and the lateral quadrupod (21). One student used the four-finger pencil grip and one used the interdigital pencil grip. Mean cursive writing speeds were similar for all pencil grips except for the interdigital grasp. Speeds obtained were slower than recently published fourth-grade speeds ranging from a mean of 29.45 to 34.75 letters per minute. CONCLUSION. This study found the lateral quadrupod and four-finger pencil grips to be as functional as the dynamic tripod, lateral tripod, and dynamic quadrupod pencil grips. This study provides average handwriting speeds for fourth-grade students on the ETCH-C.

Persons who sustain cerebral injuries often have cognitive impairments. Occupational therapists are active in providing cognitive rehabilitation that aims to minimize the effects of cognitive deficits in their clients' lives. This paper presents a brief review of the literature in the area of cognitive rehabilitation including major characteristics of existing occupational therapy models related to the treatment of people who need cognitive rehabilitation. A model of cognitive rehabilitation is proposed that emphasizes functional components of occupational therapy in different rehabilitation settings. This model, called the Functional Model of Cognitive Rehabilitation, supports the use of activities in naturalistic settings in treatment, in order to enable those with cognitive impairments to fulfill their occupational roles.

Neurophysiological approaches and assessment of students in schools were viewed by respondents as the most needed by current students in educational programs. Current needs of practitioners for continuing education focused on neurophysiological approaches; respondents reported that information about these approaches was also most needed when beginning to practice. More instruction in time management and techniques for dealing with large caseloads were noted to be important areas to address in the preparation of practitioners in schools.

The grip strengths of 108 children aged 6 to 19 years with myelomeningocele were measured and compared with previously published results for children without disability. The grip strengths of the 59 female subjects with myelomeningocele were significantly lower than those of the population without disability in all age groups except for the 12 to 15 years range. The 49 male subjects exhibited significantly lower grip strengths only up to age 12 years. Implications and recommendations for clinical treatment, effects of secondary neurological complications, limitations of the study, and topics of future research are discussed.

Results support the concurrent validity of the ETCH-C with handwriting grades. A 75% word legibility percentage score discriminated satisfactory and unsatisfactory handwriting.