Association Between Motor Ability and Handwriting Performance in Children With Probable Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

Handwriting is a core deficit in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Fifty children were tested with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition; Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Short Form; Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH); McMaster Handwriting Assessment Protocol; and Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual–Motor Integration (Beery–VMI–6). The results showed significant differences in components of the ETCH between groups (p < .05) and significant relationships between handwriting (ETCH and Beery–VMI–6) and motor ability measures (r > .30). We conclude that the ETCH and the Beery–VMI–6 are sensitive measures of handwriting ability for children with probable DCD, but more research is needed to identify a gold-standard assessment for evaluating handwriting in this population.

The Handwriting Legibility Scale: A Language and Age Extension for Students With and Without Specific Learning Difficulties

“…While difficulties with handwriting performance are found in children with DCD (Ibana & Caçola, 2016), handwriting difficulties are also reported in other SpLDs. The current study found a similar pattern of performance on the HLS in the Italian group of children with Specific Learning Disorder and an older group of U.K. students with dyslexia, where both groups had a total HLS score significantly higher than their age-and sex-matched peers.…”

Relação entre integração visomotora e destreza manual em crianças com transtorno do desenvolvimento da coordenação

“…The routine activities such as dressing, eating, self-care, playing and writing are often hampered by the difficulties that children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) face because they have not learned fundamental motor skills necessary for their performance tasks, even with the presence of a good cognitive level and the absence of other health conditions such as cerebral palsy, hemiplegia or muscular dystrophy, for example (Ibana & Caçola, 2016). These difficulties are often related to deficits in visualmotor coordination and manual dexterity.…”