Handwriting development, competency, and intervention

Abstract

Failure to attain handwriting competency during the schoolage years often has far-reaching negative effects on both academic success and self-esteem. This complex occupational task has many underlying component skills that may interfere with handwriting performance. Fine motor control, bilateral and visual-motor integration, motor planning, inhand manipulation, proprioception, visual perception, sustained attention, and sensory awareness of the fingers are some of the component skills identified. Poor handwriting may be related to intrinsic factors, which refer to the child's actual handwriting capabilities, or extrinsic factors which are related to environmental or biomechanical components, or both. It is important that handwriting performance be evaluated using a valid, reliable, standardized tool combined with informal classroom observation and teacher consultation. Studies of handwriting remediation suggest that intervention is effective. There is evidence to indicate that handwriting difficulties do not resolve without intervention and affect between 10 and 30% of school-aged children. Despite the widespread use of computers, legible handwriting remains an important life skill that deserves greater attention from educators and health practitioners. 'People present themselves to the world through their handwriting and are inevitably judged by it. From our earliest school days, success and failure are often measured in terms of neat handwriting.' 1 Why is handwriting important?The development of writing ability is not only important in building a child's self-esteem, but is considered an essential ingredient for success in school. 1,2 Children spend 31 to 60% of their school day performing handwriting and other fine motor tasks, 3 and difficulty in this area can interfere with academic achievement. Illegible handwriting can create a barrier to accomplishing other higher-order skills such as spelling and story composition. 4 Despite the use of computers, handwriting remains an important developmental skill for a child to master. 1 In our society, handwriting is both a means of communication and a necessary life skill, as in writing a letter or telephone message, completing an application form, or writing a cheque. Handwriting 'is still the most immediate form of graphic communication'. 1

The ontogeny of visual–motor memory and its importance in handwriting and reading: a developing construct

“…The component skills that enable the motor activity of picking up a pen or pencil and drawing an alphanumerical symbol are both complex and diverse [2]. Nonetheless, the fundamental challenge is one of learning how to generate motor commands that result in an effector (the hand) producing a graphical representation of a memorized shape (alphanumerical symbol).…”

Análise da relação entre a habilidade de integração visuo-motora e o desempenho escolar

“…Ainda segundo as autoras, o prejuízo nessas habilidades pode resultar em caligrafia ilegível e comprometer o desempenho acadêmico da criança 13 .…”

Exploring Content Validity of Shore Handwriting Screening and Newly Developed Score Sheet With Pre-Kindergarten Students

“…Several handwriting performance skills have been identified that should be mastered before a child can be successful at handwriting. Prerequisites for handwriting include the ability to cross midline, recognize letters of the alphabet, demonstrate established hand dominance, use functional pencil grasp, copy geometric shapes, use hand-eye coordination, and demonstrate proper sitting posture (Feder & Majnemer, 2007;Marr, Windsor, & Cermak, 2001;Rosenblum et al, 2003 Research indicates that fine motor skill deficits contribute to handwriting challenges (Cornhill & Case-Smith, 1996;Smits-Engelsman, Niemeijer, & van Galen, 2001). In addition, children who had difficulty with handwriting skills and had slow performance were found to have visual-motor integration challenges (Tseng & Chow, 2000;Volman, van Schendel, & Jongmans, 2006 Miller, 2006).…”

“…Successful handwriting requires a seamless integration of cognition, fine motor control, in-hand manipulation, visual-motor integration, motor planning, visual perception, and sustained attention (Feder & Majnemer, 2007;Rosenblum, Weiss, & Parush, 2003). Handwriting skills begin developing during the pre-school years with universal characteristics that all written languages share.…”