The Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Handwriting Intervention for Children with Motor Coordination Issues: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Handwriting difficulty is one of the main issues among school children, especially for those with motor coordination issues. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions in handwriting components for children with motor coordination issues. Current research articles were systematically searched according to the PRISMA guidelines. Two hundred and sixty-eight (n=268) research articles were identified; however, only ten (n=10) were eligible to be evaluated for this study. Studies were appraised by using McMaster Critical Review Form-Quantitative Studies. Descriptive synthesis was executed due to the heterogeneity of included studies. The review found various types of intervention conducted by occupational therapists to have a positive effect on handwriting performance components among children with motor coordination issues. Types of intervention used were visual, motor, perceptual, sensory, activity of daily living skills, training device and assistive technology and specific handwriting programs. Most handwriting intervention showed effectiveness to improve handwriting performance in motor function, visual and perceptual components. Future research should focus on homogeneity of Occupational Therapy (OT) intervention to improve handwriting performance by using specific handwriting programmes and similar standardised evaluation instruments. Practitioners of OT intervention should consider collaboration with teachers, parents and other health professionals to expedite effectiveness of intervention in handwriting performance components.

Developmental Coordination Disorder and the role of new technologies as intervention tool

“…From the systematic review by Zainol et al (2022) that investigated the effectiveness of occupational therapy handwriting interventions in children with motor coordination issues results showed that the method of the intervention had a big impact on how well handwriting skills were improved. The use of modern technology devices and application however did not improve handwriting performance (Coutinho et al 2016;Mcglashan et al, 2017).…”

Face and Content Validity of a Handwriting Program for Children With Handwriting Difficulties

“…Insufficient visual-motor skills resulted in reversal writing letters, lack of ability to copy a word from a visual board onto paper, missing letters during copying activity, and the absence of space between written words (5,6). In addressing these, literature supported that occupational therapy interventions such as biomechanical, neuromotor, cognitive, sensory integrative, compensatory and positive collaboration consultation approaches are effective to treat handwriting difficulty among children (4,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). Many handwriting intervention foundation frameworks can be integrated to guide professional practice within a specific setting.…”