| Summary: | Thesis (D.O.T.)--Boston University === Handwriting is one of the main activities in which children engage in
during their learning years. Studies support the supposition that adequate handwriting is a necessary skill for a child to succeed in elementary school and beyond (Feder &
Majnemer, 2003). It is estimated that 30% to 60% of a child's school day is spent
completing written work (Marr, Windsor, & Cermak, 2001; McHale & Cermak, 1992).
This written work is the primary means by which a teacher evaluates the child's learning.
Studies have shown that legibility and handwriting speed influence a child's success in
school (Graham, 2011). However, 10% to 30% of elementary school aged children have
handwriting problems (Karlsdottir & Stefansson, 2002). Because children are required to
submit written assignments in nearly every class beginning in the first grade, they
typically fall behind academically when completion of these assignments becomes
burdensome and time-consuming (Graham, 1992; Hammerschmidt & Sudsawad, 2004).
As a result, learning is impaired, grades suffer, and the child may experience poor self-esteem (Engel-Yeger, Nagauker-Yanuv, & Rosenblum, 2009; Feder & Majnemer, 2007).
Without formal intervention, children who have difficulty with handwriting in
kindergarten through second grade continue to struggle as they progress through school
and in many cases achieve less school success as the cognitive and motor demands
increase (Graham, 2011). This author proposes it as essential that all preschool children
be screened for indicators of possible future handwriting problems during their prekindergarten year. Unfortunately, screening proves to be a problem because at present
there are few assessments that are appropriate for measuring handwriting skills in
children under the age of five (Hoy, Egen, & Feder, 2011; van Hartingsveldt, De Groot,
Aarts, & Nijhuis-Van Der Sanden, 2011). Furthermore, the handwriting assessments that
do exist are not appropriate for use with preschool aged children. Occupational therapists
(OT) try to circumvent this shortcoming by using a combination of several fine motor and
visual motor tests to ensure a comprehensive assessment of the motor aspect of
handwriting skills (Feder, Majnemer, & Synnes, 2000). This is both costly and time-consuming as the OT must have access to more than one assessment tool, and must allot
the time to administer each one.
The focus of this project is to develop a screening to measure the potential for
future handwriting difficulty in elementary school by detecting deficits with the
underlying motor performance factors necessary for adequate handwriting precision in
preschool aged children. In addition, the author proposes the development of an
intervention program specifically designed for preschool aged children. While there are
intervention programs currently available to work with this age group, a comprehensive
program that evaluates and provides intervention strategies for preschool aged children
does not currently exist (Asher, 2006).
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