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Understanding and Assessing Handwriting Difficulty: Perspectives from the Literature
Author(s) -
Bonney MaryAnn
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1630.1992.tb01751.x
Subject(s) - handwriting , occupational therapy , psychology , perception , intervention (counseling) , referral , rubric , physical medicine and rehabilitation , applied psychology , medicine , computer science , nursing , psychiatry , pedagogy , artificial intelligence , neuroscience
When a handwriting problem significantly affects student academic performance, intervention is warranted, and referral to an occupational therapist may be recommended. Occupational therapists generally adopt a diagnostic approach to assessment of handwriting difficulty. Prior to designing and implementing a remediation programme, the therapist assesses whether inadequate handwriting results from motor in coordination, biomechanical restrictions to movement, inefficient perceptual processing, anxiety arising from previous failure, or a combination of these factors. Critical to the validity of the diagnostic approach is a relationship between the variables assessed and handwriting performance. This paper presents a review of the literature concerned with handwriting performance, dysfunction and assessment, and provides background information to evaluate current occupational therapy assessment practice.