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PubMed2002

A preliminary investigation into handwriting examination by multiple measurements of letters and spacing.

Theoretically, the scientific measurement of letters, letter spacing and word spacing provides a mathematical basis for the statistical comparison of handwriting. Ten volunteers were asked to write the same short passage. Ten features were measured, up to 10 times each, to characterise each writer. Measurements of repeat handwriting 2 years later failed to identify the writer, and this was attributed to a change in the height of the middle zone. Measurements of 'it' and 'th' spacings were the least affected.

Handwriting↗
PubMed2004

Kinematical analysis of handwriting movements in depressed patients.

OBJECTIVE: Motor disturbances are a relevant aspect of depression. Kinematical analysis of movements can be applied to explore which type of motor dysfunction is associated with depression. We hypothesized that depressed patients draw and write significantly slower than controls and that motor disturbances become more pronounced under bi-manual demands. METHOD: We examined 37 depressed patients and 37 healthy controls using a digitizing graphic tablet and subsequent kinematical analysis of handwriting and rapid drawing movements. RESULTS: Depressed patients performed drawing with significantly less regular velocity than controls (P < 0.001), but normal velocity. Motor differences between patients and controls did not increase under bi-manual demands. Handwriting of patients was abnormally slow (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Irregular patterns of velocity peaks in depressed patients point to basal ganglia dysfunction and/or deficient activity of the sensorimotor cortex and the supplementary motor area as a possible substrate of hand-motor disturbances in depression.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Handwriting process variables discriminating mild Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

This study's aims were (a) to examine kinematically the handwriting process of persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), compared with those with mild Alzheimer's disease and healthy controls; (b) to assess the importance of these measures for the differentiation of the groups; and (c) to assess characteristics of the handwriting process across different functional tasks. Thirty-one persons with MCI, 22 with mild Alzheimer's disease, and 41 healthy controls performed functional tasks while using a computerized system. We found significant differences between the groups in almost all measures, with the MCI group assuming a position between the other groups. Temporal measures were higher and pressure was lower in more cognitively deteriorated groups. Information gathered about kinematic measures, together with cognitive functioning, allowed us to classify 69% to 72% of the participants correctly, although the classification for the MCI group was relatively poor.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Offline Arabic handwriting recognition: a survey.

The automatic recognition of text on scanned images has enabled many applications such as searching for words in large volumes of documents, automatic sorting of postal mail, and convenient editing of previously printed documents. The domain of handwriting in the Arabic script presents unique technical challenges and has been addressed more recently than other domains. Many different methods have been proposed and applied to various types of images. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these methods. It is the first survey to focus on Arabic handwriting recognition and the first Arabic character recognition survey to provide recognition rates and descriptions of test data for the approaches discussed. It includes background on the field, discussion of the methods, and future research directions.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1994

Computerized handwriting instruction with severely mentally handicapped adults.

The effectiveness of computerized handwriting instruction incorporating modelling of the target letter, corrective feedback and reinforcement contingent upon letter accuracy was examined with severely mentally retarded adults. Assisted by faded prompts on a sheet of paper, subjects wrote the letter 'q' while their handwriting patterns were detected by a digitized graphics tablet linked to a computer. Computerized instruction was introduced for six subjects (mean mental age = 3 years, 10 months) according to a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design. Instruction produced significant improvements in letter quality which were not simply due to the effects of practice. Subjects who had extended practice before being introduced to the computer were less responsive to the information provided by the computer and did not attain the levels of performance accuracy achieved by other subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Stability of coordination patterns in handwriting: effects of speed and hand.

Previous studies have shown the existence of preferred stroke directions and shapes in handwriting. Assuming that such a two- dimensional trajectory formation process relies on the nonlinear coordination between two abstract orthogonal oscillators, a recent study (Athenes et al., in press) investigated the relative stability and the temporal accuracy of such coordination patterns in performing various ellipsoids corresponding to different phase and amplitude relationships between the oscillators. Results showed that only a small subset of the patterns was stable and accurate. The present study tested and verified the assumption that more stable coordination patterns deteriorate less under a speed constraint. In addition, differences between the dominant and nondominant hands gave insights into various effects modulating the stability and accuracy of such preferred patterns. Evidence of preferred coordination patterns and the predictability of their deterioration corroborate the existence of dynamics underlying handwriting in terms of nonlinearly coupled oscillators.

Automatism↗
PubMed2002

Adaptation of handwriting size under distorted visual feedback in patients with Parkinson's disease and elderly and young controls.

OBJECTIVE: The ability to use visual feedback to control handwriting size was compared in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), elderly people, and young adults to better understand factors playing a part in parkinsonian micrographia. METHODS: The participants wrote sequences of eight cursive l loops with visual target sizes of 0.5 and 2 cm on a flat panel display digitiser which both recorded and displayed the pen movements. In the pre-exposure and postexposure conditions, the display digitiser showed the actual pen trace in real time and real size. In the distortion exposure conditions, the gain of the vertical dimension of the visual feedback was either reduced to 70% or enlarged to 140%. RESULTS: The young controls showed a gradual visuomotor adaptation that compensated for the visual feedback distortions during the exposure conditions. They also showed significant after effects during the postexposure conditions. The elderly controls marginally corrected for the size distortions and showed small after effects. The patients with PD, however, showed no trial by trial adaptations or after effects but instead, a progressive amplification of the distortion effect in each individual trial. CONCLUSION: The young controls used visual feedback to update their visuomotor map. The elderly controls seemed to make little use of visual feedback. The patients with Parkinson's disease rely on the visual feedback of previous or of ongoing strokes to programme subsequent strokes. This recursive feedback may play a part in the progressive reductions in handwriting size found in parkinsonian micrographia.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Handwriting: current trends in occupational therapy practice.

The objective of this survey was to describe assessment and treatment approaches commonly used by occupational therapists for children exhibiting handwriting and related fine motor difficulties. Secondarily, the application of weights as a treatment modality was also explored. Fifty experienced paediatric occupational therapists from Ontario (46%), Quebec (22%) and six other Canadian provinces, were surveyed by telephone. The majority of therapists indicated that they evaluated gross/fine motor and perceptual skills, motor planning, quality of movement and sensory functioning for this population, while psychosocial and environmental factors were often not formally evaluated. Evaluations most commonly utilized included the Beery, Bruininks-Oseretsky and Gardner Tests. Standardized handwriting assessments were rarely employed. All used an eclectic treatment approach with sensorimotor most frequently selected (90%). Work setting and years of experience did not influence the treatment approach favoured.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Comparison of remedial treatments for cursive handwriting of fourth-grade students.

Fourth-grade students participated in a study to investigate 4 methods of cursive handwriting instruction. Groups were rated by two independent raters on 5 handwriting characteristics. Poor and average writers received one of 4 taped methods. Two pretests, 8 training trials, and 1 posttest were administered. The K-sample binomial test of equal proportions and post hoc multiple comparisons in sample proportions for tests of homogeneity were used to analyze the data. Significant differences were found among the methods on 4 of the 5 characteristics among poor writers. For poor writers, the highest proportions of improvement were noted using 1 of 3 methods. Significant differences were found on 2 of the 5 characteristics for average writers.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Evaluation of adolescents' self-esteem through the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and graphometric analysis of students' handwriting.

Self-esteem has long been considered an essential component of good mental health. Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory and Wellingham-Jones Self-esteem Values List applied to handwritings were given to 15- to 19-yr.-old students to explore the former's usefulness in designing programs to enhance self-esteem. Students were from 4 high schools representing the socioeconomic range of a small rural California city. Handwritings of the 25 students scoring highest and the 25 scoring lowest on self-esteem were graphometrically evaluated. Chi squared showed total agreement between the two tests in 62% of the cases, partial agreement in 30%, complete disagreement in 8%. This suggests Coopersmith's inventory may be a useful tool for school administrators, provided its limitations are understood. Similarities and differences between and within the high and low self-esteem groups were discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Development of handwriting in primary school: a longitudinal study.

To investigate the development of handwriting in primary school children a study was conducted in which the scripts of 127 pupils were rated yearly, starting in Grade 2. Children were followed-up on for 3, 4, or 5 yr. The BHK-scale for children's handwriting was used for rating the scripts on 13 characteristics and for measuring the speed of writing. The shifts in frequency of occurrence of the various characteristics over time were analyzed using Correspondence Analysis. A one-dimensional solution was chosen, yielding a time dimension. Results were interpreted in terms of (a) children's growing motor ability, (b) a deterioration of the form aspects of the script as they had initially learned those, and (c) the development of a personal writing style with regard to esthetic aspects. A strong relation was found between the speed of writing and grade.

Agraphia↗
PubMed1996

Development of cursive handwriting.

The efficiency of two different instructional methods for improving the growth of handwriting quality in the upper grades of primary school was investigated in field experiments using a control-group design. No improvement in mean quality was found for a group of 38 children using a method based on copying exercises. A substantial improvement in mean quality, corresponding to about 1.4 SD, was found for 23 children using a method based on reintroduction of the letter forms explaining each form visually and verbally. It was concluded that the bottleneck in the development of handwriting quality in primary school is a mismatch between the instructional methods used and the perceptual ability of the children.

Child↗
PubMed1997

Individual and sex differences in speed of handwriting among high school students.

A group of 153 high school students participated in a cursive handwriting task which required them to copy sentences as quickly as possible. The 78 girls performed significantly better than the 75 boys and a substantial range of speed for each sex was found. The results have implications for more demanding writing and composition processes. Handwriting speed has the potential to act as a limiting factor under some circumstances.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Handwriting and emotional stress.

The question was whether it is possible to assess retrospectively from handwriting whether the writing sample was produced under emotional stress. It was shown that modifications of spatial writing features with stress are not distinguishable from handwriting characteristics associated with mere acceleration.

Hand↗
PubMed2001

Examination performance and graphological analysis of students' handwriting.

Research has yielded mixed support for graphological claims. The present study was designed to see whether specific components of students' handwriting were related to personality traits associated with achievement in written examinations. If aspects were identified that could be used to predict future academic performance, the findings would not only be of interest to graphologists but would be invaluable to both student and tutor in a teaching environment. In a blind trial, 100 handwriting samples from first-year scripts were analysed for the presence or absence of 12 graphological characteristics deemed to be relevant for academic performance, and each of these aspects was tested for association with the grade points awarded. Statistically significant differences were found for two of the 12 characteristics: "carefulness" and "constancy." Also, measurements of individual letters indicated that consistent slant was significantly associated with high grade points, whereas upright or mixed writing was not. These attributes appeared to be generally related to readability and aesthetic quality. Although such aspects might influence the grading of scripts by teachers, typed versions received similar grades to those awarded for the handwritten versions.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

High levels of contextual interference enhance handwriting skill acquisition.

The authors conducted 3 experiments to examine whether introducing high levels of contextual interference is useful in handwriting skill acquisition. For all experiments, elementary school students (Ns = 44, 50, and 78, respectively) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 practice schedules-blocked or random practice-in the acquisition phase. In the blocked condition, each of 3 letters (h, a, and y) or (in Experiment 1) symbols was handwritten 24 times consecutively. In the random condition, each letter (or symbol) was practiced 24 times, but in an intermixed, unsystematic sequence. Overall, the results showed that the random practice schedule leads to enhanced retention and transfer performance of handwriting skill acquisition.

Attention↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pencil grasp and children's handwriting legibility during different-length writing tasks.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the influence ofpencil grasp on handwriting legibility during both short and long writing tasks in 46fourth-grade students who were typically developing. Matched samples were used to controlfor variability. METHOD: Regular classroom writing assignments were scoredfor word and letter legibility, and scores were compared using a mixed repeated-measures analysis of variance design. The two independent variables were pencil grasp (dynamic tripod grasp vs. atypical grasp) and task length (short vs. long). RESULTS: A significant difference was found between the letter legibility scores on the short task and the letter legibility scores on the long task. Students' legibility was greater on the short task than on the long task across both grasp conditions. No significant difference was found in scores between students who used dynamic tripod grasps and those who used atypical grasps, nor was there a significant interaction between grasp and task length. No significant differences were found between word legibility scores. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that although the students in this study wrote more legibly on the short task than on the long task, the type of grasp they used did not affect their legibility. Because of the limited sample size, the results of this study should be interpreted cautiously. More research in handwriting performance and pencil grasp is needed to provide clear expectations and treatment options for students.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Multisensory approach to handwriting remediation: perceptions of school-based occupational therapists.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe the current practices of school-based occupational therapists regarding their use of multisensory modalities and activities in handwriting remediation. METHOD: A survey was sent to 313 school-based occupational therapist members of the American Occupational Therapy Association who identified themselves as working in a school system as their primary employment setting. Of these, 198 surveys were returned and analyzed descriptively, resulting in a response rate of 63.3%. RESULTS: More than 130 different multisensory modalities and activities were documented. Twenty-five of these had previously been reported in the literature, the other 114 were documented, by respondents, within the "other" category. Most respondents reported using 5 or more modalities and activities per student, the most frequent being chalk and chalkboard. No consensus among respondents is apparent about the primary sensory systems stimulated by the modalities and activities. No difference in modality and activity use was found on the basis of demographic variables. CONCLUSION: Overall findings indicate that the breadth of modalities and activities being used is far greater than that currently found in the literature. The results suggest a need for completing studies designed to examine the use and effectiveness of multisensory modalities and activities in handwriting remediation.

Child↗