Research on Handwriting and Why It is Still Important!

Research on Handwriting Practice and Why It is Important

One of the most common reasons for referral to school based occupational therapy services is handwriting assessment and treatment. Here is some research on handwriting for Occupational Therapists, teachers, and other professionals on why students still need traditional handwriting practice.

You Need Handwriting Practice To Improve Handwriting

The Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy published research on handwriting that included a review of the interventions used to improve handwriting.  After reviewing 11 studies that tested relaxation and practice with or without EMG, sensory-based training without handwriting practice, and handwriting-based practice (including sensory-focused or cognitive focused handwriting practice) the researchers concluded that interventions that did not include handwriting practice and those that included less than 20 practice sessions were ineffective (Hoy, 2011).

Traditional Handwriting Practice Is Better Than iPad Handwriting Practice

The Journal of Occupational Therapy, School and Early Intervention published a small study comparing traditional handwriting practice versus iPad handwriting instruction.  For the 12 kindergartners and first graders who participated, the results indicated that traditional methods of handwriting instruction were superior in terms of letter formation and letter orientation when compared to iPad-mediated practice. In addition, letter recognition increased for those using traditional handwriting methods but stayed stable for the iPad-mediated group (Wells, 2016).

You Have to Teach Handwriting

Educational Psychology Review performed research on handwriting to determine if teaching handwriting enhanced legibility and fluency and resulted in better writing performance.  The results indicated that when compared to no instruction or non-handwriting instructional conditions, teaching handwriting resulted in statistically greater legibility and fluency. Motor instruction did not produce better handwriting skills  but individualizing handwriting instruction resulted in statistically significant improvements in legibility. Handwriting instruction produced statistically significant gains in the quality, length, and fluency of students’ writing (Santangelo, 2016).

 

You Need To Practice Writing All Letters of The Alphabet For Fluency

Research on handwriting practice stated that just because a letter occurs less frequently than another one in the English language, it does not mean that the development of automaticity in writing that letter is any less important.

When handwriting workbooks do not offer children with roughly equivalent amounts of practice with all letters of the alphabet, those traditional handwriting workbooks may have mistakenly provided children with too little practice with low frequency letters.

If you want to get started right away with handwriting practice, the Handwriting Station includes everything you will need to create the workspace (except the folders and pencils).   This digital download packet will help get your handwriting station up and running in no time.

Research on Handwriting for Letter Recognition

Some research on handwriting has concluded that any handwriting may increase letter recognition because it facilitates gains in visual–motor coordination (Zemlock et. al, 2018).

Visual motor skills play an important role in handwriting.  Visual-motor integration skills have been shown to be related to the ability to copy letters legibly (Daly et. al, 2003).

When it comes to written assignments,  reduced visual-motor integration may contribute to the poor spatial organization of written work as well (Barnhardt et. al, 2005).

Eye-hand coordination skills in children have also been shown to be related to math, reading and writing attainment (Giles et al, 2018).

What Handwriting Interventions Work?

The Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, and Early Intervention (Fancher et al, 2018) recently published a systemic review on handwriting acquisition and interventions for handwriting for preschoolers through second grade. The results indicated the following:

• writing letters in late preschool contributes to letter recognition.
• Elementary students do better when handwriting is explicitly taught.
• Legibility improves with adequate practice.
• Interventions based on motor learning theory and cognitive learning strategies are effective in improving legibility.
• remediation of performance deficits was not shown to be effective.

Resources to Help Teach and Practice Handwriting

There are many more research articles that can be cited through the years on the importance of handwriting instruction.  So we know students benefit from handwriting instruction and practice, BUT school districts do not seem to make time for it anymore.  Most school based occupational therapists deal with handwriting interventions on a daily basis.  Your Therapy Source has several handwriting resources that are available via electronic delivery to help with handwriting instruction and practice.

Thia Triggs, OTR has put together an amazing handwriting bundle package. This Handwriting Without Tears© -style letter font, uses 3-lines to best support your students. There are Go-Dots, Gray-Boxes, and Simple Arrows that inform rather than confuse learners.  You will get 8 of the best handwriting instruction downloads from Print Path for your multi-leveled interventions!  It is almost 500 pages!  GET MORE INFORMATION.

References for the Research on Handwriting:  

Barnhardt, C., Borsting, E., Deland, P., Pham, N., & Vu, T. (2005). Relationship between visual-motor integration and spatial organization of written language and math. Optometry and Vision Science, 82(2), 138-143.

Daly, C. J., Kelley, G. T., & Krauss, A. (2003). Relationship between visual-motor integration and handwriting skills of children in kindergarten: A modified replication study. American journal of occupational therapy, 57(4), 459-462.

Fancher, L. A., Priestley-Hopkins, D. A., & Jeffries, L. M. (2018). Handwriting Acquisition and Intervention: A Systematic Review. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 11(4), 454-473.

Fears, N. E., Walsh, L. E., & Lockman, J. J. (2020). Letter writing instruction for children: Case-sensitive letter frequencies in children’s handwriting workbooks. Reading and Writing, 33(1), 171-185.

Giles, O. T., Shire, K. A., Hill, L. J., Mushtaq, F., Waterman, A., Holt, R., … & Mon-Williams, M. (2018). Hitting the target: Mathematical attainment in children is related to interceptive timing ability. Psychological Science.

Monica M. P. Hoy, Mary Y. Egan, and Katya P. Feder. A Systematic Review of Interventions to Improve Handwriting. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy February 2011 78: 13-25, doi:10.2182/cjot.2011.78.1.3

Kevin E. Wells , PhD, Tracey N. Sulak , PhD, Terrill F. Saxon , PhD & Leanne L. Howell , PhD. Traditional versus iPad-mediated handwriting instruction in early learners. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention Volume 9, 2016 – Issue 2

Santangelo, T. & Graham, S. A Comprehensive Meta-analysis of Handwriting Instruction. Educ Psychol Rev (2016) 28: 225. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9335-1

Zemlock, D., Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K. H. (2018). Visual–motor symbol production facilitates letter recognition in young children. Reading and Writing, 31(6), 1255-1271.