An Evaluation of Handwriting Performance

Ziviani, Jenny; Elkins, John

doi:10.1080/0013191840360304

Cited by 108 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…All children attended grades 2 or 3, had a mean age of 8 years (range: 7-10 years), and had received an average of 19.2 months (SD = 7.2) of instruction and practice in writing. We opted for this age group because the literature on handwriting development suggests that by the time a child reaches the end of second grade, his or her handwriting has become more or less automatic, organized, and readily available [1,15,31]. Thus, a deficiency in these qualities at the age of our pupils is likely to be a sign of a (developmental) problem.…”

Section: Participants and Selection Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic time warping: A new method in the study of poor handwriting

Brina

Niels

Overvelde

et al. 2008

Human Movement Science

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Poor handwriting is a diagnostic criterion for developmental coordination disorder. Typical of poor handwriting is its low overall quality and the high variability of the spatial characteristics of the letters, usually assessed with a subjective handwriting scale. Recently, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), a technique originally developed for speech recognition, was introduced for pattern recognition in handwriting. The present study evaluates its application to analyze poor handwriting. Forty children attending Dutch mainstream primary schools were recruited and based on their scores on the Concise Evaluation Scale for Children's Handwriting (Dutch abbreviation: BHK), 20 good and 20 poor writers (of whom 13 were scheduled for handwriting intervention) were identified. The groups were matched for age (7-9 years), school grade (grades 2 and 3) and handedness. The children subsequently wrote sequences of the letter 'a' on a graphics tablet in three conditions (normal, fast, and accurate). Classical kinematics were obtained and for each individual letter DTW was used to calculate the distance from the mean shape. The DTW data revealed much higher variability in the letter forms of the poor writers that was independent of the kinematic results of larger trajectories, faster movements, and higher pen pressure. The current results suggest that DTW is a valid and objective technique for letter-form analysis in handwriting and may hence be useful to evaluate the rehabilitation treatments of children suffering from poor handwriting. In education research it may be exploited to explore how children (should) learn to write.

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Section: Participants and Selection Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic time warping: A new method in the study of poor handwriting

Brina

Niels

Overvelde

et al. 2008

Human Movement Science

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show abstract

“…Nevertheless, the research strongly suggests that boys are more likely to be identified as having a handwriting problem than girls (Hamstra-Bletz & Blote, 1993;Rubin & Henderson, 1982), and research in the 1980s and 1990s confirmed that girls are generally better handwriters than boys (Graham & Miller, 1980), both on measures of overall quality and of letter formation (Hamstra-Bletz & Blote, 1990;Ziviani & Elkins, 1984). Girls also tend to write faster than boys (Berninger & Fuller, 1992;Biemiller et al, 1993;Ziviani, 1984).…”

Section: Handwriting Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handwriting – A Forgotten Language Skill?

Medwell

Wray

2008

Language and Education

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Handwriting currently has a low status and profile in literacy education. This paper examines the situation of current handwriting pedagogy in England and considers why handwriting efficiency has been neglected. The paper goes on to identify a number of studies located in the domains of special needs and psychology which re-evaluate the role of handwriting efficiency. These studies suggest that handwriting is more than just motor skill and may make a very important contribution to children's composing of text. Existing research into the way handwriting efficiency affects composing suggests that further research, more appropriate assessment and focused intervention could all make a significant contribution to children's writing progress and might positively affect the progress of the many boys who struggle with writing throughout the primary school years.

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“…Speed has always been used as a performance measure in relation to writing (Ayres, 1912;Burt, 1921;Freeman, 1959;Grof, 1961;Gross et al, 1996;Peverly, 2006). Legibility was not assessed, as there does not seem to be any consensus about its evaluation as researchers such as Ayres (1912), Alston and Taylor (1984), Burt (1921), Freeman (1959), Feldt (1962, Gipps (1984), Helwig et al (1976), Rarick and Harris (1963), Rubin and Henderson (1982), Ziviani (1982) and Ziviani and Elkins (1984) have all proposed different ways to evaluate legibility.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pen design on drawing and writing performance

2009

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Two experiments are reported with the aim of determining the effect of pen shape and size on two different types of task: drawing and writing. Experiment 1 attempted to determine the optimum shape and size of shank for ball-point pens used to perform an accurate drawing task. Twenty-seven participants used a total of nine different pens. Drawing performance was measured by having the subjects follow mazes of different size. The dependent variables were drawing movement time and drawing accuracy. The results indicate that the pen with an equivalent diameter of 8 mm had the best accuracy during drawing, even though it had the lowest speed. The results confirm the applicability and validity of the Drury tracking model for such a task. Even though users tended to prefer larger pens, their accuracy with such pens tended to be low.In a second experiment subjects performed a writing task (with no accuracy constraints) and rated their preference for types of pen. An attempt was made to determine the preferred dimensions of ball-point pens for writing in Chinese and English. A total of 36 "bare-bodied" pens and 20 Chinese subjects were used to evaluate the effects of shape, size and weight on time to write a sentence. The Writing ability, Comfort and an Overall rating were given by the subjects. The results indicate that the Chinese subjects preferred a circular shaped pen for writing in both languages. A factor analysis showed that speed, comfort and writing ability are independent parameters in pen evaluations.

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An Evaluation of Handwriting Performance

Cited by 108 publications

References 10 publications

Dynamic time warping: A new method in the study of poor handwriting

Dynamic time warping: A new method in the study of poor handwriting

Handwriting – A Forgotten Language Skill?

Effects of pen design on drawing and writing performance

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