Effectiveness of school-based occupational therapy intervention on handwriting

Area of Science:

• Pediatric occupational therapy
• Educational psychology
• Handwriting development

Background:

• Handwriting is a crucial skill for academic success.
• Difficulties with handwriting legibility and speed can impact a student's educational performance.
• Occupational therapy interventions are utilized to address fine motor and visual-perceptual deficits affecting handwriting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of school-based occupational therapy services on handwriting legibility and speed in young students.
• To compare the handwriting outcomes of students receiving occupational therapy with a control group not receiving services.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design compared students (7-10 years) receiving occupational therapy (n=29) with a control group (n=9).
• Intervention included direct occupational therapy focusing on visual-motor skills and handwriting practice.
• Handwriting legibility, speed, visual-motor, visual-perception, and in-hand manipulation were assessed pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed significant improvements in in-hand manipulation and position-in-space scores.
• Students receiving occupational therapy demonstrated greater gains in handwriting legibility (14.2% increase) compared to the control group (5.8% increase).
• Fifteen students in the intervention group achieved over 90% legibility by year-end; handwriting speed showed minimal differences.

Conclusions:

• School-based occupational therapy services positively impacted letter legibility in students.
• The intervention did not yield significant improvements in handwriting speed or numeral legibility.
• Occupational therapy shows promise for enhancing specific components of handwriting skills in school-aged children.