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Handwriting Readiness among Digital Native Kindergarten Students
Alison J Sheedy1, Jackson Brent1, Kerry Dally2
1School of Health Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.
Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics
|April 20, 2021
Summary
Children born in the digital age show expected visual-motor integration but lower overall motor proficiency. Many use static pencil grasps, raising questions about digital technology
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Occupational Therapy
- Pediatric Motor Development
Background:
- Handwriting is crucial for academic success.
- Digital technology use may impact fine motor skill development.
- Assessing handwriting readiness in young children is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate handwriting readiness skills in digitally-native children.
- To investigate visual-motor integration and fine motor control in this cohort.
Main Methods:
- 219 children (mean age 5y 10m) assessed using Beery-VMI and BOT-2.
- Pencil grasp was observed.
- Data compared to normative data.
Main Results:
- Children performed as expected on visual-motor integration (Beery-VMI).
- Overall motor proficiency (BOT-2) was below normative levels.
- 60.3% of children exhibited static pencil grasps.
Conclusions:
- Digital age children demonstrate adequate visual-motor integration but lagging overall motor skills.
- Prevalence of static pencil grasps warrants further investigation.
- The role of digital technology in altered motor development needs examination.
