Carry-over effect of a handwriting readiness program on handwriting-related skills of children the year following intervention

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Whitney Shay Lear (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Advisor

Denise Donica

Abstract: The purpose of this follow-up study was to determine if children who had participated in an occupational therapy based handwriting readiness program would show greater improvements in handwriting-related skills a year following intervention when compared to a control group and an alternate experimental group. The entire study (initial study and follow-up study) was a time series longitudinal design with 4 data collection points. Sixteen children (4 from the control group 6 from the experimental group and 6 from the alternate experimental group) were tested in September 2010 received intervention and were again tested in March 2011 during the initial study. This follow-up study then included 2 more post-testing sessions in September 2011 and in March 2012. Testing sessions included the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration - Sixth Edition (VMI) and four of the eight subtests from the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency - Second Edition (BOT-2). All children completed all testing at the first session of the initial study in September 2010 participated in the intervention during the initial study and completed all tests at both testing sessions for this follow-up study in September 2011 and in March 2012. (At the second testing session in March 2011 2 children did not complete the Upper-Limb Coordination Subtest of the BOT-2 and 1 child did not complete the Fine Motor Integration Subtest or the Fine Motor Precision Subtest of the BOT-2). The dependent variables were the scores received on the VMI and the Fine Motor Precision Subtest Fine Motor Integration Subtest Manual Dexterity Subtest and Upper-Limb Coordination Subtest of the BOT-2. The independent variable was the handwriting instruction program in which the child participated during the initial study. Data analysis indicated that children who participated in the Fine Motor and Early Writing (FMEW) Pre-K curriculum (experimental group) showed greater improvements in median scores on the BOT-2 Fine Motor Precision and Manual Dexterity subtests from the end of the intervention year to one year following intervention when compared to the control group and the alternate experimental group. Both the VMI and the Fine Motor Integration and Upper-Limb Coordination subtests of the BOT-2 showed the control group with the greatest median change in scores. It is difficult to draw conclusions from the results of this study as limitations including a lack of randomization between the three groups leading to considerable differences in age and gender strongly affected results leading to inconclusive data about the effects of the FMEW curriculum on handwriting-related skills of children one year following intervention.

Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Date: 2013

Keywords

Early childhood education, Fine Motor and Early Writing Pre-K Curriculum, Handwriting, Handwriting Without Tears, Head Start, Occupational Therapy

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