Effectiveness of a Handwriting Intervention

Temple University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Developmental Dysgraphia

Treatments: Other: Size Matters Handwriting Program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02620098

Hand01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of an occupational therapy led handwriting intervention for special education and at-risk kindergarten students.

Full description

In spite of the increased use of computers and tablets by children of younger and younger ages, handwriting remains an important skill for school success and continues to be a critical skill for elementary school students to acquire. Beginning writers still do most of their composing by hand, and difficulties with handwriting can have far-reaching effects on a child's self esteem and academic success.

This study examined the effectiveness of an occupational therapy led handwriting intervention for special education and at-risk kindergarten students. There is a tremendous need for studies examining the outcomes of handwriting instruction provided to the at-risk population, in order to determine whether outcomes are similar to those seen in the typically developing population. There is also a need for studies that examine outcomes in "real world" settings, in addition to those settings manipulated for experimental research. Such studies may not be as "clean" as those in classic experimental research, however it is imperative to examine outcomes in the settings that are occurring in today's schools. At-risk children are increasingly being provided intensive interventions under an RtI model, and children receiving special education services are increasingly being integrated into less restrictive settings, thus creating classroom environments with a wide variety of students needs.

The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of a handwriting intervention, the Size Matters Handwriting Program (SMHP), provided to kindergarten children currently receiving IEP or RtI interventions. This study attempted to answer the following research questions:

1. Will at-risk kindergarteners (those children receiving IEP or RtI support) participating in a 16 week, occupational therapy led handwriting SMHP intervention group demonstrate significantly greater improvements in handwriting legibility than children who do not receive the intervention?
2. Will at-risk kindergarteners, participating in a SMHP handwriting intervention, make significantly greater gains in the pre-reading skills of letter-name recognition and letter-sound recall, than students who do not receive the intervention?

The study incorporated a two group pre and post-test design. Both groups consisted of kindergarten students receiving IEP and/or RtI support. An occupational therapist provided biweekly group handwriting instruction using the Size Matters Handwriting Program to students in the intervention group (n = 23), while the control group (n=12) received the standard handwriting instruction.

Enrollment: 35 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 5 to 7 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:

  • Kindergartners receiving educational support in the form of IEP and/or RtI tier 2 interventions
  • Must be in a support classroom where services are delivered

• Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children not in kindergarten
  • Children not receiving IEP or Rtl tier 2 interventions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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35 participants in 2 patient groups

Size Matters Handwriting Program

Experimental group

Description:

All participants were receiving educational support in the form of IEP and/or RtI tier 2 interventions, and were participating in a support classroom where those services where being delivered. The intervention group consisted of 23 kindergarten students comprising all students in two kindergarten support classrooms, one in each of two neighboring schools. All students in the group received the Size Matters Handwriting Program.

Treatment:

Other: Size Matters Handwriting Program

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

All participants were receiving educational support in the form of IEP and/or RtI tier 2 interventions, and were participating in a support classroom where those services where being delivered. The control group consisted of 12 kindergarteners comprising all students in a kindergarten support classroom at a third school. They received no additional interventions.