Perceptual-Motor Abilities and Reversal Errors in Children's Handwriting

A group of 7½-to-8½-year-old children who made persistent reversal errors in handwriting were identified in the course of a previous survey. The performance of this group of children on a variety of perceptual-motor measures was compared with that of a matched control group of children who made no reversal errors. The children in the “reverser” group were found to have a significantly poorer performance than those in the “nonreverser” group on only a few of the measures. The ways in which levels of perceptual-motor skill may affect handwriting achievement are discussed in the light of these findings.