Factors That Relate to Good and Poor Handwriting

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the relationships between specific performance components, eye-hand coordination, visuomotor integration, in-hand manipulation, and handwriting skill. METHOD: A sample of 48 typical first grade students were identified as good and poor handwriters by their teachers. Each child completed the Motor Accuracy Test; the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI); two tests of in-hand manipulation, including a rotation and a translation task; and the Minnesota Handwriting Test (MHT). RESULTS: All test scores for the subjects with good handwriting were significantly higher than those of the subjects with poor handwriting. Each performance component test was significantly correlated to MHT scores. Translation, VMI, and rotation scores were significant predictors of MHT scores, accounting for almost 73% of variance. A discriminant analysis using the performance components correctly classified 98% of the students as good or poor handwriters. CONCLUSION: In-hand manipulation has significant association to handwriting skill.