Handwriting development, competency, and intervention.

PubMed

Feder, Katya P; Majnemer, Annette

2007-04-01

Failure to attain handwriting competency during the school-age years often has far-reaching negative effects on both academic success and self-esteem. This complex occupational task has many underlying component skills that may interfere with handwriting performance. Fine motor control, bilateral and visual-motor integration, motor planning, in-hand manipulation, proprioception, visual perception, sustained attention, and sensory awareness of the fingers are some of the component skills identified. Poor handwriting may be related to intrinsic factors, which refer to the child's actual handwriting capabilities, or extrinsic factors which are related to environmental or biomechanical components, or both. It is important that handwriting performance be evaluated using a valid, reliable, standardized tool combined with informal classroom observation and teacher consultation. Studies of handwriting remediation suggest that intervention is effective. There is evidence to indicate that handwriting difficulties do not resolve without intervention and affect between 10 and 30% of school-aged children. Despite the widespread use of computers, legible handwriting remains an important life skill that deserves greater attention from educators and health practitioners.

Does Poor Handwriting Conceal Literacy Potential in Primary School Children?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarney, Debra; Peters, Lynne; Jackson, Sarah; Thomas, Marie; Kirby, Amanda

2013-01-01

Handwriting is a complex skill that, despite increasing use of computers, still plays a vital role in education. It is assumed that children will master letter formation at a relatively early stage in their school life, with handwriting fluency developing steadily until automaticity is attained. The capacity theory of writing suggests that as…

Sequence for the Training of Eye-Hand Coordination Needed for the Organization of Handwriting Tasks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trester, Mary Fran

1971-01-01

Suggested is a sequence of 11 class activities, progressing from gross to fine motor skills, to assist the development of skills required to perform handwriting tasks successfully, for use particularly with children who lack fine motor control and eye-hand coordination. (KW)

Ponderings of an Occupational Therapy Administrator: Beyond Handwriting--Are We Ready?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polichino, Jean E.

2016-01-01

Handwriting has historically played a significant role in the services provided by occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants working in schools. Reflecting on nearly three decades of school practice, an occupational therapy administrator considers how this niche developed and how it positions occupational therapy practitioners to…

Visual improvement for bad handwriting based on Monte-Carlo method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Cao; Xiao, Jianguo; Xu, Canhui; Jia, Wenhua

2014-03-01

A visual improvement algorithm based on Monte Carlo simulation is proposed in this paper, in order to enhance visual effects for bad handwriting. The whole improvement process is to use well designed typeface so as to optimize bad handwriting image. In this process, a series of linear operators for image transformation are defined for transforming typeface image to approach handwriting image. And specific parameters of linear operators are estimated by Monte Carlo method. Visual improvement experiments illustrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively enhance visual effect for handwriting image as well as maintain the original handwriting features, such as tilt, stroke order and drawing direction etc. The proposed visual improvement algorithm, in this paper, has a huge potential to be applied in tablet computer and Mobile Internet, in order to improve user experience on handwriting.

A dynamical model improves reconstruction of handwriting from multichannel electromyographic recordings

PubMed Central

Okorokova, Elizaveta; Lebedev, Mikhail; Linderman, Michael; Ossadtchi, Alex

2015-01-01

In recent years, several assistive devices have been proposed to reconstruct arm and hand movements from electromyographic (EMG) activity. Although simple to implement and potentially useful to augment many functions, such myoelectric devices still need improvement before they become practical. Here we considered the problem of reconstruction of handwriting from multichannel EMG activity. Previously, linear regression methods (e.g., the Wiener filter) have been utilized for this purpose with some success. To improve reconstruction accuracy, we implemented the Kalman filter, which allows to fuse two information sources: the physical characteristics of handwriting and the activity of the leading hand muscles, registered by the EMG. Applying the Kalman filter, we were able to convert eight channels of EMG activity recorded from the forearm and the hand muscles into smooth reconstructions of handwritten traces. The filter operates in a causal manner and acts as a true predictor utilizing the EMGs from the past only, which makes the approach suitable for real-time operations. Our algorithm is appropriate for clinical neuroprosthetic applications and computer peripherals. Moreover, it is applicable to a broader class of tasks where predictive myoelectric control is needed. PMID:26578856

Handwriting Implementation Project Study (HIPS). Report #1, Preparation for the Dissemination Phase.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Logan, Lloyd; And Others

The purpose of this report is to provide data on the progress of the Handwriting Implementation Project, which is designed to assist in installing the Beginner's Alphabet and Queensland Modern Cursive Script in Queensland government primary schools. Following an introduction that describes the phases and processes of curriculum development and…

Discriminatory power of handwriting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srihari, Sargur N.; Cha, Sung-Hyuk; Lee, Sangjik

2001-12-01

A study was undertaken to determine the power of handwriting to distinguish between individuals. Handwriting samples of one thousand five hundred individuals, representative of the US population with respect to gender, age, ethnic groups, etc., were obtained. Analyzing differences in handwriting was done by using computer algorithms for extracting features from scanned images of handwriting. Attributes characteristic of the handwriting were obtained, e.g., line separation, slant, character shapes, etc. These attributes, which are a subset of attributes used by expert document examiners, were used to quantitatively establish individuality by using machine learning approaches. Using global attributes of hadwriting and very few characters in the writing, the ability to determine the writer with a high degree of confidence was established. The work is a step towards providing scientific support for admitting handwriting evidence in court. The mathematical approach and the resulting software also have the promise of aiding the expert document examiner.

Decision support framework for Parkinson's disease based on novel handwriting markers.

PubMed

Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdeněk; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

2015-05-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which impairs motor skills, speech, and other functions such as behavior, mood, and cognitive processes. One of the most typical clinical hallmarks of PD is handwriting deterioration, usually the first manifestation of PD. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) to find a subset of handwriting features suitable for identifying subjects with PD and (b) to build a predictive model to efficiently diagnose PD. We collected handwriting samples from 37 medicated PD patients and 38 age- and sex-matched controls. The handwriting samples were collected during seven tasks such as writing a syllable, word, or sentence. Every sample was used to extract the handwriting measures. In addition to conventional kinematic and spatio-temporal handwriting measures, we also computed novel handwriting measures based on entropy, signal energy, and empirical mode decomposition of the handwriting signals. The selected features were fed to the support vector machine classifier with radial Gaussian kernel for automated diagnosis. The accuracy of the classification of PD was as high as 88.13%, with the highest values of sensitivity and specificity equal to 89.47% and 91.89%, respectively. Handwriting may be a valuable marker as a diagnostic and screening tool.

Is Handwriting Performance Affected by the Writing Surface? Comparing Preschoolers', Second Graders', and Adults' Writing Performance on a Tablet vs. Paper.

PubMed

Gerth, Sabrina; Klassert, Annegret; Dolk, Thomas; Fliesser, Michael; Fischer, Martin H; Nottbusch, Guido; Festman, Julia

2016-01-01

Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers. In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders, and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities, and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults). We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures [e.g., writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV)]. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity. In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants-even the experienced writers-were influenced by the lower friction of the tablet surface. Our results for the group-comparison show advancing levels in handwriting automaticity from preschoolers to second graders to adults, which confirms that our method depicts handwriting performance in groups with varying degrees of handwriting automaticity. We conclude that the smoother tablet surface requires additional control of handwriting movements and therefore might present an additional challenge for learners of handwriting.

Is Handwriting Performance Affected by the Writing Surface? Comparing Preschoolers', Second Graders', and Adults' Writing Performance on a Tablet vs. Paper

PubMed Central

Gerth, Sabrina; Klassert, Annegret; Dolk, Thomas; Fliesser, Michael; Fischer, Martin H.; Nottbusch, Guido; Festman, Julia

2016-01-01

Due to their multifunctionality, tablets offer tremendous advantages for research on handwriting dynamics or for interactive use of learning apps in schools. Further, the widespread use of tablet computers has had a great impact on handwriting in the current generation. But, is it advisable to teach how to write and to assess handwriting in pre- and primary schoolchildren on tablets rather than on paper? Since handwriting is not automatized before the age of 10 years, children's handwriting movements require graphomotor and visual feedback as well as permanent control of movement execution during handwriting. Modifications in writing conditions, for instance the smoother writing surface of a tablet, might influence handwriting performance in general and in particular those of non-automatized beginning writers. In order to investigate how handwriting performance is affected by a difference in friction of the writing surface, we recruited three groups with varying levels of handwriting automaticity: 25 preschoolers, 27 second graders, and 25 adults. We administered three tasks measuring graphomotor abilities, visuomotor abilities, and handwriting performance (only second graders and adults). We evaluated two aspects of handwriting performance: the handwriting quality with a visual score and the handwriting dynamics using online handwriting measures [e.g., writing duration, writing velocity, strokes and number of inversions in velocity (NIV)]. In particular, NIVs which describe the number of velocity peaks during handwriting are directly related to the level of handwriting automaticity. In general, we found differences between writing on paper compared to the tablet. These differences were partly task-dependent. The comparison between tablet and paper revealed a faster writing velocity for all groups and all tasks on the tablet which indicates that all participants—even the experienced writers—were influenced by the lower friction of the tablet surface. Our results for the group-comparison show advancing levels in handwriting automaticity from preschoolers to second graders to adults, which confirms that our method depicts handwriting performance in groups with varying degrees of handwriting automaticity. We conclude that the smoother tablet surface requires additional control of handwriting movements and therefore might present an additional challenge for learners of handwriting. PMID:27672372

Teaching Handwriting to Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities: A Problem-Solving Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Datchuk, Shawn

2015-01-01

Problems with handwriting can negatively impact the writing of students with learning disabilities. In this article, an example is provided of a fourth-grade special education teacher's efforts to assist a new student by using a problem-solving approach to help determine an efficient course of action for special education teachers who are trying…

Handwriting and pre-frailty in the Lausanne cohort 65+ (Lc65+) study.

PubMed

Camicioli, Richard; Mizrahi, Seymour; Spagnoli, Jacques; Büla, Christophe; Demonet, Jean-François; Vingerhoets, François; von Gunten, Armin; Santos-Eggimann, Brigitte

2015-01-01

Frailty is detected by weight loss, weakness, slow walking velocity, reduced physical activity or poor endurance/exhaustion. Handwriting has not been examined in the context of frailty, despite its functional importance. Our goal was to examine quantitative handwriting measures in people meeting 0, 1, and 2 or more (2+) frailty criteria. We also examined if handwriting parameters were associated with gait performance, weakness, poor endurance/exhaustion and cognitive impairment. From the population-based Lc65+, 72 subjects meeting 2+ frailty criteria with complete handwriting samples were identified. Gender-matched controls meeting 1 criterion or no criteria were identified. Cognitive impairment was defined by a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 25 or less or the lowest 20th percentile of Trail Making Test Part B. Handwriting was recorded using a writing tablet and measures of velocity, pauses, and pressure were extracted. Subjects with 2+ criteria were older, had more health problems and need for assistance but had higher education. No handwriting parameter differed between frailty groups (age and education adjusted). Writing velocity was not significantly slower among participants from the slowest 20th percentile of gait velocity but writing pressure was significantly lower among those from the lowest 20th percentile of grip strength. Poor endurance/exhaustion was not associated with handwriting measures. Low cognitive performance was related to longer pauses. Handwriting parameters might be associated with specific aspects of the frailty phenotype, but not reliably with global definitions of frailty at its earliest stages among subjects able to perform handwriting tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Handwriting based on Rhythm Perception

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, Kazuya; Uchida, Masafumi; Nozawa, Akio

Humanity fluctuation was reported in some fields. In handwriting process, fluctuation appears on handwriting-velocity. In this report, we focused attention on human rhythm perception and analyzed fluctuation in handwriting process. As a result, 1/f noise related to rhythm perception and features may caused by Kahneman's capacity model were measured on handwriting process.

Curriculum-Based Handwriting Programs: A Systematic Review With Effect Sizes

PubMed Central

Engel, Courtney; Lillie, Kristin; Zurawski, Sarah; Travers, Brittany G.

2018-01-01

Challenges with handwriting can have a negative impact on academic performance, and these challenges are commonly addressed by occupational therapy practitioners in school settings. This systematic review examined the efficacy of curriculum-based interventions to address children’s handwriting difficulties in the classroom (preschool to second grade). We reviewed and computed effect sizes for 13 studies (11 Level II, 2 Level III) identified through a comprehensive database search. The evidence shows that curriculum-based handwriting interventions resulted in small- to medium-sized improvements in legibility, a commonly reported challenge in this age group. The evidence for whether these interventions improved speed is mixed, and the evidence for whether they improved fluency is insufficient. No clear support was found for one handwriting program over another. These results suggest that curriculum-based interventions can lead to improvements in handwriting legibility, but Level I research is needed to validate the efficacy of these curricula. PMID:29689170

Factors Influencing Student Preference When Comparing Handwriting and Typing for Essay Style Examinations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mogey, Nora; Fluck, Andrew

2015-01-01

It seems anachronistic that we expect students to handwrite essay examinations when almost all their other work is mediated by computer. Two universities, one in the UK and one in Australia, are exploring the use of computers in free text response examinations. This paper compares both the attitudes and the behaviours of their students concerning…

Using Hand-Held Computers When Conducting National Security Background Interviews: Utility Test Results

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-01

Tablet computers resemble ordinary notebook computers but can be set up as a flat display for handwriting by means of a stylus (digital pen). When used...PC accessories, and often strongly resemble notebook computers. However, all tablets can be set up as a flat display for handwriting by means of a...P3: “Depending on how the tablet handles the post-interview process, it would save time over paper.”  P4: “I hoped you were going to say that this

Experiences of handwriting and using a computerized ATD in school: adolescents with Asperger's syndrome.

PubMed

Breivik, Ingrid; Hemmingsson, Helena

2013-09-01

Adolescents with Asperger's syndrome (AS), often have handwriting difficulties that affect their academic performance. The purpose of this descriptive multiple-case mixed-method study was to highlight how adolescents with AS experience writing in the school setting when writing by hand and when using a computerized Assistive Technology Device (ATD), for writing. A qualitative content analysis approach was used, including interviews with five adolescents, their parents, and their teachers. This was complemented by asking the adolescents to rate their perceived performance and satisfaction of writing with and without the ATD. All adolescents described handwriting difficulties, but a reduced ability to express oneself in writing was also common. Initiating and completing writing tasks was often so demanding that it caused resistance to the activity. Several advantages when using the ATD were described by the participants and the self-ratings showed higher scores for performance of and satisfaction with writing when the ATD was used. The results show that teachers' encouragement seemed to be important for the initiation and continuation of use of the ATD.

Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9.

PubMed

Berninger, Virginia W; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D

2015-02-01

Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4 th to 9 th graders ( n =35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword - (handwriting), word - (spelling), and syntax - (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities.

Computer Instruction in Handwriting, Spelling, and Composing for Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Grades 4 to 9

PubMed Central

Berninger, Virginia W.; Nagy, William; Tanimoto, Steve; Thompson, Rob; Abbott, Robert D.

2014-01-01

Effectiveness of iPad computerized writing instruction was evaluated for 4th to 9th graders (n=35) with diagnosed specific learning disabilities (SLDs) affecting writing: dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing). Each of the 18 two-hour lessons had multiple learning activities aimed at improving subword- (handwriting), word- (spelling), and syntax- (sentence composing) level language skills by engaging all four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to create a functional writing system. To evaluate treatment effectiveness, normed measures of handwriting, spelling, and composing were used with the exception of one non-normed alphabet writing task. Results showed that the sample as a whole improved significantly from pretest to posttest in three handwriting measures, four spelling measures, and both written and oral syntax construction measures. All but oral syntax was evaluated with pen and paper tasks, showing that the computer writing instruction transferred to better writing with pen and paper. Performance on learning activities during instruction correlated with writing outcomes; and individual students tended to improve in the impaired skill associated with their diagnosis. Thus, although computers are often used in upper elementary school and middle school in the United States (US) for accommodations (alternatives to pen and paper) for students with persisting SLDs affecting writing, this study shows computers can also be used for Tier 3 instruction to improve the writing skills of students in grades 4 to 9 with history of persisting writing disabilities. PMID:25378768

How Captain Amerika uses neural networks to fight crime

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, Steven K.; Kabrisky, Matthew; Ruck, Dennis W.; Oxley, Mark E.

1994-01-01

Artificial neural network models can make amazing computations. These models are explained along with their application in problems associated with fighting crime. Specific problems addressed are identification of people using face recognition, speaker identification, and fingerprint and handwriting analysis (biometric authentication).

Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children.

PubMed

Kiefer, Markus; Schuler, Stefanie; Mayer, Carmen; Trumpp, Natalie M; Hille, Katrin; Sachse, Steffi

2015-01-01

Digital writing devices associated with the use of computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones are increasingly replacing writing by hand. It is, however, controversially discussed how writing modes influence reading and writing performance in children at the start of literacy. On the one hand, the easiness of typing on digital devices may accelerate reading and writing in young children, who have less developed sensory-motor skills. On the other hand, the meaningful coupling between action and perception during handwriting, which establishes sensory-motor memory traces, could facilitate written language acquisition. In order to decide between these theoretical alternatives, for the present study, we developed an intense training program for preschool children attending the German kindergarten with 16 training sessions. Using closely matched letter learning games, eight letters of the German alphabet were trained either by handwriting with a pen on a sheet of paper or by typing on a computer keyboard. Letter recognition, naming, and writing performance as well as word reading and writing performance were assessed. Results did not indicate a superiority of typing training over handwriting training in any of these tasks. In contrast, handwriting training was superior to typing training in word writing, and, as a tendency, in word reading. The results of our study, therefore, support theories of action-perception coupling assuming a facilitatory influence of sensory-motor representations established during handwriting on reading and writing.

Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children

PubMed Central

Kiefer, Markus; Schuler, Stefanie; Mayer, Carmen; Trumpp, Natalie M.; Hille, Katrin; Sachse, Steffi

2015-01-01

Digital writing devices associated with the use of computers, tablet PCs, or mobile phones are increasingly replacing writing by hand. It is, however, controversially discussed how writing modes influence reading and writing performance in children at the start of literacy. On the one hand, the easiness of typing on digital devices may accelerate reading and writing in young children, who have less developed sensory-motor skills. On the other hand, the meaningful coupling between action and perception during handwriting, which establishes sensory-motor memory traces, could facilitate written language acquisition. In order to decide between these theoretical alternatives, for the present study, we developed an intense training program for preschool children attending the German kindergarten with 16 training sessions. Using closely matched letter learning games, eight letters of the German alphabet were trained either by handwriting with a pen on a sheet of paper or by typing on a computer keyboard. Letter recognition, naming, and writing performance as well as word reading and writing performance were assessed. Results did not indicate a superiority of typing training over handwriting training in any of these tasks. In contrast, handwriting training was superior to typing training in word writing, and, as a tendency, in word reading. The results of our study, therefore, support theories of action-perception coupling assuming a facilitatory influence of sensory-motor representations established during handwriting on reading and writing. PMID:26770286

Assessing handwriting intervention effectiveness in elementary school students: a two-group controlled study.

PubMed

Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Roston, Karen Laurie; Sheu, Ching-Fan; Hinojosa, Jim

2013-01-01

This study examined the effectiveness of two approaches used in elementary schools to improve children's handwriting. Participants were 72 New York City public school students from the first and second grades. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest group design was used in which students engaged in handwriting activities using two approaches: intensive handwriting practice and visual-perceptual-motor activities. Handwriting speed, legibility, and visual-motor skills were examined after a 12-wk Handwriting Club using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that students in the intensive handwriting practice group demonstrated significant improvements in handwriting legibility compared with students in the visual-perceptual-motor activity group. No significant effects in handwriting speed and visual-motor skills were found between the students in intensive handwriting practice group and the students in visual-perceptual-motor activities group. The Handwriting Club model is a natural intervention that fits easily into existing school curriculums and can be an effective short-term intervention (response to intervention Tier II). Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

The correlation between proprioception and handwriting legibility in children

PubMed Central

Hong, So Young; Jung, Nam-Hae; Kim, Kyeong Mi

2016-01-01

[Purpose] This study investigated the association between proprioception, including joint position sense and kinetic sense, and handwriting legibility in healthy children. [Subjects and Methods] Assessment of joint position sense, kinetic sense, and handwriting legibility was conducted for 19 healthy children. Joint position sense was assessed by asking the children to flex their right elbow between 30° to 110° while blindfolded. The range of elbow movement was analyzed with Compact Measuring System 10 for 3D motion Analysis. Kinetic sense was assessed using the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test. The children were directed to write 30 words from the Korean alphabet, and the legibility of their handwriting was scored for form, alignment, space, size, and shape. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. [Results] There was significant negative correlation between handwriting legibility and Kinetic sense. A significant correlation between handwriting legibility and Joint position sense was not found. [Conclusion] This study showed that a higher Kinetic sense was associated with better legibility of handwriting. Further work is needed to determine the association of handwriting legibility and speed with Joint position sense of the elbow, wrist, and fingers. PMID:27821948

Effects of a kinesthetic cursive handwriting intervention for grade 4-6 students.

PubMed

Roberts, Gwenyth I; Siever, Jodi E; Mair, Judith A

2010-01-01

We studied whether Grade 4-6 students who participated in a kinesthetic writing intervention improved in legibility, speed, and personal satisfaction with cursive handwriting. Small groups of students with handwriting difficulties were seen weekly for 7 wk using a kinesthetic writing system. A repeated measures design was used to evaluate change in global legibility, individual letter formation, specific features of handwriting, and personal satisfaction. Analysis revealed (1) a significant increase in ratings of global legibility (p <.01; clinically significant improvements in 39% of students); (2) significant improvements in letter formation and legibility features of baseline, closure, and line quality (all p < .05); (3) increased handwriting speed (p < .05; not clinically significant); and (4) significant increase in measures with personal satisfaction of handwriting (p < .01). CONCLUSION. A kinesthetic handwriting intervention may be effective in improving the skills of students with handwriting challenges.

Development of Individuality in Children's Handwriting.

PubMed

Srihari, Sargur N; Meng, Lu; Hanson, Lisa

2016-09-01

Handwriting of children in early grades is studied from the viewpoint of quantitatively measuring the development of handwriting individuality. Handwriting samples of children, in grades 2-4, writing a paragraph of text in both handprinted and cursive, collected over a period of 3 years, were analyzed using two different approaches: (i) characteristics of the word "and" and (ii) entire paragraphs using an automated system. In the first approach, word characteristics were analyzed using statistical measures. In the second approach, pairs of paragraphs were compared. Both types of analysis, single word and complete writing, led to the same conclusions: (i) handwriting of each child remains relatively similar when handwriting has been just learnt and becomes markedly different from grades 3 to 4 and (ii) handwriting of different children becomes progressively more different from grades 2 to 4. The results provide strong support that handwriting becomes more individualistic with child development. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ to Brazilian Portuguese: conceptual, item and semantic equivalence.

PubMed

Cardoso, Monique Herrera; Capellini, Simone Aparecida

2018-02-19

Perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ (DASH 17+) for Brazilians. Evaluation of (1) conceptual, item and (2) semantic equivalence, with assistance of four translators and application of a pilot study to 36 students. (1) The concepts and items are equivalent in the British and Brazilian cultures. (2) Adaptations were made concerning the English language pangram used in copying tasks and selection of the lower-case, cursive handwriting in the alphabet-writing task. Application of the pilot study verified acceptability and understanding of the proposed tasks by the students. The Brazilian Portuguese version of the DASH 17+ was presented after finalization of the conceptual, item and semantic equivalence of the instrument. Further studies on psychometric properties should be conducted with the purpose of measuring the speed of handwriting in youngsters and adults with greater reliability and validity to the procedure.

Effect of robotic-assisted three-dimensional repetitive motion to improve hand motor function and control in children with handwriting deficits: a nonrandomized phase 2 device trial.

PubMed

Palsbo, Susan E; Hood-Szivek, Pamela

2012-01-01

We explored the efficacy of robotic technology in improving handwriting in children with impaired motor skills. Eighteen participants had impairments arising from cerebral palsy (CP), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or other disorders. The intervention was robotic-guided three-dimensional repetitive motion in 15-20 daily sessions of 25-30 min each over 4-8 wk. Fine motor control improved for the children with learning disabilities and those ages 9 or older but not for those with CP or under age 9. All children with ASD or ADHD referred for slow writing speed were able to increase speed while maintaining legibility. Three-dimensional, robot-assisted, repetitive motion training improved handwriting fluidity in children with mild to moderate fine motor deficits associated with ASD or ADHD within 10 hr of training. This dosage may not be sufficient for children with CP. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Handwriting as an operant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonzalez, F. A.; Waller, M. B.

1974-01-01

Description of a writing console which was used for monitoring handwriting behavior. The main feature of the console is a translucent Plexiglass paddle, pivoted on a thin bronze tube, with its top flat surface providing the writing surface. The console was used in experiments on two subjects under various schedules of monetary reinforcement for handwriting. The results suggest that handwriting is an effective approach to the analysis of human behavior.

Fluctuation analysis of proficient and dysgraphic handwriting in children

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenblum, S.; Roman, H. E.

2009-03-01

We analyze handwriting records from several school children with the aim of characterizing the fluctuating behavior of the writing speed. It will be concluded that remarkable differences exist between proficient and dysgraphic handwritings which were unknown so far. It is shown that in the case of proficient handwriting, the variations in handwriting speed are strongly autocorrelated within times corresponding to the completion of a single character or letter, while become uncorrelated at longer times. In the case of dysgraphia, such correlations persist on longer time scales and the autocorrelation function seems to display algebraic time decay, indicating the presence of strong anomalies in the handwriting process. Applications of the results in educational/clinical programs are envisaged.

An Autonomous Learning System of Bengali Characters Using Web-Based Intelligent Handwriting Recognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khatun, Nazma; Miwa, Jouji

2016-01-01

This research project was aimed to develop an intelligent Bengali handwriting education system to improve the literacy level in Bangladesh. Due to the socio-economical limitation, all of the population does not have the chance to go to school. Here, we developed a prototype of web-based (iPhone/smartphone or computer browser) intelligent…

Kinematic analysis of handwriting movements in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

PubMed Central

Mavrogiorgou, P; Mergl, R; Tigges, P; El Husseini, J; Schroter, A; Juckel, G; Zaudig, M; Hegerl, U

2001-01-01

OBJECTIVES—Basal ganglia dysfunction is supposed to play a part in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A new computer aided technique for the analysis of hand movements, allowing the detection of subtle motor performance abnormalities, was applied in this study of patients with OCD and healthy controls.
METHODS—Using a digitising graphic tablet, hand motor performance was studied in 22 unmedicated patients with OCD and compared with 22 healthy controls. All subjects drew superimposed concentric circles with both the right and the left hand, in addition to writing a given sentence, their personal signature, and letter sequences in four different sizes. Kinematic parameters were calculated to quantify hand motion.
RESULTS—Patients with OCD had significant impairments of handwriting performance, reflected by lower peak velocity (sentence t=3.6; p=0.001; signature t=2.8; p=0.01) and micrographia (sentence t=3.4; p=0.002; signature t=2.5; p=0.02), compared with controls and shortened acceleration phases per stroke (sentence t=2.4; p=0.02; signature t=4.1; p=0.000). By contrast, in repetitive drawing, patients with OCD had higher peak velocity than healthy controls (group×task interaction p<0.01). There were no significant differences in left and right hand performance between groups. Patients with early versus late age of onset differed in handwriting parameters, such as handwriting consistency. Greater severity of obsessions and compulsions correlated with increasingly poor handwriting performance in patients with OCD.
CONCLUSIONS—A subtle motor dysfunction in OCD can be detected with a digitising tablet. The findings show handwriting impairments in patients with OCD, in line with the assumption that basal ganglia dysfunction is part of OCD pathophysiology. Repetitive motor pattern performance was not impaired, but rather tended to be even better in patients with OCD than in controls. The findings also support the concept that patients with OCD with early versus late age of onset differ in pathophysiological mechanisms and basal ganglia dysfunction.

 PMID:11309453

Handwriting Examination: Moving from Art to Science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jarman, Kristin H.; Hanlen, Richard C.; Manzolillo, P. A.

The scientific basis for handwriting individuality and the expertise of handwriting examiners has been questioned in several court cases and law review articles. The criticisms were originally directed at the proficiency and expertise of forensic document examiners (FDE's). However, these criticisms also illustrate the lack of empirical data to support and validate the premises and methodology of handwriting examination. As a result the admissibility and weight of FDE testimony has been called into question. These assaults on the scientific integrity of handwriting analysis have created an urgent need for the forensic document examination community to develop objective standards, measurable criteriamore » and a uniform methodology supported by properly controlled studies that evaluate and validate the significance of measurable handwriting characteristics.« less

Probabilistic modeling of children's handwriting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puri, Mukta; Srihari, Sargur N.; Hanson, Lisa

2013-12-01

There is little work done in the analysis of children's handwriting, which can be useful in developing automatic evaluation systems and in quantifying handwriting individuality. We consider the statistical analysis of children's handwriting in early grades. Samples of handwriting of children in Grades 2-4 who were taught the Zaner-Bloser style were considered. The commonly occurring word "and" written in cursive style as well as hand-print were extracted from extended writing. The samples were assigned feature values by human examiners using a truthing tool. The human examiners looked at how the children constructed letter formations in their writing, looking for similarities and differences from the instructions taught in the handwriting copy book. These similarities and differences were measured using a feature space distance measure. Results indicate that the handwriting develops towards more conformity with the class characteristics of the Zaner-Bloser copybook which, with practice, is the expected result. Bayesian networks were learnt from the data to enable answering various probabilistic queries, such as determining students who may continue to produce letter formations as taught during lessons in school and determining the students who will develop a different and/or variation of the those letter formations and the number of different types of letter formations.

Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting in children.

PubMed

Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl; Chau, Tom

2012-01-01

Pencil grasps other than the dynamic tripod may be functional for handwriting. This study examined the impact of grasp on handwriting speed and legibility. We videotaped 120 typically developing fourth-grade students while they performed a writing task. We categorized the grasps they used and evaluated their writing for speed and legibility using a handwriting assessment. Using linear regression analysis, we examined the relationship between grasp and handwriting. We documented six categories of pencil grasp: four mature grasp patterns, one immature grasp pattern, and one alternating grasp pattern. Multiple linear regression results revealed no significant effect for mature grasp on either legibility or speed. Pencil grasp patterns did not influence handwriting speed or legibility in this sample of typically developing children. This finding adds to the mounting body of evidence that alternative grasps may be acceptable for fast and legible handwriting. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Effectiveness of a self-regulated remedial program for handwriting difficulties.

PubMed

Van Waelvelde, Hilde; De Roubaix, Amy; Steppe, Lien; Troubleyn, Evy; De Mey, Barbara; Dewitte, Griet; Debrabant, Julie; Van de Velde, Dominique

2017-09-01

Handwriting difficulties may have pervasive effects on a child's school performance. I Can! is a remedial handwriting program with a focus on self-regulated learning and applying motor learning principles combined with a behavioural approach. It is developed for typically developing children with handwriting problems. The study aim was to evaluate the program's effectiveness. Thirty-one children aged 7-8 year participated in a cross-over study. Handwriting quality and speed were repeatedly assessed by means of the Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties test. Difficulties addressed were fluency in letter formation, fluency in letter connections, letter height, regularity of letter height, space between words, and line path. Mixed model analysis revealed improved quality of writing and speed for all children but significantly more improvement in handwriting quality for the children participating in the program. Although writing speed improved over time, no additional effects of the program occurred. 'I Can!' is found to be an effective instructive program to ameliorate handwriting quality in typically developing children with handwriting difficulties. The program's success was by a therapy burst of only 7 weeks focusing on the child's self-regulated learning capacities, within an individualized education plan according to their needs and goals.

Historical Analyses of Disordered Handwriting

PubMed Central

Schiegg, Markus; Thorpe, Deborah

2016-01-01

Handwritten texts carry significant information, extending beyond the meaning of their words. Modern neurology, for example, benefits from the interpretation of the graphic features of writing and drawing for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and disorders. This article examines how handwriting analysis can be used, and has been used historically, as a methodological tool for the assessment of medical conditions and how this enhances our understanding of historical contexts of writing. We analyze handwritten material, writing tests and letters, from patients in an early 20th-century psychiatric hospital in southern Germany (Irsee/Kaufbeuren). In this institution, early psychiatrists assessed handwriting features, providing us novel insights into the earliest practices of psychiatric handwriting analysis, which can be connected to Berkenkotter’s research on medical admission records. We finally consider the degree to which historical handwriting bears semiotic potential to explain the psychological state and personality of a writer, and how future research in written communication should approach these sources. PMID:28408774

In-Depth Analysis of Handwriting Curriculum and Instruction in Four Kindergarten Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vander Hart, Nanho; Fitzpatrick, Paula; Cortesa, Cathryn

2010-01-01

The quality of handwriting curriculum and instructional practices in actual classrooms was investigated in an in-depth case study of four inner city kindergarten classrooms using quantitative and qualitative methods. The handwriting proficiency of students was also evaluated to assess the impact of the instructional practices observed. The…

Questioned document workflow for handwriting with automated tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das, Krishnanand; Srihari, Sargur N.; Srinivasan, Harish

2012-01-01

During the last few years many document recognition methods have been developed to determine whether a handwriting specimen can be attributed to a known writer. However, in practice, the work-flow of the document examiner continues to be manual-intensive. Before a systematic or computational, approach can be developed, an articulation of the steps involved in handwriting comparison is needed. We describe the work flow of handwritten questioned document examination, as described in a standards manual, and the steps where existing automation tools can be used. A well-known ransom note case is considered as an example, where one encounters testing for multiple writers of the same document, determining whether the writing is disguised, known writing is formal while questioned writing is informal, etc. The findings for the particular ransom note case using the tools are given. Also observations are made for developing a more fully automated approach to handwriting examination.

Typing Compared with Handwriting for Essay Examinations at University: Letting the Students Choose

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mogey, Nora; Paterson, Jessie; Burk, John; Purcell, Michael

2010-01-01

Students at the University of Edinburgh do almost all their work on computers, but at the end of the semester they are examined by handwritten essays. Intuitively it would be appealing to allow students the choice of handwriting or typing, but this raises a concern that perhaps this might not be "fair"--that the choice a student makes,…

Analysis Of The IJCNN 2011 UTL Challenge

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-13

large datasets from various application domains: handwriting recognition, image recognition, video processing, text processing, and ecology. The goal...validation and final evaluation sets consist of 4096 examples each. Dataset Domain Features Sparsity Devel. Transf. AVICENNA Handwriting 120 0% 150205...documents [3]. Transfer learning methods could accelerate the application of handwriting recognizers to historical manuscript by reducing the need for

An Analysis of Illegibilities in the Cursive Handwriting of 1,000 Selected Sixth-Grade Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Lowell Wayne

The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze specimens of cursive handwriting of 1,000 selected sixth grade students in an attempt to determine analytically how sex and handedness differences affected cursive handwriting. Specifically, an attempt was made to determine those particular letters or letter combinations which were illegible…

Analysis of the IJCNN 2011 UTL Challenge

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-13

large datasets from various application domains: handwriting recognition, image recognition, video processing, text processing, and ecology. The goal...http //clopinet.com/ul). We made available large datasets from various application domains handwriting recognition, image recognition, video...evaluation sets consist of 4096 examples each. Dataset Domain Features Sparsity Devel. Transf. AVICENNA Handwriting 120 0% 150205 50000 HARRY Video 5000 98.1

Historical Analyses of Disordered Handwriting: Perspectives on Early 20th-Century Material From a German Psychiatric Hospital.

PubMed

Schiegg, Markus; Thorpe, Deborah

2017-01-01

Handwritten texts carry significant information, extending beyond the meaning of their words. Modern neurology, for example, benefits from the interpretation of the graphic features of writing and drawing for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and disorders. This article examines how handwriting analysis can be used, and has been used historically, as a methodological tool for the assessment of medical conditions and how this enhances our understanding of historical contexts of writing. We analyze handwritten material, writing tests and letters, from patients in an early 20th-century psychiatric hospital in southern Germany (Irsee/Kaufbeuren). In this institution, early psychiatrists assessed handwriting features, providing us novel insights into the earliest practices of psychiatric handwriting analysis, which can be connected to Berkenkotter's research on medical admission records. We finally consider the degree to which historical handwriting bears semiotic potential to explain the psychological state and personality of a writer, and how future research in written communication should approach these sources.

Encoding in the visual word form area: an fMRI adaptation study of words versus handwriting.

PubMed

Barton, Jason J S; Fox, Christopher J; Sekunova, Alla; Iaria, Giuseppe

2010-08-01

Written texts are not just words but complex multidimensional stimuli, including aspects such as case, font, and handwriting style, for example. Neuropsychological reports suggest that left fusiform lesions can impair the reading of text for word (lexical) content, being associated with alexia, whereas right-sided lesions may impair handwriting recognition. We used fMRI adaptation in 13 healthy participants to determine if repetition-suppression occurred for words but not handwriting in the left visual word form area (VWFA) and the reverse in the right fusiform gyrus. Contrary to these expectations, we found adaptation for handwriting but not for words in both the left VWFA and the right VWFA homologue. A trend to adaptation for words but not handwriting was seen only in the left middle temporal gyrus. An analysis of anterior and posterior subdivisions of the left VWFA also failed to show any adaptation for words. We conclude that the right and the left fusiform gyri show similar patterns of adaptation for handwriting, consistent with a predominantly perceptual contribution to text processing.

Evaluation of handwriting kinematics and pressure for differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdeněk; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

2016-02-01

We present the PaHaW Parkinson's disease handwriting database, consisting of handwriting samples from Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and healthy controls. Our goal is to show that kinematic features and pressure features in handwriting can be used for the differential diagnosis of PD. The database contains records from 37 PD patients and 38 healthy controls performing eight different handwriting tasks. The tasks include drawing an Archimedean spiral, repetitively writing orthographically simple syllables and words, and writing of a sentence. In addition to the conventional kinematic features related to the dynamics of handwriting, we investigated new pressure features based on the pressure exerted on the writing surface. To discriminate between PD patients and healthy subjects, three different classifiers were compared: K-nearest neighbors (K-NN), ensemble AdaBoost classifier, and support vector machines (SVM). For predicting PD based on kinematic and pressure features of handwriting, the best performing model was SVM with classification accuracy of Pacc=81.3% (sensitivity Psen=87.4% and specificity of Pspe=80.9%). When evaluated separately, pressure features proved to be relevant for PD diagnosis, yielding Pacc=82.5% compared to Pacc=75.4% using kinematic features. Experimental results showed that an analysis of kinematic and pressure features during handwriting can help assess subtle characteristics of handwriting and discriminate between PD patients and healthy controls. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of handwriting skills during spelling in primary and lower secondary grades

PubMed Central

Pontart, Virginie; Bidet-Ildei, Christel; Lambert, Eric; Morisset, Pauline; Flouret, Lisa; Alamargot, Denis

2013-01-01

We sought to identify, the impact of handwriting skills on the efficiency and temporal course of word spelling across Grades 2–9. Eighty-four students, drawn from primary and lower secondary schools, were asked to perform a dictation task to assess their word spelling. They also had to write out the letters of the alphabet, as well as their firstnames and surnames, from memory to assess their handwriting skills. Handwriting kinematics were recorded using a digitizing tablet and a computer running Eye and Pen software. Results revealed that graphomotor skills (as assessed by the name writing task) influenced the success and temporal course of spelling, but only in primary grades, whereas the influence of orthographic knowledge (as assessed by the alphabet task) could still be observed in the lower secondary grades, even if it ceased to influence the temporal course and only affected errors. We discuss what these findings tell us about changes in transcription processes over the course of child development. PMID:24204357

Brain dopamine and kinematics of graphomotor functions.

PubMed

Lange, Klaus W; Mecklinger, Lara; Walitza, Susanne; Becker, Georg; Gerlach, Manfred; Naumann, Markus; Tucha, Oliver

2006-10-01

Three experiments were performed in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the effect of dopamine on handwriting. In the first experiment, kinematic aspects of handwriting movements were compared between healthy participants and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) on their usual dopaminergic treatment and following withdrawal of dopaminergic medication. In the second experiment, the writing performance of healthy participants with a hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra as detected by transcranial sonography (TCS) was compared with the performance of healthy participants with low echogenicity of the substantia nigra. The third experiment examined the effect of central dopamine reduction on kinematic aspects of handwriting movements in healthy adults using acute phenylalanine and tyrosine depletion (APTD). A digitising tablet was used for the assessment of handwriting movements. Participants were asked to perform a simple writing task. Movement time, distance, velocity, acceleration and measures of fluency of handwriting movements were measured. The kinematic analysis of handwriting movements revealed that alterations of central dopaminergic neurotransmission adversely affect movement execution during handwriting. In comparison to the automatic processing of handwriting movements displayed by control participants, participants with an altered dopaminergic neurotransmission shifted from an automatic to a controlled processing of movement execution. Central dopamine appears to be of particular importance with regard to the automatic execution of well-learned movements.

National characteristics and variation in Arabic handwriting.

PubMed

Al-Hadhrami, Ahmed A N; Allen, Mike; Moffatt, Colin; Jones, Allison E

2015-02-01

From each of four Arabic countries; Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Oman, 150 participants produced handwriting samples which were examined to assess whether national characteristics were discernible. Ten characters, which have different configurations depending upon their position in the word, along with one short word, were classified into distinguishable forms, and these forms recorded for each handwriting sample. Tests of independence showed that character forms used were not independent of country (p<0.001) for all but one character-position (this was dropped from subsequent analyses). A correspondence analysis ordination plot and analysis of similarity (R=0.326, p=0.0002) showed that whole samples were discernibly grouped by country, and a tree analysis produced a classification which was 71% accurate for the original data and 83% accurate for 80 new handwriting samples that underwent 'blind' classification. When the countries were combined into two regions, North Africa and Middle East, the grouping was more marked. Thus, there appears to be some scope for narrowing down the nationality, and particularly the wider geographical region of an author based upon the character forms they use in Arabic handwriting. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Handwriting as an operant1

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Fernando A.; Waller, Marcus B.

1974-01-01

An apparatus was designed to monitor handwriting behavior. Two subjects were studied under various schedules of monetary reinforcement for handwriting. The different schedules engendered and maintained distinctive response patterns but the rates of sustained responding did not vary across schedules. The development of fixed-interval performance following continuous reinforcement resembled the same transition in lower animals. In one subject, availability of reading material interacted with the schedule to determine response pattern. It was suggested that handwriting may be a more appropriate response for the experimental analysis of human behavior than the more frequently used button-pushing or lever-pulling responses. ImagesFig. 1.Fig. 2. PMID:16811729

Color separation of signature and stamp inks to facilitate handwriting examination.

PubMed

Chaikovsky, Alan; Brown, Sharon; David, Laser Sin; Balman, Alex; Barzovski, Avner

2003-11-01

The questioned documents laboratory often encounters cases where handwriting that is to be examined intersects with some interfering factor such as a rubber stamp, typewriting or background printing. In these cases, line direction, beginning and ending features of letters and other fine details of the handwriting may be lost in the "noise" of the intersecting ink. The purpose of this paper is to show several new digital photography methods that may be used to "subtract" the effect of the intersecting ink, thereby enhancing that of the handwriting ink in order to enable the document examiner to conduct a complete examination. These methods have the advantage of being fast and do not involve the use of expensive material or equipment. Several new methods are described that may be used to separate the colors of the handwriting ink from that of the intersecting ink: the analog method and several digital methods such as RGB-HSB-CMYK, L*a*b color, and color separation using the Channel Mixer function of Adobe Photoshop. Successful application of these color separation methods to specific handwriting ink/rubber stamp ink color combinations shows that the effect of the intersecting ink may indeed be minimalized if not canceled altogether. Application of the suggested methods may well make the difference between a nonconclusive handwriting examination and a full analysis of the questioned handwriting.

Handwriting analysis indicates spontaneous dyskinesias in neuroleptic naïve adolescents at high risk for psychosis.

PubMed

Dean, Derek J; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Caligiuri, Michael; Mittal, Vijay A

2013-11-21

Growing evidence suggests that movement abnormalities are a core feature of psychosis. One marker of movement abnormality, dyskinesia, is a result of impaired neuromodulation of dopamine in fronto-striatal pathways. The traditional methods for identifying movement abnormalities include observer-based reports and force stability gauges. The drawbacks of these methods are long training times for raters, experimenter bias, large site differences in instrumental apparatus, and suboptimal reliability. Taking these drawbacks into account has guided the development of better standardized and more efficient procedures to examine movement abnormalities through handwriting analysis software and tablet. Individuals at risk for psychosis showed significantly more dysfluent pen movements (a proximal measure for dyskinesia) in a handwriting task. Handwriting kinematics offers a great advance over previous methods of assessing dyskinesia, which could clearly be beneficial for understanding the etiology of psychosis.

Handwriting Analysis Indicates Spontaneous Dyskinesias in Neuroleptic Naïve Adolescents at High Risk for Psychosis

PubMed Central

Dean, Derek J.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Caligiuri, Michael; Mittal, Vijay A.

2013-01-01

Growing evidence suggests that movement abnormalities are a core feature of psychosis. One marker of movement abnormality, dyskinesia, is a result of impaired neuromodulation of dopamine in fronto-striatal pathways. The traditional methods for identifying movement abnormalities include observer-based reports and force stability gauges. The drawbacks of these methods are long training times for raters, experimenter bias, large site differences in instrumental apparatus, and suboptimal reliability. Taking these drawbacks into account has guided the development of better standardized and more efficient procedures to examine movement abnormalities through handwriting analysis software and tablet. Individuals at risk for psychosis showed significantly more dysfluent pen movements (a proximal measure for dyskinesia) in a handwriting task. Handwriting kinematics offers a great advance over previous methods of assessing dyskinesia, which could clearly be beneficial for understanding the etiology of psychosis. PMID:24300590

Methods and Systems for Representing, Using and Displaying Time-Varying Information on the Semantic Web

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-26

Combination with Simple Features," lEE European Workshop on Handwriting Analysis and Recognition, pp. 6/1-6, Brussels, Jul. 1994. Bock, J., et a...Document Analysis and Recognition, pp. 147-150, Oct. 1993. Starner, T., eta!., "On-Line Cursive Handwriting Recognition Using Speech Recognition Methods

Validity and reliability of a new tool to evaluate handwriting difficulties in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Nackaerts, Evelien; Heremans, Elke; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien C M; Broeder, Sanne; Vandenberghe, Wim; Bergmans, Bruno; Nieuwboer, Alice

2017-01-01

Handwriting in Parkinson's disease (PD) features specific abnormalities which are difficult to assess in clinical practice since no specific tool for evaluation of spontaneous movement is currently available. This study aims to validate the 'Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties' (SOS-test) in patients with PD. Handwriting performance of 87 patients and 26 healthy age-matched controls was examined using the SOS-test. Sixty-seven patients were tested a second time within a period of one month. Participants were asked to copy as much as possible of a text within 5 minutes with the instruction to write as neatly and quickly as in daily life. Writing speed (letters in 5 minutes), size (mm) and quality of handwriting were compared. Correlation analysis was performed between SOS outcomes and other fine motor skill measurements and disease characteristics. Intrarater, interrater and test-retest reliability were assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Spearman correlation coefficient. Patients with PD had a smaller (p = 0.043) and slower (p<0.001) handwriting and showed worse writing quality (p = 0.031) compared to controls. The outcomes of the SOS-test significantly correlated with fine motor skill performance and disease duration and severity. Furthermore, the test showed excellent intrarater, interrater and test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.769 for both groups). The SOS-test is a short and effective tool to detect handwriting problems in PD with excellent reliability. It can therefore be recommended as a clinical instrument for standardized screening of handwriting deficits in PD.

Salient Feature Identification and Analysis using Kernel-Based Classification Techniques for Synthetic Aperture Radar Automatic Target Recognition

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-27

and machine learning for a range of research including such topics as medical imaging [10] and handwriting recognition [11]. The type of feature...1989. [11] C. Bahlmann, B. Haasdonk, and H. Burkhardt, “Online handwriting recognition with support vector machines-a kernel approach,” in Eighth...International Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, pp. 49–54, IEEE, 2002. [12] C. Cortes and V. Vapnik, “Support-vector networks,” Machine

Cumulative lead exposure in community-dwelling adults and fine motor function: comparing standard and novel tasks in the VA Normative Aging Study

PubMed Central

Grashow, Rachel; Spiro, Avron; Taylor, Kathryn M.; Newton, Kimberly; Shrairman, Ruth; Landau, Alexander; Sparrow, David; Hu, Howard; Weisskopf, Marc

2013-01-01

Background and Aims Lead exposure in children and occupationally-exposed adults has been associated with reduced visuomotor and fine motor function. However, associations in environmentally-exposed adults remain relatively unexplored. To address this, we examined the association between cumulative lead exposure—as measured by lead in bone—and performance on the Grooved Pegboard (GP) manual dexterity task, as well as on handwriting tasks using a novel assessment approach, among men in the VA Normative Aging Study (NAS). Methods GP testing was done with 362 NAS participants, and handwriting assessment with 328, who also had tibia and patella lead measurements made with K-X-Ray Fluorescence (KXRF). GP scores were time (sec) to complete the task with the dominant hand. The handwriting assessment approach assessed the production of signature and cursive lowercase l and m letter samples. Signature and lm task scores reflect consistency in repeated trials. We used linear regression to estimate associations and 95% confidence intervals (CI) with adjustment for age, smoking, education, income and computer experience. A backward elimination algorithm was used in the subset with both GP and handwriting assessment to identify variables predictive of each outcome. Results The mean (SD) participant age was 69.1 (7.2) years; mean patella and tibia concentrations were 25.0 (20.7) μg/g and 19.2 (14.6) μg/g, respectively. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, GP performance was associated with tibia (β per 15 μg/g bone = 4.66, 95% CI: 1.73, 7.58, p=0.002) and patella (β per 20 μg/g = 3.93, 95% CI: 1.11, 6.76, p = 0.006). In multivariable adjusted models of handwriting production, only the lm-pattern task showed a significant association with tibia (β per 15 μg/g bone = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.24, 2.29, p = 0.015), such that lm pattern production was more stable with increasing lead exposure. GP and handwriting scores were differentially sensitive to education, smoking, computer experience, financial stability, income and alcohol consumption. Conclusions Long-term cumulative environmental lead exposure was associated with deficits in GP performance, but not handwriting production. Higher lead appeared to be associated with greater consistency on the lm task. Lead sensitivity differences could suggest that lead affects neural processing speed rather than motor function per se, or could result from distinct brain areas involved in the execution of different motor tasks. PMID:23370289

Validity and reliability of a new tool to evaluate handwriting difficulties in Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Nackaerts, Evelien; Heremans, Elke; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien C. M.; Broeder, Sanne; Vandenberghe, Wim; Bergmans, Bruno; Nieuwboer, Alice

2017-01-01

Background Handwriting in Parkinson’s disease (PD) features specific abnormalities which are difficult to assess in clinical practice since no specific tool for evaluation of spontaneous movement is currently available. Objective This study aims to validate the ‘Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties’ (SOS-test) in patients with PD. Methods Handwriting performance of 87 patients and 26 healthy age-matched controls was examined using the SOS-test. Sixty-seven patients were tested a second time within a period of one month. Participants were asked to copy as much as possible of a text within 5 minutes with the instruction to write as neatly and quickly as in daily life. Writing speed (letters in 5 minutes), size (mm) and quality of handwriting were compared. Correlation analysis was performed between SOS outcomes and other fine motor skill measurements and disease characteristics. Intrarater, interrater and test-retest reliability were assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results Patients with PD had a smaller (p = 0.043) and slower (p<0.001) handwriting and showed worse writing quality (p = 0.031) compared to controls. The outcomes of the SOS-test significantly correlated with fine motor skill performance and disease duration and severity. Furthermore, the test showed excellent intrarater, interrater and test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.769 for both groups). Conclusion The SOS-test is a short and effective tool to detect handwriting problems in PD with excellent reliability. It can therefore be recommended as a clinical instrument for standardized screening of handwriting deficits in PD. PMID:28253374

Integrative Lifecourse and Genetic Analysis of Military Working Dogs

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

Recognition), ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) and HWR ( Handwriting Recognition). A number of various software packages were evaluated and we have...the third-party software is able to recognize check-boxes and columns and do a reasonable job with handwriting – which is does. This workflow will

Integrative Lifecourse and Genetic Analysis of Military Working Dogs

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

Intelligent Character Recognition) and HWR ( Handwriting Recognition). A number of various software packages were evaluated and we have settled on a...third-party software is able to recognize check-boxes and columns and do a reasonable job with handwriting – which is does. This workflow will

Spelling and Assistive Technology: Helping Students with Disabilities Be Successful Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Kate D.; Carpenter, Laura B.

2010-01-01

Successful writers have proficient skills in three areas: handwriting, spelling and composition. Many students with disabilities experience difficulties in the area of spelling, which in turn may lead to difficulty in composing written work. Spelling deficits should be addressed by the student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to…

The impact of Graves' disease and its treatment on handwriting characteristics.

PubMed

Papi, Giampaolo; Botti, Cristina; Corsello, Salvatore Maria; Ciardullo, Anna Vittoria; Pontecorvi, Alfredo; Hegedüs, Laszlo

2014-08-01

Thyroid hormones are crucial for metabolism in all tissues in humans, including the nervous system and muscles, and could thus affect handwriting, which is the synthesis of complex and fine movements. Hyperthyroidism, characterized by symptoms such as tremor and weakness, could affect handwriting, although this has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to evaluate handwriting characteristics before and after therapy for hyperthyroid Graves' disease (GD). Twenty-two patients (15 women, 7 men) with untreated GD (median age: 44 years; range: 20-70 years) were asked to write a "standard text" before and 12 months after being rendered euthyroid. The letters underwent a standardized detailed analysis by a handwriting expert, through inspection and stereoscopic microscope and magnifying glass. All patients demonstrated handwriting variations, perceptible even to direct observation. Graphological examination showed statistically significant changes after patients become euthyroid, in the following parameters: size of letters (4.5±1.1 vs. 5.9±1.3 mm; p<0.01), distance between letters (62.9±1.1 vs. 55.2±0.8 mm; p<0.01), width of letters (1.75±0.06 vs. 2.2±0 .06 mm; p<0.01), distance between words (216.2±3.2 vs. 198.7±2.4 mm; p<0.01), extension of letters (8.7±0.2 vs. 7.7±0.2 mm; p<0.01), angles (17±0.3 vs. 15.8±0.4 mm; p<0.01), and groove depth (0.2±0.05 vs. 0.4±0.05 mm; p<0.01). Hyperthyroid GD was associated with significant changes in handwriting in all patients. Following recovery from hyperthyroidism, a state of hypertrophic and contracted handwriting resulted in greater fluency and fluidity. Variations in handwriting should be included as signs/symptoms in GD.

A New Approach to Diagnose Parkinson's Disease Using a Structural Cooccurrence Matrix for a Similarity Analysis.

PubMed

de Souza, João W M; Alves, Shara S A; Rebouças, Elizângela de S; Almeida, Jefferson S; Rebouças Filho, Pedro P

2018-01-01

Parkinson's disease affects millions of people around the world and consequently various approaches have emerged to help diagnose this disease, among which we can highlight handwriting exams. Extracting features from handwriting exams is an important contribution of the computational field for the diagnosis of this disease. In this paper, we propose an approach that measures the similarity between the exam template and the handwritten trace of the patient following the exam template. This similarity was measured using the Structural Cooccurrence Matrix to calculate how close the handwritten trace of the patient is to the exam template. The proposed approach was evaluated using various exam templates and the handwritten traces of the patient. Each of these variations was used together with the Naïve Bayes, OPF, and SVM classifiers. In conclusion the proposed approach was proven to be better than the existing methods found in the literature and is therefore a promising tool for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

Analysis of proximal and distal muscle activity during handwriting tasks.

PubMed

Naider-Steinhart, Shoshana; Katz-Leurer, Michal

2007-01-01

In this study we sought to describe upper-extremity proximal and distal muscle activity in typically developing children during a handwriting task and to explore the relationship between muscle activity and speed and quality of writing. We evaluated 35 third- and fourth-grade Israeli children using the Alef-Alef Ktav Yad Hebrew Handwriting Test. Simultaneously, we recorded the participants' upper trapezius and thumb muscle activity by surface electromyography. Using the coefficient of variation (standard deviation divided by mean amplitude) as a measure of variability within each muscle, we analyzed differences in muscle activity variability within and between muscles. The proximal muscle displayed significantly less variability than the distal muscles. Decreased variability in proximal muscle activity was associated with decreased variability in distal muscle activity, and decreased variability in the distal muscles was significantly associated with faster speed of writing. The lower amount of variability exhibited in the proximal muscle compared with the distal muscles seems to indicate that the proximal muscle functions as a stabilizer during a handwriting task. In addition, decreased variability in both proximal and distal muscle activity appears to be more economical and is related to faster writing speed. Knowledge of the type of proximal and distal muscle activity used during handwriting can help occupational therapists plan treatment for children with handwriting disabilities.

Authorship Attribution of Short Messages Using Multimodal Features

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

demodulation algorithm, but does say that it has to be able to handle two multipath 27 signals of equal power received at up to 16 µs apart. This...possible with appropriate normalization of the data. The fields of biometrics, image analysis, and handwriting analysis also use diverse feature sets...Methods of Combining Multiple Classifiers and Their Applications to Handwriting Recognition,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics

Handwriting in healthy people aged 65 years and over.

PubMed

van Drempt, Nadege; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha A

2011-08-01

Handwriting is an important activity that is commonly affected by neurological and orthopaedic conditions. Handwriting research has predominantly involved children. Little is known about handwriting behaviour in healthy older adults. This study aims to describe the handwriting practices of 30 unimpaired adults aged 65 years and over. In this cross-sectional observational study, data were collected from 30 older adults using a self-report questionnaire, digital pen recordings over three days and a handwriting log. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The mean age of participants was 75.1 years (standard deviation=6.9). Variations in handwriting were evident in letter size, slant and spacing. Participants wrote very little--a median of 18 words per occasion (interquartile range=10.5-26.9 words). Most handwriting involved self-generated text (85%), not copied or transcribed text. Participants stood while writing for 17% of handwriting occasions. The most common reasons for handwriting were note taking (23%) and puzzles (22%). Legibility may not depend exclusively on the handwriting script that a beginning writer is taught, but may be a result of other factors as the person ages. A comprehensive adult handwriting assessment and retraining programme should be relevant to older adults, including common handwriting activities, involving self-generated text and few words. © 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Predicting Handwriting Legibility in Taiwanese Elementary School Children.

PubMed

Lee, Tzu-I; Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Wang, Tien-Ni

This study investigates handwriting characteristics and potential predictors of handwriting legibility among typically developing elementary school children in Taiwan. Predictors of handwriting legibility included visual-motor integration (VMI), visual perception (VP), eye-hand coordination (EHC), and biomechanical characteristics of handwriting. A total of 118 children were recruited from an elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan. A computerized program then assessed their handwriting legibility. The biomechanics of handwriting were assessed using a digitizing writing tablet. The children's VMI, VP, and EHC were assessed using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. Results indicated that predictive factors of handwriting legibility varied in different age groups. VMI predicted handwriting legibility for first-grade students, and EHC and stroke force predicted handwriting legibility for second-grade students. Kinematic factors such as stroke velocity were the only predictor for children in fifth and sixth grades. Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Signal-to-noise velocity peaks difference: a new method for evaluating the handwriting movement fluency in children with dysgraphia.

PubMed

Danna, Jérémy; Paz-Villagrán, Vietminh; Velay, Jean-Luc

2013-12-01

This study evaluated handwriting movement dysfluency related to dysgraphia. A new variable, the Signal-to-Noise velocity peaks difference (SNvpd), was proposed to describe abnormal velocity fluctuations in cursive handwriting. This variable was compared to two variables most frequently used variables for assessing handwriting fluency. This comparison was carried out for three different groups, children with dysgraphia, proficient children, and adults, all of whom wrote the same single word. The adults were taken as the reference. Results revealed that, of the three variables studied, the SNvpd proved most efficient in discriminating children with dysgraphia, and that furthermore, it had the significant advantage of facilitating the localization of dysfluency peaks within a word. Our results also showed that the movement dysfluency of children with dysgraphia was specific to certain letters. In light of these results, we discuss the methodological and theoretical relevance of this new variable to the analysis of handwriting movement with the aim of characterizing dysgraphia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kinematical analysis of handwriting movements in depressed patients.

PubMed

Mergl, R; Juckel, G; Rihl, J; Henkel, V; Karner, M; Tigges, P; Schröter, A; Hegerl, U

2004-05-01

Motor disturbances are a relevant aspect of depression. Kinematical analysis of movements can be applied to explore which type of motor dysfunction is associated with depression. We hypothesized that depressed patients draw and write significantly slower than controls and that motor disturbances become more pronounced under bi-manual demands. We examined 37 depressed patients and 37 healthy controls using a digitizing graphic tablet and subsequent kinematical analysis of handwriting and rapid drawing movements. Depressed patients performed drawing with significantly less regular velocity than controls (P < 0.001), but normal velocity. Motor differences between patients and controls did not increase under bi-manual demands. Handwriting of patients was abnormally slow (P = 0.04). Irregular patterns of velocity peaks in depressed patients point to basal ganglia dysfunction and/or deficient activity of the sensorimotor cortex and the supplementary motor area as a possible substrate of hand-motor disturbances in depression.

Handwriting Fluency and Visuospatial Generativity at Primary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stievano, Paolo; Michetti, Silvia; McClintock, Shawn M.; Levi, Gabriel; Scalisi, Teresa Gloria

2016-01-01

Handwriting is a complex activity that involves continuous interaction between lowerlevel perceptual-motor and higher-level cognitive processes. All handwriting models describe involvement of executive functions (EF) in handwriting development. Particular EF domains associated with handwriting include maintenance of information in working memory,…

Handwriting and Common Core State Standards: Teacher, Occupational Therapist, and Administrator Perceptions From New York State Public Schools.

PubMed

Collette, Debra; Anson, Kylie; Halabi, Nora; Schlierman, April; Suriner, Allison

Handwriting is the cornerstone of written performance and communication for school-age children. This mixed-methods study explored the impact of Common Core State Standards on handwriting instruction and its effects on perceptions regarding children's written responses in elementary school. Using surveys and interviews of elementary teachers, occupational therapists, and administrators in New York State public schools, we sought to understand current trends in handwriting instruction, changes in time spent on handwriting instruction in the classroom, supports offered to students who did not meet expectations for handwriting, and the impact of Common Core on children's written expression. Themes emerged revealing decreased handwriting instruction time and inconsistent use of handwriting instructional programs in the classroom after implementation of Common Core. Handwriting should be considered as a greater component in the foundational standards in Common Core. Occupational therapy services can support handwriting instruction implementation. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Efficacy of a task-based training approach in the rehabilitation of three children with poor handwriting quality: a pilot study.

PubMed

Baldi, Silvia; Nunzi, Michela; Brina, Carlo Di

2015-02-01

Evidence suggests that task-based training approaches can improve the performance of children with handwriting difficulties. The present case study tests the efficacy of the Handwriting Task Program (HTP). Three male children (9-10 yr. old) with poor handwriting skills and different developmental disorders participated in the HTP, twice per week, for 13 wk. Handwriting legibility was assessed through the Concise Evaluation Scale for Children's Handwriting, and fine motor performance and handwriting speed were evaluated at pre- and post-treatment with the Visual Motor Integration Test and the Battery for the assessment of writing skills of children from 7 to 13 yr. old. The results showed that motor efficiency and global handwriting quality improved in all the children, although some handwriting difficulties still persisted in one child with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Further study may confirm on a larger sample that a visual-spatially based training may improve the handwriting legibility of children with DCD.

Age effects on sensory-processing abilities and their impact on handwriting.

PubMed

Engel-Yeger, Batya; Hus, Sari; Rosenblum, Sara

2012-12-01

Sensory-processing abilities are known to deteriorate in the elderly. As a result, daily activities such as handwriting may be impaired. Yet, knowledge about sensory-processing involvement in handwriting characteristics among older persons is limited. To examine how age influences sensory-processing abilities and the impact on handwriting as a daily performance. The study participants were 118 healthy, independently functioning adults divided into four age groups: 31-45, 46-60, 61-75 and 76+ years. All participants completed the Adolescent/ Adult Sensory Profile (AASP). Handwriting process was documented using the Computerized Handwriting Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Age significantly affects sensory processing and handwriting pressure as well as temporal and spatial measures. Both handwriting time and spatial organization of the written product were predicted by sensory seeking. When examining age contribution to the prediction of handwriting by sensory processing, sensory seeking showed a tendency for predicting handwriting pressure (p = .06), while sensory sensitivity significantly predicted handwriting velocity. Age appears to influence sensory-processing abilities and affect daily performance tasks, such as handwriting, for which sensitivity and seeking for sensations are essential. Awareness of clinicians to sensory-processing deficits among older adults and examining their impact on broader daily activities are essential to improve daily performance and quality of life.

Modeling the development of written language

PubMed Central

Puranik, Cynthia S.; Foorman, Barbara; Foster, Elizabeth; Wilson, Laura Gehron; Tschinkel, Erika; Kantor, Patricia Thatcher

2011-01-01

Alternative models of the structure of individual and developmental differences of written composition and handwriting fluency were tested using confirmatory factor analysis of writing samples provided by first- and fourth-grade students. For both groups, a five-factor model provided the best fit to the data. Four of the factors represented aspects of written composition: macro-organization (use of top sentence and number and ordering of ideas), productivity (number and diversity of words used), complexity (mean length of T-unit and syntactic density), and spelling and punctuation. The fifth factor represented handwriting fluency. Handwriting fluency was correlated with written composition factors at both grades. The magnitude of developmental differences between first grade and fourth grade expressed as effect sizes varied for variables representing the five constructs: large effect sizes were found for productivity and handwriting fluency variables; moderate effect sizes were found for complexity and macro-organization variables; and minimal effect sizes were found for spelling and punctuation variables. PMID:22228924

Historical Analyses of Disordered Handwriting: Perspectives on Early 20th-Century Material From a German Psychiatric Hospital

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schiegg, Markus; Thorpe, Deborah

2017-01-01

Handwritten texts carry significant information, extending beyond the meaning of their words. Modern neurology, for example, benefits from the interpretation of the graphic features of writing and drawing for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases and disorders. This article examines how handwriting analysis can be used, and has been used…

A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of Handwriting Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Santangelo, Tanya; Graham, Steve

2016-01-01

While there are many ways to author text today, writing with paper and pen (or pencil) is still quite common at home and work, and predominates writing at school. Because handwriting can bias readers' judgments about the ideas in a text and impact other writing processes, like planning and text generation, it is important to ensure students…

Teaching Handwriting Skills to Children with Intellectual Disabilities Using an Adapted Handwriting Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grindle, Corinna F.; Cianfaglione, Rina; Corbel, Liz; Wormald, Emily V.; Brown, Freddy Jackson; Hastings, Richard P.; Hughes, J. Carl

2017-01-01

Children with intellectual disabilities often struggle with handwriting, but there is very little research to inform intervention approaches. In this study, we developed a teaching manual based on Handwriting Without Tears®, a comprehensive handwriting programme designed for typically developing children. Three children with intellectual…

Kinesthetic sensitivity and related measures of hand sensitivity in children with nonproficient handwriting.

PubMed

Brink, Anne O'Leary; Jacobs, Anne Burleigh

2011-01-01

This study compared measures of hand sensitivity and handwriting quality in children aged 10 to 12 years identified by their teachers as having nonproficient or proficient handwriting. We hypothesized that children with nonproficient handwriting have decreased kinesthetic sensitivity of the hands and digits. Sixteen subjects without documented motor or cognitive concerns were tested for kinesthetic sensitivity, discriminate tactile awareness, diadochokinesia, stereognosis, and graphesthesia. Eight children were considered to have nonproficient handwriting; 8 had proficient handwriting. Nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests were used to identify differences between groups on sensory tests. The 2 groups showed a statistically significant difference in handwriting legibility (P = .018). No significant difference was found on tests of kinesthetic sensitivity or other measures of sensation. Children presenting with handwriting difficulty as the only complaint have similar sensitivity in hands and digits as those with proficient handwriting. Failure to detect differences may result from a small sample size.

Handwriting difficulties of children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A.

PubMed

Kunovsky, Daniel; Cordier, Reinie; Bray, Paula; Burns, Joshua

2017-03-01

Hand weakness and impaired manual dexterity have been reported in children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A). This early onset of upper limb involvement might explain frequent clinical referrals for assessment and treatment of impaired handwriting performance. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of CMT1A on handwriting speed and legibility, and identify demographic, anthropometric, and physical measures that might relate to handwriting performance. Handwriting speed (Handwriting Speed Test), handwriting legibility (Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Cursive), and hand strength (hand-held dynamometry of tip pinch, lateral pinch and grip) were assessed in 30 children with CMT1A (aged 8-17 years) and 30 age- and sex-matched controls. Children with CMT1A exhibited 34% slower handwriting speed (p < 0.0001) with 4% reduced legibility (p = 0.001) and 37-48% lower hand strength (p < 0.0001). All measures of strength, age, height, and weight were positively associated with handwriting speed (r = 0.39-0.79, p < 0.01). None of these factors related to handwriting legibility (p > 0.05). Regression modelling identified a diagnosis of CMT1A, lateral pinch weakness and younger age as significant independent predictors of slower handwriting speed, explaining 78% of the variance. Children with CMT1A have considerable handwriting difficulties, primarily with speed, and substantial associated hand and finger weakness. Understanding the cause-effect relationship between strength and function might provide modifiable targets for upper limb intervention. © 2016 Peripheral Nerve Society.

Survey of Handwriting Habit Areas Used by Forensic Document Examiners: Degree of Use and Discriminatory Power

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hanlen, Richard C.; Manzolillo, Patricia A.; Muehlberger, Robert J.

In April 1998, a survey was distributed to Forensic Document Examiners (FDEs) requesting an evaluation of the habit areas used and their utility in distinguishing handwriting. The information obtained from this survey was intended to provide the data necessary to select a preliminary set of characteristics for analysis. It is important to use these relative rankings as an indication of general tendency and possible discriminatory dominance as compared to an absolute ranking of discriminatory dominance over the other habit areas. The particular circumstances surrounding the examination of handwriting can dictate a far different ordering of habit areas.

Online recognition of Chinese characters: the state-of-the-art.

PubMed

Liu, Cheng-Lin; Jaeger, Stefan; Nakagawa, Masaki

2004-02-01

Online handwriting recognition is gaining renewed interest owing to the increase of pen computing applications and new pen input devices. The recognition of Chinese characters is different from western handwriting recognition and poses a special challenge. To provide an overview of the technical status and inspire future research, this paper reviews the advances in online Chinese character recognition (OLCCR), with emphasis on the research works from the 1990s. Compared to the research in the 1980s, the research efforts in the 1990s aimed to further relax the constraints of handwriting, namely, the adherence to standard stroke orders and stroke numbers and the restriction of recognition to isolated characters only. The target of recognition has shifted from regular script to fluent script in order to better meet the requirements of practical applications. The research works are reviewed in terms of pattern representation, character classification, learning/adaptation, and contextual processing. We compare important results and discuss possible directions of future research.

Efficacy of an explicit handwriting program.

PubMed

Kaiser, Marie-Laure; Albaret, Jean-Michel; Doudin, Pierre-André

2011-04-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an explicit handwriting program introduced during the first grade of elementary school. Grade 1 children (N=23) with an age range of 6.1 to 7.4 yr. (15 girls, 8 boys) were administered an additional handwriting program of two weekly sessions of 45 min. over six weeks. Another group of 19 Grade 1 children (11 girls, 8 boys) received only the regular handwriting program of one weekly session. The Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting was administered to measure the changes in quality and speed of handwriting. The children given the explicit program showed better quality and speed of handwriting than did the control group. Their handwriting was more regular, with fewer ambiguous letters and fewer incorrect relative heights.

SKread predicts handwriting performance in patients with low vision.

PubMed

Downes, Ken; Walker, Laura L; Fletcher, Donald C

2015-06-01

To assess whether performance on the Smith-Kettlewell Reading (SKread) test is a reliable predictor of handwriting performance in patients with low vision. Cross-sectional study. Sixty-six patients at their initial low-vision rehabilitation evaluation. The patients completed all components of a routine low-vision appointment including logMAR acuity, performed the SKread test, and performed a handwriting task. Patients were timed while performing each task and their accuracy was recorded. The handwriting task was performed by having patients write 5 5-letter words into sets of boxes where each letter is separated by a box. The boxes were 15 × 15 mm, and accuracy was scored with 50 points possible from 25 letters: 1 point for each letter within the confines of a box and 1 point if the letter was legible. Correlation analysis was then performed. Median age of participants was 84 (range 54-97) years. Fifty-seven patients (86%) had age-related macular degeneration or some other maculopathy, whereas 9 patients (14%) had visual impairment from media opacity or neurologic impairment. Median Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study acuity was 20/133 (range 20/22 to 20/1000), and median logMAR acuity was 0.82 (range 0.04-1.70). SKread errors per block correlated with logMAR acuity (r = 0.6), and SKread time per block correlated with logMAR acuity (r = 0.51). SKread errors per block correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.61). SKread time per block correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.7). LogMAR acuity score correlated with handwriting task time/accuracy ratio (r = 0.42). All p values were < 0.01. SKread scores predict handwriting performance in patients with low vision better than logMAR acuity. Copyright © 2015 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An electromyographic analysis of two handwriting grasp patterns.

PubMed

de Almeida, Pedro Henrique Tavares Queiroz; da Cruz, Daniel Marinho Cezar; Magna, Luis Alberto; Ferrigno, Iracema Serrat Vergotti

2013-08-01

Handwriting is a fundamental skill needed for the development of daily-life activities during lifetime and can be performed using different forms to hold the writing object. In this study, we monitored the sEMG activity of trapezius, biceps brachii, extensor carpi radialis brevis and flexor digitorum superficialis during a handwriting task with two groups of subjects using different grasp patterns. Twenty-four university students (thirteen males and eleven females; mean age of 22.04±2.8years) were included in this study. We randomly invited 12 subjects that used the Dynamic Tripod grasp and 12 subjects that used the Static Tripod grasp. The static tripod group showed statistically significant changes in the sEMG activity of trapezium and biceps brachii muscles during handwriting when compared to dynamic tripod group's subjects. No significant differences were found in extensor carpi radialis brevis and flexor digitorum superficialis activities among the two groups. The findings in this study suggest an increased activity of proximal muscles among subjects using a transitional grasp, indicating potential higher energy expenditure and muscular harm with the maintenance of this motor pattern in handwriting tasks, especially during the progression in academic life. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Handwriting difficulties in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a pilot study.

PubMed

Haberfehlner, Helga; Visser, Bart; Daffertshofer, Andreas; van Rossum, Marion Aj; Roorda, Leo D; van der Leeden, Marike; Dekker, Joost; Hoeksma, Agnes F

2011-01-01

The aim of the present study was to describe handwriting difficulties of primary school children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and to investigate possible correlations with hand function and writing performance. In a cross-sectional approach, 15 children with JIA and reported handwriting difficulties were included together with 15 healthy matched controls. Impairments (signs of arthritis or tenosynovitis, reduced grip force and limited range of motion of the wrist (wrist-ROM)), activity limitations (reduced quality and speed of handwriting, pain during handwriting), and participation restrictions (perceived handwriting difficulties at school) were assessed and analysed. Although selected by the presence of handwriting difficulties, the majority of the JIA children (73%) had no active arthritis of the writing hand, and only minor hand impairments were found. Overall, the JIA children performed well during the short handwriting test, but the number of letters they wrote per minute decreased significantly during the 5-minute test, compared to the healthy controls. JIA patients had significantly higher pain scores on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale, compared to the healthy controls. The actual presence of arthritis, and limitation in grip force and wrist-ROM did not correlate with reported participation restrictions with regard to handwriting at school. The JIA children reported pain during handwriting, and inability to sustain handwriting for a longer period of time. The results of this pilot study show that JIA children with handwriting difficulties, experience their restrictions mainly through pain and the inability to sustain handwriting for a longer period of time. No correlations could be found with impairments.

Does Handwriting Instruction Have a Place in the Instructional Day? The Relationship between Handwriting Quality and Academic Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarroll, Hope; Fletcher, Tina

2017-01-01

Handwriting is a foundational skill needed by students to demonstrate competency in reading, writing, and math. Occupational therapists who work in schools are tasked with providing remedial services for students who demonstrate deficits in underlying handwriting mechanics, as opposed to deficits in following handwriting conventions. Despite this,…

Promoting Handwriting Fluency in Fifth Graders with Slow Handwriting: A Single-Subject Design Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Limpo, Teresa; Parente, Naiana; Alves, Rui A.

2018-01-01

This study used a multiple-probe design across three participants to test the effectiveness of a handwriting intervention for fifth graders (age 10-11) displaying less handwriting fluency than their peers, but without spelling disorders. The 5-h handwriting intervention provided students with explicit instruction and intensive practice in writing…

Analysis of in-air movement in handwriting: A novel marker for Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Drotár, Peter; Mekyska, Jiří; Rektorová, Irena; Masarová, Lucia; Smékal, Zdenek; Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos

2014-12-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease affecting significant portion of elderly population. One of the most frequent hallmarks and usually also the first manifestation of PD is deterioration of handwriting characterized by micrographia and changes in kinematics of handwriting. There is no objective quantitative method of clinical diagnosis of PD. It is thought that PD can only be definitively diagnosed at postmortem, which further highlights the complexities of diagnosis. We exploit the fact that movement during handwriting of a text consists not only from the on-surface movements of the hand, but also from the in-air trajectories performed when the hand moves in the air from one stroke to the next. We used a digitizing tablet to assess both in-air and on-surface kinematic variables during handwriting of a sentence in 37 PD patients on medication and 38 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. By applying feature selection algorithms and support vector machine learning methods to separate PD patients from healthy controls, we demonstrated that assessing the in-air/on-surface hand movements led to accurate classifications in 84% and 78% of subjects, respectively. Combining both modalities improved the accuracy by another 1% over the evaluation of in-air features alone and provided medically relevant diagnosis with 85.61% prediction accuracy. Assessment of in-air movements during handwriting has a major impact on disease classification accuracy. This study confirms that handwriting can be used as a marker for PD and can be with advance used in decision support systems for differential diagnosis of PD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stability of handwriting performance following injury-induced hand-dominance transfer in adults: a pilot study.

PubMed

Yancosek, Kathleen E; Mullineaux, David R

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to quantify stability of nondominant handwriting kinematics and legibility in participants with functional loss of the previously dominant hand. Twelve adult volunteers provided two handwriting samples 6 weeks apart. Handwriting tasks (Compose a Sentence, Copy Alphabet, Copy Date, Copy Sentence, and Draw Circles) were performed in cursive writing on standard white, lined paper taped to a digitizer to record kinematic and kinetic variables of velocity, displacement, force, and on-paper time. Results showed minimal performance variability within subjects and marked variability between subjects, as well as variability between tasks for all participants. Stylistic stability of the handwriting samples was assessed by two independent evaluators. These evaluators matched all handwriting samples at test to retest times with 89%-100% accuracy, suggesting value in the "whole" handwriting sample and emphasizing the idiosyncratic nature of handwriting. Results suggest that handwriting skill stability in the previously nondominant hand varies across subjects and task demands.

Effectiveness of the Size Matters Handwriting Program.

PubMed

Pfeiffer, Beth; Rai, Gillian; Murray, Tammy; Brusilovskiy, Eugene

2015-04-01

The purpose of the research was to study changes in handwriting legibility among kindergarten, first- and second-grade students in response to the Size Matters curricular-based handwriting program. A two-group pre-post-test design was implemented at two public schools with half of the classrooms assigned to receive the Size Matters program and the other continuing to receive standard instruction. All participants completed two standardized handwriting measures at pre-test and after 40 instructional sessions were completed with the classes receiving the handwriting program. Results identified significant changes in legibility in the handwriting intervention group for all three grades when compared with the standard instruction group. The results of this study support the use of a curricular-embedded handwriting program and provide the foundation for future research examining the impact of handwriting legibility on learning outcomes.

Handwriting assessment of Franco-Quebec primary school-age students

PubMed

Couture, Mélanie; Morin, Marie-France; Coallier, Mélissa; Lavigne, Audrey; Archambault, Patricia; Bolduc, Émilie; Chartier, Émilie; Liard, Karolane; Jasmin, Emmanuelle

2016-12-01

Reasons for referring school-age children to occupational therapy mainly relate to handwriting problems. However, there are no validated tools or reference values for assessing handwriting in francophone children in Canada. This study aimed to adapt and validate the writing tasks described in an English Canadian handwriting assessment protocol and to develop reference values for handwriting speed for francophone children. Three writing tasks from the Handwriting Assessment Protocol-2nd Edition (near-point and far-point copying and dictation) were adapted for Québec French children and administered to 141 Grade 1 ( n = 73) and Grade 2 ( n = 68) students. Reference values for handwriting speed were obtained for near point and far point copying tasks. This adapted protocol and these reference values for speed will improve occupational therapy handwriting assessments for the target population.

Parents' perspectives on a collaborative approach to the application of the Handwriting Without Tears(®) programme with children with Down syndrome.

PubMed

Patton, Sandra; Hutton, Eve

2016-08-01

The active involvement of parents and children in goal setting and intervention is integral to contemporary occupational therapy process models. However, parental perspectives on collaborative handwriting intervention are limited. This paper presents parental perspectives on a three-way collaboration involving teachers, parents and an occupational therapist in the application of Handwriting Without Tears(®) (HWT(®) ) with children with Down syndrome. Within a larger mixed methods study, 44 parents completed purpose-designed questionnaires and six parents participated in a focus group, post 8 months of programme implementation. Both methods gathered parent's perspectives on the usefulness and limitations of applying HWT(®) . The focus group explored collaboration in depth. Analysis involved triangulation of data from descriptive analysis of numerical data with content analysis of open-ended questions and focus group data. Enablers of parent-child engagement in HWT(®) were identified as; the parent-child-friendly aspects of HWT(®) , the teacher involvement ensuring continuity which eased demands on parents, the ongoing support/guidance of the occupational therapist and the child's involvement in HWT(®) group intervention. The occupational therapists' involvement was reported as essential to encouraging teacher/parent involvement. Barriers to child-parent engagement included fluctuations in child health, mood, attention span and time limitations including the child's involvement in other therapy programmes. Parents perceived the HWT(®) and the three-way collaborative approach as enabling active parent-child engagement in handwriting intervention. This approach warrants further investigation. Findings have the potential to inform practice guidelines and pre- and post-graduation education related to collaborative handwriting intervention with children with Down syndrome and their families. © 2016 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Rescuing Writing Instruction: How To Save Time & Money with Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuriloff, Peshe C.

2004-01-01

This document focuses on the writing skills of college students. The days of students sifting through piles of file cards, producing detailed outlines, and handwriting drafts have slipped into the distant past. Students write quickly and casually with the assistance of technology, and common sense dictates that technology needs to be used to teach…

Handwriting Manual for Primary Teachers in Somalia. African Studies in Curriculum Development & Evaluation No. 61.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dirie, Mohamed Farah

Concern over the poor and illegible handwriting of the students in Somalia led to the development of this handwriting manual for primary school teachers to: (1) give teachers guidance in teaching handwriting; (2) help teachers in the methodology of teaching handwriting; (3) let teachers know the easier ways of making cheap and obtainable materials…

Comparison of the Properties of the Handwriting Speed Test (HST) and Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH): An Exploratory Study.

PubMed

Francis, Anna; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2017-05-01

Handwriting speed is an important component of students' ability to adequately express their ideas, knowledge and creativity in a timely and effective manner. Psychometric properties of the Handwriting Speed Test (HST) and Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) and accuracy of the norms for identifying current Australian students with handwriting speed difficulties were examined. An exploratory, cross-sectional study was conducted involving students, with and without handwriting difficulties, in Years 3-12 (mean age: 12.0 yrs, SD = 3.0 yrs; range = 7 to 18 yrs) in New South Wales (NSW; Australia). Participants were recruited through occupational therapists and schools. Students completed the HST and all DASH subtests. Thirty-two students with, and 139 students without, handwriting difficulties participated. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability were found to be excellent; sensitivity was low and specificity high for the HST and DASH. No significant differences were found between test scores and normative data for students without handwriting difficulties (year/age groups with n > 10). The HST and DASH are reliable assessments of handwriting speed. Further research is required into discriminant validity of the HST and DASH and need for updated norms.

Comparison of cursive models for handwriting instruction.

PubMed

Karlsdottir, R

1997-12-01

The efficiency of four different cursive handwriting styles as model alphabets for handwriting instruction of primary school children was compared in a cross-sectional field experiment from Grade 3 to 6 in terms of the average handwriting speed developed by the children and the average rate of convergence of the children's handwriting to the style of their model. It was concluded that styles with regular entry stroke patterns give the steadiest rate of convergence to the model and styles with short ascenders and descenders and strokes with not too high curvatures give the highest handwriting speed.

Handwriting Movement Analyses for Monitoring Drug-Induced Motor Side Effects in Schizophrenia Patients Treated with Risperidone

PubMed Central

Caligiuri, Michael P.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E.; Niculescu, Alexander B.; Lohr, James

2009-01-01

Epidemiologic studies indicate that nearly 60% of schizophrenia (SZ) patients treated with conventional antipsychotic drugs develop extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) such as parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia. Although the prevalence of EPS has decreased due to the newer antipsychotics, EPS continue to limit the effectiveness of these medicines. Ongoing monitoring of EPS is likely to improve treatment outcome or compliance and reduce the frequency of re-hospitalization. A quantitative analysis of handwriting kinematics was used to evaluate effects of antipsychotic medication type and dose in schizophrenia patients. Twenty-seven schizophrenia patients treated with risperidone, six schizophrenia patients who received no antipsychotic medication and 46 healthy comparison participants were enrolled. Participants performed a 20-minute handwriting task consisting of loops of various sizes and a sentence. Data were captured and analyzed using MovAlyzeR software. Results indicated that risperidone-treated participants exhibited significantly more dysfluent handwriting movements than either healthy or untreated SZ participants. Risperidone-treated participants exhibited lower movement velocities during production of simple loops compared to unmedicated patients. Handwriting dysfluency during sentence writing increased with dose. A 3-factor model consisting of kinematic variables derived from sentence writing accounted for 83% (r = .91) of the variability in medication dose. In contrast, we found no association between observer-based EPS severity ratings and medication dose. These findings support the importance of handwriting-based measures to monitor EPS in medicated schizophrenia patients. PMID:19692133

Understanding handwriting difficulties: A comparison of children with and without motor impairment.

PubMed

Prunty, Mellissa; Barnett, Anna L

The nature of handwriting difficulties have been explored in children with specific developmental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the nature of handwriting difficulties in children with dysgraphia, a less studied group who have significant handwriting difficulties in the absence of motor control or cognitive difficulties. The performance of a dysgraphia group aged 8-14 years was compared to a group with Developmental Coordination Disorder and to typically developing (TD) controls. Participants completed two handwriting tasks on a digitizing writing tablet. The amount and accuracy of the handwriting product was measured, plus various temporal and spatial features of the writing process. There were no significant differences in performance between the two groups with handwriting difficulties but both performed more poorly than the TD group. Individual differences in the type and severity of handwriting impairments suggest the need for a range of classroom assessments to tailor intervention appropriately.

Feasibility of a home-based program to improve handwriting after stroke: a pilot study.

PubMed

Simpson, Bronwyn; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha; Cordier, Reinie

2016-01-01

To test the feasibility of a handwriting retraining program with adults after stroke; specifically the feasibility of: (i) recruiting people with stroke to the study, (ii) delivering the handwriting retraining program and (iii) outcome measures of handwriting performance. A quasi-experimental pre-test post-test design was used. A four-week, home-based handwriting retraining program was delivered by an occupational therapist using task-specific practice. Legibility, speed, pen control and self-perception of handwriting were measured at baseline and completion of the program. Legibility was scored by a blinded rater. Seven adults with stroke were recruited (eligibility fraction 43% of those screened, and enrolment fraction 78% of those eligible). There were no dropouts. Although, recruitment was slow the intervention was feasible and acceptable to adults with stroke. No statistically or clinically significant changes in legibility were reported in this small sample, but a ceiling effect was evident for some outcome measures. The study was not powered to determine efficacy. Delivery of a four-week handwriting intervention with eight supervised sessions in the community was feasible; however, recruitment of an adequate sample size would require greater investment than the single site used in this pilot. Handwriting difficulty is common following hemiparesis after stroke, however research addressing handwriting retraining for adults with stroke is lacking. A four-week home-based handwriting program using task-specific practice and feedback was feasible to deliver and appropriate for adults with stroke. Improving handwriting legibility and neatness across a range of tasks were important goals for adults with handwriting impairment.

The writer independent online handwriting recognition system frog on hand and cluster generative statistical dynamic time warping.

PubMed

Bahlmann, Claus; Burkhardt, Hans

2004-03-01

In this paper, we give a comprehensive description of our writer-independent online handwriting recognition system frog on hand. The focus of this work concerns the presentation of the classification/training approach, which we call cluster generative statistical dynamic time warping (CSDTW). CSDTW is a general, scalable, HMM-based method for variable-sized, sequential data that holistically combines cluster analysis and statistical sequence modeling. It can handle general classification problems that rely on this sequential type of data, e.g., speech recognition, genome processing, robotics, etc. Contrary to previous attempts, clustering and statistical sequence modeling are embedded in a single feature space and use a closely related distance measure. We show character recognition experiments of frog on hand using CSDTW on the UNIPEN online handwriting database. The recognition accuracy is significantly higher than reported results of other handwriting recognition systems. Finally, we describe the real-time implementation of frog on hand on a Linux Compaq iPAQ embedded device.

Validating the use of the evaluation tool of children's handwriting-manuscript to identify handwriting difficulties and detect change in school-age children.

PubMed

Brossard-Racine, Marie; Mazer, Barbara; Julien, Marilyse; Majnemer, Annette

2012-01-01

In this study we sought to validate the discriminant ability of the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript in identifying children in Grades 2-3 with handwriting difficulties and to determine the percentage of change in handwriting scores that is consistently detected by occupational therapists. Thirty-four therapists judged and compared 35 pairs of handwriting samples. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine (1) the optimal cutoff values for word and letter legibility scores that identify children with handwriting difficulties who should be seen in rehabilitation and (2) the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in handwriting scores. Cutoff scores of 75.0% for total word legibility and 76.0% for total letter legibility were found to provide excellent levels of accuracy. A difference of 10.0%-12.5% for total word legibility and 6.0%-7.0% for total letter legibility were found as the MCID. Study findings enable therapists to quantitatively support clinical judgment when evaluating handwriting. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

New Media Analysis: The Effects of Peer Influence and Personality Characteristics Through the Stages of Trial, Adoption, and Continued Use of Video Sharing Websites

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

Unfortunately, my family deserves more credit than I could possibly say here, but I must try… Mom, thanks for always supporting my dreams and believing in me...example, the use of a computer word-processor to type a lengthy document may facilitate the trial of a system if the alternative is to handwrite the...technologies are inherently a voluntary form of technological communications; therefore, it is conceivable to say that individuals are more likely to be

The influence of ergonomic factors and perceptual-motor abilities on handwriting performance.

PubMed

Tseng, M H; Cermak, S A

1993-10-01

Difficulty with handwriting is one of the most frequent reasons that children in the public schools are referred to occupational therapy. Current research on the influence of ergonomic factors, such as pencil grip and pressure, and perceptual-motor factors traditionally believed to affect handwriting, is reviewed. Factors such as visual perception show little relationship to handwriting, whereas tactile-kinesthetic, visual-motor, and motor planning appear to be more closely related to handwriting. By better understanding the ergonomic and perceptual-motor factors that contribute to and influence handwriting, therapists will be better able to design rationally based intervention programs.

The "handwriting brain": a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies of motor versus orthographic processes.

PubMed

Planton, Samuel; Jucla, Mélanie; Roux, Franck-Emmanuel; Démonet, Jean-François

2013-01-01

Handwriting is a modality of language production whose cerebral substrates remain poorly known although the existence of specific regions is postulated. The description of brain damaged patients with agraphia and, more recently, several neuroimaging studies suggest the involvement of different brain regions. However, results vary with the methodological choices made and may not always discriminate between "writing-specific" and motor or linguistic processes shared with other abilities. We used the "Activation Likelihood Estimate" (ALE) meta-analytical method to identify the cerebral network of areas commonly activated during handwriting in 18 neuroimaging studies published in the literature. Included contrasts were also classified according to the control tasks used, whether non-specific motor/output-control or linguistic/input-control. These data were included in two secondary meta-analyses in order to reveal the functional role of the different areas of this network. An extensive, mainly left-hemisphere network of 12 cortical and sub-cortical areas was obtained; three of which were considered as primarily writing-specific (left superior frontal sulcus/middle frontal gyrus area, left intraparietal sulcus/superior parietal area, right cerebellum) while others related rather to non-specific motor (primary motor and sensorimotor cortex, supplementary motor area, thalamus and putamen) or linguistic processes (ventral premotor cortex, posterior/inferior temporal cortex). This meta-analysis provides a description of the cerebral network of handwriting as revealed by various types of neuroimaging experiments and confirms the crucial involvement of the left frontal and superior parietal regions. These findings provide new insights into cognitive processes involved in handwriting and their cerebral substrates. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High recall document content extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Chang; Baird, Henry S.

2011-01-01

We report methodologies for computing high-recall masks for document image content extraction, that is, the location and segmentation of regions containing handwriting, machine-printed text, photographs, blank space, etc. The resulting segmentation is pixel-accurate, which accommodates arbitrary zone shapes (not merely rectangles). We describe experiments showing that iterated classifiers can increase recall of all content types, with little loss of precision. We also introduce two methodological enhancements: (1) a multi-stage voting rule; and (2) a scoring policy that views blank pixels as a "don't care" class with other content classes. These enhancements improve both recall and precision, achieving at least 89% recall and at least 87% precision among three content types: machine-print, handwriting, and photo.

The effect of conscious control on handwriting in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Tucha, Oliver; Lange, Klaus W

2005-08-01

Two experiments were performed regarding the effect of conscious control on handwriting fluency in healthy adults and ADHD children. First, 26 healthy students were asked to write a sentence under different conditions. The results indicate that automated handwriting movements are independent from visual feedback. Second, the writing performance of 12 children with ADHD was examined on their usual medication with methylphenidate and under placebo. In comparison to placebo, medication with methylphenidate resulted in a reduced fluency of handwriting. Automated handwriting movements could be elicited in children with ADHD on medication. The results suggest that both visual and mental control of handwriting movements affect the automation of handwriting movements. Furthermore, a simple training procedure was designed and performed in a case study of a boy with ADHD.

Handwriting difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorders: a scoping review.

PubMed

Kushki, Azadeh; Chau, Tom; Anagnostou, Evdokia

2011-12-01

Functional handwriting involves complex interactions among physical, cognitive and sensory systems. Impairments in many aspects of these systems are associated with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), suggesting a heightened risk of handwriting difficulties in children with ASD. This scoping review aimed to: (1) survey the existing evidence about potential contributions to compromised handwriting function in children with ASD, and (2) map out the existing studies documenting handwriting difficulties in children with ASD. The current evidence implicates impairments in fine motor control and visual-motor integration as likely contributors to handwriting difficulties in children with ASD, though the role of the latter is not well-understood. Moreover, diminished overall legibility and compromised letter formation are emerging points of convergence among existing studies of handwriting quality in children with ASD.

Recovery of handwritten text from the diaries and papers of David Livingstone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knox, Keith T.; Easton, Roger L., Jr.; Christens-Barry, William A.; Boydston, Kenneth

2011-03-01

During his explorations of Africa, David Livingstone kept a diary and wrote letters about his experiences. Near the end of his travels, he ran out of paper and ink and began recording his thoughts on leftover newspaper with ink made from local seeds. These writings suffer from fading, from interference with the printed text and from bleed through of the handwriting on the other side of the paper, making them hard to read. New image processing techniques have been developed to deal with these papers to make Livingstone's handwriting available to the scholars to read. A scan of the David Livingstone's papers was made using a twelve-wavelength, multispectral imaging system. The wavelengths ranged from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. In these wavelengths, the three different types of writing behave differently, making them distinguishable from each other. So far, three methods have been used to recover Livingstone's handwriting. These include pseudocolor (to make the different writings distinguishable), spectral band ratios (to remove text that does not change), and principal components analysis (to separate the different writings). In initial trials, these techniques have been able to lift handwriting off printed text and have suppressed handwriting that has bled through from the other side of the paper.

iPad versus Handwriting: Pilot Study Exploring the Writing Abilities of Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corkett, Julie K.; Benevides, Tina

2016-01-01

Written expression is an essential skill to actively function in today's society. For many learners, especially those with a learning disability (LD), writing can be a source of frustration. Technology in its various forms, holds promise to assist students in this area. The current study examines the role that tablet technology, specifically,…

Helping Hands: A World of Manipulatives To Boost Handwriting Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naus, June M.

2000-01-01

This article identifies possible causes of handwriting difficulties and suggests activities to facilitate the development of hand muscles and handwriting skills. It discusses handwriting readiness, wrist stability, hand development activities, pencil grasp, hand dominance, eye-hand coordination, basic strokes, general readiness skills, writing…

Effectiveness of a co-taught handwriting program for first grade students.

PubMed

Case-Smith, Jane; Holland, Terri; White, Susan

2014-02-01

Our study examined the effects of Write Start, a classroom-embedded handwriting/writing program on handwriting and writing fluency for first grade students, co-taught by occupational therapists and teachers. Two first grade classrooms received the Write Start and two received standard handwriting instruction. This co-taught program included specific feedback during handwriting practice, small group activities, student self-evaluation, and peer supports. The students were evaluated on handwriting legibility, fluency, and written expression at baseline, immediately after the program, and 6 months later. When performance was compared between the two groups, the students in the Write Start program improved significantly more in legibility (d = .57) and fluency (d = .75) than students who received standard instruction. Gains in handwriting speed (d = .18), average legibility (d = .26), and written expression (d = .25) did not differ significantly between the two groups. A co-taught, inclusive handwriting/writing program can promote first grade students' achievement of lower case legibility and writing fluency.

Functional handwriting performance in school-age children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Duval-White, Cherie J; Jirikowic, Tracy; Rios, Dianne; Deitz, Jean; Olson, Heather Carmichael

2013-01-01

Handwriting is a critical skill for school success. Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) often present with fine motor and visual-motor impairments that can affect handwriting performance, yet handwriting skills have not been systematically investigated in this clinical group. This study aimed to comprehensively describe handwriting skills in 20 school-age children with FASD. Children were tested with the Process Assessment of the Learner, 2nd Edition (PAL-II), and the Visuomotor Precision subtest of NEPSY, a developmental neuropsychological assessment. Participants performed below average on PAL-II measures of handwriting legibility and speed and on NEPSY visual-motor precision tasks. In contrast, PAL-II measures of sensorimotor skills were broadly within the average range. Results provide evidence of functional handwriting challenges for children with FASD and suggest diminished visual-motor skills and increased difficulty as task complexity increases. Future research is needed to further describe the prevalence and nature of handwriting challenges in this population. Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Functional Handwriting Performance in School-Age Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

PubMed Central

Duval-White, Cherie J.; Rios, Dianne; Deitz, Jean; Olson, Heather Carmichael

2013-01-01

Handwriting is a critical skill for school success. Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) often present with fine motor and visual–motor impairments that can affect handwriting performance, yet handwriting skills have not been systematically investigated in this clinical group. This study aimed to comprehensively describe handwriting skills in 20 school-age children with FASD. Children were tested with the Process Assessment of the Learner, 2nd Edition (PAL–II), and the Visuomotor Precision subtest of NEPSY, a developmental neuropsychological assessment. Participants performed below average on PAL–II measures of handwriting legibility and speed and on NEPSY visual–motor precision tasks. In contrast, PAL–II measures of sensorimotor skills were broadly within the average range. Results provide evidence of functional handwriting challenges for children with FASD and suggest diminished visual–motor skills and increased difficulty as task complexity increases. Future research is needed to further describe the prevalence and nature of handwriting challenges in this population. PMID:23968791

Android application for handwriting segmentation using PerTOHS theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akouaydi, Hanen; Njah, Sourour; Alimi, Adel M.

2017-03-01

The paper handles the problem of segmentation of handwriting on mobile devices. Many applications have been developed in order to facilitate the recognition of handwriting and to skip the limited numbers of keys in keyboards and try to introduce a space of drawing for writing instead of using keyboards. In this one, we will present a mobile theory for the segmentation of for handwriting uses PerTOHS theory, Perceptual Theory of On line Handwriting Segmentation, where handwriting is defined as a sequence of elementary and perceptual codes. In fact, the theory analyzes the written script and tries to learn the handwriting visual codes features in order to generate new ones via the generated perceptual sequences. To get this classification we try to apply the Beta-elliptic model, fuzzy detector and also genetic algorithms in order to get the EPCs (Elementary Perceptual Codes) and GPCs (Global Perceptual Codes) that composed the script. So, we will present our Android application M-PerTOHS for segmentation of handwriting.

Spatial Analysis of Handwritten Texts as a Marker of Cognitive Control.

PubMed

Crespo, Y; Soriano, M F; Iglesias-Parro, S; Aznarte, J I; Ibáñez-Molina, A J

2017-12-01

We explore the idea that cognitive demands of the handwriting would influence the degree of automaticity of the handwriting process, which in turn would affect the geometric parameters of texts. We compared the heterogeneity of handwritten texts in tasks with different cognitive demands; the heterogeneity of texts was analyzed with lacunarity, a measure of geometrical invariance. In Experiment 1, we asked participants to perform two tasks that varied in cognitive demands: transcription and exposition about an autobiographical episode. Lacunarity was significantly lower in transcription. In Experiment 2, we compared a veridical and a fictitious version of a personal event. Lacunarity was lower in veridical texts. We contend that differences in lacunarity of handwritten texts reveal the degree of automaticity in handwriting.

Handwriting Instruction in Elementary Schools: Revisited!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asher, Asha; Estes, Joanne

2016-01-01

Handwriting is an essential literacy and communication skill developed through a variety of instructional methods in elementary school. This study explored the consistency in handwriting instruction across grade levels in a Midwest public school district 15 years after the school initially implemented a uniform handwriting program. Additionally,…

Examining the relationships between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and developmental coordination disorder symptoms, and writing performance in Japanese second grade students.

PubMed

Noda, Wataru; Ito, Hiroyuki; Fujita, Chikako; Ohnishi, Masafumi; Takayanagi, Nobuya; Someki, Fumio; Nakajima, Syunji; Ohtake, Satoko; Mochizuki, Naoto; Tsujii, Masatsugu

2013-09-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and developmental coordination disorder symptoms and writing performance in Japanese second grade students from regular classrooms. The second grade students (N=873) in Japanese public elementary schools participated in this study. We examined a variety of writing tasks, such as tracing, copying, handwriting (Hiragana and Katakana), and spelling (Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji). We employed the Japanese version of the home form ADHD-rating scale (ADHD-RS) and the Japanese version of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ-J) to assess the developmental characteristics of the participating children. Seven writing performance scores were submitted to a principal component analysis with a promax rotation, which yielded three composite scores (Spelling Accuracy, Tracing and Copying Accuracy, and Handwriting Fluency). A multiple regression analysis found that inattention predicted Spelling Accuracy and Handwriting Fluency and that hyperactive-impulsive predicted Handwriting Fluency. In addition, fine motor ability predicted Tracing and Copying Accuracy. The current study offered empirical evidence suggesting that developmental characteristics such as inattention and fine motor skill are related to writing difficulties in Japanese typical developing children. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of cursive letters, syllables, and words handwriting in a French second-grade child with Developmental Coordination Disorder and comparison with typically developing children.

PubMed

Jolly, Caroline; Gentaz, Edouard

2013-01-01

Poor handwriting is a core deficit in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). In a previous study, we compared the evolution of cursive letters handwriting in a girl with DCD throughout her second-grade year with that of typically developing (TD) children. We found that her handwriting evolved much less than that of TD children and remained similar to that of pre-schoolers at all stages, suggesting that her handwriting skills have reached a steady state level. We present here a continuation of this work, in which we focused on the velocity aspects of handwriting in another French child with DCD. Indeed, different velocity patterns have been observed in Chinese and English children with DCD. In the French cursive style of writing, consecutive letters are joined, a major difference with the English script style of writing. We thus analyzed the handwriting of a second-grade French girl with DCD, not only for isolated letters but also for syllables and words, in comparison to that of TD first-graders (6-7 years old; N = 85) and second-graders (7-8 years old; N = 88). Each written track was digitized, and nine kinematic parameters were measured to evaluate writing fluency. Results showed that the productions of the child with DCD were more similar to those of first-graders than to those of second-graders. In line with our previous study, the most discriminative parameters between the child with DCD and TD children were size and mean speed. Moreover, her handwriting was less fluent than that of TD children. In contrast to previous observations, we observed a higher writing velocity of the child with DCD when compared to TD children, whatever the complexity of the item, and no significant difference with TD children in the pausing time during writing. These differences may reflect linguistic specificities. For syllables and words, each letter was treated separately as a single unit, thus reflecting a problem in anticipation and automation.

Analysis of cursive letters, syllables, and words handwriting in a French second-grade child with Developmental Coordination Disorder and comparison with typically developing children

PubMed Central

Jolly, Caroline; Gentaz, Edouard

2014-01-01

Poor handwriting is a core deficit in Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). In a previous study, we compared the evolution of cursive letters handwriting in a girl with DCD throughout her second-grade year with that of typically developing (TD) children. We found that her handwriting evolved much less than that of TD children and remained similar to that of pre-schoolers at all stages, suggesting that her handwriting skills have reached a steady state level. We present here a continuation of this work, in which we focused on the velocity aspects of handwriting in another French child with DCD. Indeed, different velocity patterns have been observed in Chinese and English children with DCD. In the French cursive style of writing, consecutive letters are joined, a major difference with the English script style of writing. We thus analyzed the handwriting of a second-grade French girl with DCD, not only for isolated letters but also for syllables and words, in comparison to that of TD first-graders (6–7 years old; N = 85) and second-graders (7–8 years old; N = 88). Each written track was digitized, and nine kinematic parameters were measured to evaluate writing fluency. Results showed that the productions of the child with DCD were more similar to those of first-graders than to those of second-graders. In line with our previous study, the most discriminative parameters between the child with DCD and TD children were size and mean speed. Moreover, her handwriting was less fluent than that of TD children. In contrast to previous observations, we observed a higher writing velocity of the child with DCD when compared to TD children, whatever the complexity of the item, and no significant difference with TD children in the pausing time during writing. These differences may reflect linguistic specificities. For syllables and words, each letter was treated separately as a single unit, thus reflecting a problem in anticipation and automation. PMID:24478735

A review of factors that influence adult handwriting performance.

PubMed

van Drempt, Nadege; McCluskey, Annie; Lannin, Natasha A

2011-10-01

Handwriting is an important activity for people of all ages. Handwriting is frequently affected after stroke and other neurological conditions. However, research on the handwriting of healthy adults is difficult to find. This review aims to advance the development of evidence-informed handwriting assessment and retraining. The aim of this paper was to review factors that influence the handwriting performance of unimpaired adults, some of which are amenable to intervention. Searches were conducted of eight electronic databases up to April 2009 and again in November 2010. Reference lists were also used to identify potential studies of interest. No limits were placed on study design.  Age: Younger adults write more legibly and faster than older adults. Gender: Women write faster and more legibly than men. Pengrip: Grips other than the traditional dynamic tripod are functional, producing legible text in an acceptable time. Pen pressure: Pressure varies with different letters, words, text size, speed and across a page of text. Error corrections and a mixed writing style occur in healthy adult handwriting. Research was inconclusive about the association between speed, pressure and upper limb movements on handwriting performance. Other factors able to predict adult handwriting legibility have been largely unexplored. A number of knowledge and research gaps about adult handwriting were identified, including the need for more contemporary normative data. © 2011 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2011 Occupational Therapy Australia.

An examination of the effectiveness of Handwriting Without Tears instruction.

PubMed

Roberts, Gwenyth I; Derkach-Ferguson, Alanna F; Siever, Jodi E; Rose, M Sarah

2014-04-01

Handwriting is an important childhood occupation, and implications of poor handwriting may have significant long-term effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) on Grade I students' handwriting and perception of skills. A cross-over design was used. Repeated measures, at three points, included the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) and performance rating scales. Eighty-three boys and 66 girls with an average age of 6.2 years participated in the study. Students receiving HWT achieved significantly higher improvements compared to students with teacher-designed instruction in MHA Total Test Score and in MHA components of form, size, space, and alignment (all p < .05). Students had higher average performance ratings when receiving HWT in the first half of the school year. Instruction using HWT improves students' perception and skill in handwriting performance.

The influence of spelling ability on handwriting production: children with and without dyslexia.

PubMed

Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L

2014-09-01

Current models of writing do not sufficiently address the complex relationship between the 2 transcription skills: spelling and handwriting. For children with dyslexia and beginning writers, it is conceivable that spelling ability will influence rate of handwriting production. Our aim in this study was to examine execution speed and temporal characteristics of handwriting when completing sentence-copying tasks that are free from composing demands and to determine the predictive value of spelling, pausing, and motor skill on handwriting production. Thirty-one children with dyslexia (Mage = 9 years 4 months) were compared with age-matched and spelling-ability matched children (Mage = 6 years 6 months). A digital writing tablet and Eye and Pen software were used to analyze handwriting. Children with dyslexia were able to execute handwriting at the same speed as the age-matched peers. However, they wrote less overall and paused more frequently while writing, especially within words. Combined spelling ability and within-word pausing accounted for over 76% of the variance in handwriting production of children with dyslexia, demonstrating that productivity relies on spelling capabilities. Motor skill did not significantly predict any additional variance in handwriting production. Reading ability predicted performance of the age-matched group, and pausing predicted performance for the spelling-ability group. The findings from the digital writing tablet highlight the interactive relationship between the transcription skills and how, if spelling is not fully automatized, it can constrain the rate of handwriting production. Practical implications are also addressed, emphasizing the need for more consideration to be given to what common handwriting tasks are assessing as a whole.

Pen-chant: Acoustic emissions of handwriting and drawing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seniuk, Andrew G.

The sounds generated by a writing instrument ('pen-chant') provide a rich and underutilized source of information for pattern recognition. We examine the feasibility of recognition of handwritten cursive text, exclusively through an analysis of acoustic emissions. We design and implement a family of recognizers using a template matching approach, with templates and similarity measures derived variously from: smoothed amplitude signal with fixed resolution, discrete sequence of magnitudes obtained from peaks in the smoothed amplitude signal, and ordered tree obtained from a scale space signal representation. Test results are presented for recognition of isolated lowercase cursive characters and for whole words. We also present qualitative results for recognizing gestures such as circling, scratch-out, check-marks, and hatching. Our first set of results, using samples provided by the author, yield recognition rates of over 70% (alphabet) and 90% (26 words), with a confidence of +/-8%, based solely on acoustic emissions. Our second set of results uses data gathered from nine writers. These results demonstrate that acoustic emissions are a rich source of information, usable---on their own or in conjunction with image-based features---to solve pattern recognition problems. In future work, this approach can be applied to writer identification, handwriting and gesture-based computer input technology, emotion recognition, and temporal analysis of sketches.

Graphonomics, Automaticity and Handwriting Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucha, Oliver; Tucha, Lara; Lange, Klaus W.

2008-01-01

A recent review of handwriting research in "Literacy" concluded that current curricula of handwriting education focus too much on writing style and neatness and neglect the aspect of handwriting automaticity. This conclusion is supported by evidence in the field of graphonomic research, where a range of experiments have been used to investigate…

Handwriting in Lebanese Bigraphic Children: Standardization of the BHK Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matta Abizeid, Carla; Tabsh Nakib, Amira; Younès Harb, Céleste; Ghantous Faddoul, Shereen; Albaret, Jean-Michel

2017-01-01

Educational systems in Lebanon are bilingual. They simultaneously impose two handwriting systems in Arabic and Latin. This historically driven situation could constitute a significant impact on the process and development of handwriting skills. Using an accurate and valid handwriting evaluation tool standardized for the Lebanese population is a…

Handwriting Instruction: A Commentary on Five Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve

2018-01-01

Handwriting is still a prominent mode for composing for both children and adults As a result, it is important that developing writers acquire fluent and legible handwriting. This article examines the five investigations that were presented in this special issue on handwriting instruction, providing a summary of their collective contributions as…

The Influence of Instructional Variables and Task Constraints on Handwriting Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzpatrick, Paula; Vander Hart, Nanho; Cortesa, Cathryn

2013-01-01

Handwriting is used throughout the school day and is important to demonstrate knowledge. This research evaluated how handwriting instructional practices and intrinsic and extrinsic factors in actual classroom settings impacted learning handwriting over the course of the school year. Findings indicated that extrinsic factors (educational…

Research on Handwriting and Spelling.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horn, Thomas D., Ed.

In this collection of articles, the results of recent research in handwriting and spelling are reported and evaluated in the perspective of studies done over the past 50 years. The articles included are "Handwriting and Spelling: Their Current Status in the Language Arts Curriculum,""Handwriting Research" ("Movement and Quality" and "Style and…

Lap Top Computers and the Learning Disabled Student. A Study of the Value of Portable Computers to the Writing Progress of Students with Fine Motor Problems. No. 193.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yau, Maria; And Others

Fifty-six Toronto (Ontario, Canada) seventh-grade and eighth-grade learning-disabled students whose handwriting was very difficult to read were randomly assigned to either an experimental or comparison group. Experimental group students were loaned a portable computer to use freely at school and at home during the course of the experiment.…

The Log Handwriting Program improved children's writing legibility: a pretest-posttest study.

PubMed

Mackay, Nadine; McCluskey, Annie; Mayes, Rachel

2010-01-01

We determined the feasibility and outcomes of the Log Handwriting Program (Raynal, 1990), an 8-week training program based on task-specific practice of handwriting. We used a pretest-posttest design involving 16 first- and second-grade Australian students. Handwriting training sessions occurred in schools for 45 min per week over 8 weeks, in groups of 2 or 3. Weekly homework was provided. The primary outcome measure was the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (range = 0 to 34; Reisman, 1999). Legibility, form, alignment, size, spacing, and speed were measured. All six assessment subscales showed statistically significant differences. Legibility improved by a mean of 4.1 points (95% confidence interval = 2.5 to 5.7); form, 5.3 points; alignment, 7.8 points; size, 7.9 points; and space, 5.3 points. Speed decreased by 3.9 points. Preliminary evidence indicates that an 8-week Log Handwriting Program is feasible and improved handwriting in primary school children.

SOS: a screening instrument to identify children with handwriting impairments.

PubMed

Van Waelvelde, Hilde; Hellinckx, Tinneke; Peersman, Wim; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien C M

2012-08-01

Poor handwriting has been shown to be associated with developmental disorders such as Developmental Coordination Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, and learning disorders. Handwriting difficulties could lead to academic underachievement and poor self-esteem. Therapeutic intervention has been shown to be effective in treating children with poor handwriting, making early identification critical. The SOS test (Systematic Screening for Handwriting Difficulties) has been developed for this purpose. A child copies a sample of writing within 5 min. Handwriting quality is evaluated using six criteria and writing speed is measured. The Dutch SOS test was administered to 860 Flemish children (7-12 years). Inter- and intrarater reliability was excellent. Test-retest reliability was moderate. A correlation coefficient of 0.70 between SOS and "Concise Assessment Methods of Children Handwriting" test (Dutch version) confirmed convergent validity. The SOS allowed discrimination between typically developing children and children in special education, males and females, and different age groups.

The role of general dynamic coordination in the handwriting skills of children

PubMed Central

Scordella, Andrea; Di Sano, Sergio; Aureli, Tiziana; Cerratti, Paola; Verratti, Vittore; Fanò-Illic, Giorgio; Pietrangelo, Tiziana

2015-01-01

Difficulties in handwriting are often reported in children with developmental coordination disorder, and they represent an important element in the diagnosis. The present study was aimed at investigating the relation between motor coordination and handwriting skills, and to identify differences in handwriting between children without and with coordination difficulties. In particular, we asked whether visual–spatial skills have a role as mediating variables between motor coordination and handwriting. We assessed motor coordination as well as graphic abilities in children aged 7–10 years. Moreover, we evaluated their visual–motor integration, visual–spatial skills, and other cognitive abilities (memory and planning). We found no relation between motor coordination and handwriting skills, while visual–spatial skills (measured by a visual-constructive task) were related with both. Our conclusion is that visual–spatial skills are involved both in general motor coordination and in handwriting, but the relationship involves different aspects in the two cases. PMID:25999893

Handwriting--A Forgotten Language Skill?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

2008-01-01

Handwriting currently has a low status and profile in literacy education. This paper examines the situation of current handwriting pedagogy in England and considers why handwriting efficiency has been neglected. The paper goes on to identify a number of studies located in the domains of special needs and psychology which re-evaluate the role of…

Predicting Handwriting Difficulties through Spelling Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodríguez, Cristina; Villarroel, Rebeca

2017-01-01

This study examined whether spelling tasks contribute to the prediction of the handwriting status of children with poor and good handwriting skills in a cross-sectional study with 276 Spanish children from Grades 1 and 3. The main hypothesis was that the spelling tasks would predict the handwriting status of the children, although this influence…

The Links between Handwriting and Composing for Y6 Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Strand, Steve; Wray, David

2009-01-01

Although handwriting is often considered a matter of presentation, a substantial body of international research suggests that the role of handwriting in children's composing has been neglected. Automaticity in handwriting is now seen as of key importance in composing but this proposition is relatively untested in the UK and the assumption has been…

Comparison of Cursive Handwriting Instruction Programs among Students without Identified Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shimel, Kristin; Candler, Catherine; Neville-Smith, Marsha

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of cursive handwriting programs in improving letter legibility and form in third-grade students without identified handwriting problems. Four months into the school year, cursive handwriting was assessed for a sample of convenience of 50 third-grade students. Subsequently, students received…

Development of Early Handwriting: Visual-Motor Control during Letter Copying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maldarelli, Jennifer E.; Kahrs, Björn A.; Hunt, Sarah C.; Lockman, Jeffrey J.

2015-01-01

Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor, and…

Handwriting-Based Model for Identification of Developmental Disorders among North Indian Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhall, Jasmine Kaur

2016-01-01

Handwriting execution is based on the cognitive, kinesthetic, motor skills, and manual co-ordination skills of an individual. The deterioration in handwriting quality is a common implication of neurological disorders. Difficulty and degradation in handwriting has been attributed to the sensory motor deficits prevalent in developmental disorders.…

Inter-relationships between objective handwriting features and executive control among children with developmental dysgraphia.

PubMed

Rosenblum, Sara

2018-01-01

To describe handwriting and executive control features and their inter-relationships among children with developmental dysgraphia, in comparison to controls. Participants included 64 children, aged 10-12 years, 32 with dysgraphia based on the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and 32 matched controls. Children copied a paragraph onto paper affixed to a digitizer that supplied handwriting process objective measures (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Their written product was evaluated by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire about their child's executive control abilities. Significant group differences were found for handwriting performance measures (HHE and ComPET) and executive control domains (BRIEF). Based on one discriminate function, including handwriting performance and executive control measures, 98.4% of the participants were correctly classified into groups. Significant correlations were found in each group between working memory and legibility as well as for other executive domains and handwriting measures. Furthermore, twenty percent of the variability of the mean pressure applied towards the writing surface among children with was explained by their 'emotional control' (BRIEF). The results strongly suggest consideration of executive control domains to obtain better insight into handwriting impairment characteristics among children with dysgraphia to improve their identification, evaluation and the intervention process.

The effects of shift work and time of day on fine motor control during handwriting.

PubMed

Hölzle, Patricia; Hermsdörfer, Joachim; Vetter, Céline

2014-01-01

Handwriting is an elaborate and highly automatised skill relying on fine motor control. In laboratory conditions handwriting kinematics are modulated by the time of day. This study investigated handwriting kinematics in a rotational shift system and assessed whether similar time of day fluctuations at the work place can be observed. Handwriting performance was measured in two tasks of different levels of complexity in 34 shift workers across morning (6:00-14:00), evening (14:00-22:00) and night shifts (22:00-6:00). Participants were tested during all three shifts in 2-h intervals with mobile testing devices. We calculated average velocity, script size and writing frequency to quantify handwriting kinematics and fluency. Average velocity and script size were significantly affected by the shift work schedule with the worst performance during morning shifts and the best performance during evening shifts. Our data are of high economic relevance as fine motor skills are indispensable for accurate and effective production at the work place. Handwriting is one of the most complex fine motor skills in humans, which is frequently performed in daily life. In this study, we tested handwriting repeatedly at the work place in a rotational shift system. We found slower handwriting velocity and reduced script size during morning shifts.

Inter-relationships between objective handwriting features and executive control among children with developmental dysgraphia

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Objective To describe handwriting and executive control features and their inter-relationships among children with developmental dysgraphia, in comparison to controls. Method Participants included 64 children, aged 10–12 years, 32 with dysgraphia based on the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and 32 matched controls. Children copied a paragraph onto paper affixed to a digitizer that supplied handwriting process objective measures (Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET). Their written product was evaluated by the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE). Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire about their child's executive control abilities. Results Significant group differences were found for handwriting performance measures (HHE and ComPET) and executive control domains (BRIEF). Based on one discriminate function, including handwriting performance and executive control measures, 98.4% of the participants were correctly classified into groups. Significant correlations were found in each group between working memory and legibility as well as for other executive domains and handwriting measures. Furthermore, twenty percent of the variability of the mean pressure applied towards the writing surface among children with was explained by their 'emotional control' (BRIEF). Conclusion The results strongly suggest consideration of executive control domains to obtain better insight into handwriting impairment characteristics among children with dysgraphia to improve their identification, evaluation and the intervention process. PMID:29689111

Min-cut segmentation of cursive handwriting in tabular documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Brian L.; Barrett, William A.; Swingle, Scott D.

2015-01-01

Handwritten tabular documents, such as census, birth, death and marriage records, contain a wealth of information vital to genealogical and related research. Much work has been done in segmenting freeform handwriting, however, segmentation of cursive handwriting in tabular documents is still an unsolved problem. Tabular documents present unique segmentation challenges caused by handwriting overlapping cell-boundaries and other words, both horizontally and vertically, as "ascenders" and "descenders" overlap into adjacent cells. This paper presents a method for segmenting handwriting in tabular documents using a min-cut/max-flow algorithm on a graph formed from a distance map and connected components of handwriting. Specifically, we focus on line, word and first letter segmentation. Additionally, we include the angles of strokes of the handwriting as a third dimension to our graph to enable the resulting segments to share pixels of overlapping letters. Word segmentation accuracy is 89.5% evaluating lines of the data set used in the ICDAR2013 Handwriting Segmentation Contest. Accuracy is 92.6% for a specific application of segmenting first and last names from noisy census records. Accuracy for segmenting lines of names from noisy census records is 80.7%. The 3D graph cutting shows promise in segmenting overlapping letters, although highly convoluted or overlapping handwriting remains an ongoing challenge.

Rewriting History: Historical Research With the Digital Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

significant enough to warrant a change or further analysis of how cadets take notes. The simple nature of the digital pen, akin to writing with a pen on... significant . By the third week the larger the percentage of handwriting correctly recognized, the higher the performance rating for the pen. Related...the pen at all. The current data showed two significant correlations between percent of handwriting recognized and the factors of pen performance and

Handwriting Without Tears(®): General Education Effectiveness Through a Consultative Approach.

PubMed

Donica, Denise K

2015-01-01

This study explores the effectiveness of the Handwriting Without Tears(®) (HWT) kindergarten printing curriculum in general education through a consultative approach with occupational therapy. One cohort of students was the control (n = 19), whereas two other cohorts were experimental groups learning printing through the HWT curriculum (n = 20 each). The Test of Handwriting Skills-Revised (THS-R) was used to collect end-of-year legibility scores for all cohorts. Both experimental groups individually and both experimental groups combined into one group outperformed the control group on all 10 of the THS-R subtests-scoring significantly higher (p < .05 using analysis of covariance controlling for age and gender) on 6 of the subtests for the former and 7 for the latter-and on overall score. Large treatment effects were found for the standard score for each experimental group (d = 0.81, 1.03, and 1.00). This study supports the consultative role of occupational therapy with teachers in general education for handwriting curriculum implementation and the success of HWT for printing instruction. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

A combined approach for the attribution of handwriting: the case of Antonio Stradivari's manuscripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fichera, Giusj Valentina; Dondi, Piercarlo; Licchelli, Maurizio; Lombardi, Luca; Ridolfi, Stefano; Malagodi, Marco

2016-11-01

Numerous artefacts from Antonio Stradivari's workshop are currently preserved in the "Museo del Violino" (Museum of the Violin) in Cremona, Italy. A large number of them are paper models containing instructions and technical notes by the great violin maker. After his death, this collection has had several owners, while new annotations added to the original ones, sometimes imitating Stradivari's handwriting, caused problems of authenticity. The attribution of these relics is a complex task and, until now, only a small part of them has been examined by palaeographers. This paper introduces a multi-analytical approach able to facilitate the study of handwriting in manuscripts with the combined use of image processing and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: the former provides a fast and automatic screening of documents; the latter allows to analyse the chemical composition of inks. For our tests, 17 paper relics, dated between 1684 and 1729, were chosen. Palaeographic analysis was used as reference. The results obtained showed the validity of the combined approach proposed herein: the two techniques proved to be complementary and useful to clarify the attribution of different pieces of handwriting.

JPRS Report, Science & Technology, USSR: Computers

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-23

pages of Literary Gazette, it would be appropriate to proceed with a literary example. Not just elegance of handwriting (made absolutely unnecessary... adult population of the industrially developed nations would have been absorbed by scientific organizations. For this reason, the phenomenon of so...The Institute’s festivities are over. The young specialists in the computer department are in an elated mood . Thanks to their enthusiasm, clearness

A Comparison between Students Who Receive and Who Do Not Receive a Writing Readiness Interventions on Handwriting Quality, Speed and Positive Reactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lifshitz, Nirit; Har-Zvi, Shirley

2015-01-01

Proper acquisition of handwriting is required for success in school. This study compared the effects of two writing readiness interventions, "Traffic Light" and "Word and Sound" on kindergartners' handwriting quality, speed and positive reactions to writing. Handwriting readiness training for kindergarten children is…

Handwriting Characteristics among Secondary Students with and without Physical Disabilities: A Study with a Computerized Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.; Au, Ricky K. C.; Chan, Michelle H. Y.; Chan, Lily W. L.; Lau, Gloria M. T.; Lo, T. K.; Leung, Howard W. H.

2011-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the handwriting characteristics of secondary school students with and without physical disabilities (PD). With the use of a computerized Chinese Handwriting Assessment Tool (CHAT), it was made possible to objectively assess and analyze in detail the handwriting characteristics of individual…

Data Recorders Speed Forest Surveys

Treesearch

George C. Keith; Roy C. Beltz

1980-01-01

Adapting computer and communications concepts to conduct and analyze forest surveys has been undertaken by the Renewable Resources Evaluation Research project of Southern Forest Experiment Station. How data is relayed from the faraway forest site to the unit's base without handwriting one note is described in this study.

Lexical orthography acquisition: Is handwriting better than spelling aloud?

PubMed Central

Bosse, Marie-Line; Chaves, Nathalie; Valdois, Sylviane

2014-01-01

Lexical orthography acquisition is currently described as the building of links between the visual forms and the auditory forms of whole words. However, a growing body of data suggests that a motor component could further be involved in orthographic acquisition. A few studies support the idea that reading plus handwriting is a better lexical orthographic learning situation than reading alone. However, these studies did not explore which of the cognitive processes involved in handwriting enhanced lexical orthographic acquisition. Some findings suggest that the specific movements memorized when learning to write may participate in the establishment of orthographic representations in memory. The aim of the present study was to assess this hypothesis using handwriting and spelling aloud as two learning conditions. In two experiments, fifth graders were asked to read complex pseudo-words embedded in short sentences. Immediately after reading, participants had to recall the pseudo-words' spellings either by spelling them aloud or by handwriting them down. One week later, orthographic acquisition was tested using two post-tests: a pseudo-word production task (spelling by hand in Experiment 1 or spelling aloud in Experiment 2) and a pseudo-word recognition task. Results showed no significant difference in pseudo-word recognition between the two learning conditions. In the pseudo-word production task, orthography learning improved when the learning and post-test conditions were similar, thus showing a massive encoding-retrieval match effect in the two experiments. However, a mixed model analysis of the pseudo-word production results revealed a significant learning condition effect which remained after control of the encoding-retrieval match effect. This later finding suggests that orthography learning is more efficient when mediated by handwriting than by spelling aloud, whatever the post-test production task. PMID:24575058

Lexical orthography acquisition: Is handwriting better than spelling aloud?

PubMed

Bosse, Marie-Line; Chaves, Nathalie; Valdois, Sylviane

2014-01-01

Lexical orthography acquisition is currently described as the building of links between the visual forms and the auditory forms of whole words. However, a growing body of data suggests that a motor component could further be involved in orthographic acquisition. A few studies support the idea that reading plus handwriting is a better lexical orthographic learning situation than reading alone. However, these studies did not explore which of the cognitive processes involved in handwriting enhanced lexical orthographic acquisition. Some findings suggest that the specific movements memorized when learning to write may participate in the establishment of orthographic representations in memory. The aim of the present study was to assess this hypothesis using handwriting and spelling aloud as two learning conditions. In two experiments, fifth graders were asked to read complex pseudo-words embedded in short sentences. Immediately after reading, participants had to recall the pseudo-words' spellings either by spelling them aloud or by handwriting them down. One week later, orthographic acquisition was tested using two post-tests: a pseudo-word production task (spelling by hand in Experiment 1 or spelling aloud in Experiment 2) and a pseudo-word recognition task. Results showed no significant difference in pseudo-word recognition between the two learning conditions. In the pseudo-word production task, orthography learning improved when the learning and post-test conditions were similar, thus showing a massive encoding-retrieval match effect in the two experiments. However, a mixed model analysis of the pseudo-word production results revealed a significant learning condition effect which remained after control of the encoding-retrieval match effect. This later finding suggests that orthography learning is more efficient when mediated by handwriting than by spelling aloud, whatever the post-test production task.

Circadian rhythms in handwriting kinematics and legibility.

PubMed

Jasper, Isabelle; Gordijn, Marijke; Häussler, Andreas; Hermsdörfer, Joachim

2011-08-01

The aim of the present study was to analyze the circadian rhythmicity in handwriting kinematics and legibility and to compare the performance between Dutch and German writers. Two subject groups underwent a 40 h sleep deprivation protocol under Constant Routine conditions either in Groningen (10 Dutch subjects) or in Berlin (9 German subjects). Both groups wrote every 3h a test sentence of similar structure in their native language. Kinematic handwriting performance was assessed with a digitizing tablet and evaluated by writing speed, writing fluency, and script size. Writing speed (frequency of strokes and average velocity) revealed a clear circadian rhythm, with a parallel decline during night and a minimum around 3:00 h in the morning for both groups. Script size and movement fluency did not vary with time of day in neither group. Legibility of handwriting was evaluated by intra-individually ranking handwriting specimens of the 13 sessions by 10 German and 10 Dutch raters. Whereas legibility ratings of the German handwriting specimens deteriorated during night in parallel with slower writing speed, legibility of the Dutch handwriting deteriorated not until the next morning. In conclusion, the circadian rhythm of handwriting kinematics seems to be independent of script language at least among the two tested western countries. Moreover, handwriting legibility is also subject to a circadian rhythm which, however, seems to be influenced by variations in the assessment protocol. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Effect of a Computerized Visual Perception and Visual-Motor Integration Training Program on Improving Chinese Handwriting of Children with Handwriting Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poon, K. W.; Li-Tsang, C. W .P.; Weiss, T. P. L.; Rosenblum, S.

2010-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the effect of a computerized visual perception and visual-motor integration training program to enhance Chinese handwriting performance among children with learning difficulties, particularly those with handwriting problems. Participants were 26 primary-one children who were assessed by educational psychologists and…

Biomechanical analyses of prolonged handwriting in subjects with and without perceived discomfort.

PubMed

Chang, Shao-Hsia; Chen, Chien-Liang; Yu, Nan-Ying

2015-10-01

Since wrist-joint position affects finger muscle length and grip strength, we studied its biomechanical relevance in prolonged handwriting. We recruited participants from young adults, aged 18-24, and separated them into control (n=22) and in-pain (n=18) groups, based whether or not they experience pain while handwriting. The participants then performed a writing task for 30 min on a computerized system which measured their wrist-joint angle and documented their handwriting kinematics. The in-pain group perceived more soreness and had a less-extended wrist joint, longer on-paper time, and slower stroke velocity compared to control group. There was no significant difference in handwriting speed and quality between the two groups. The wrist extension angle significantly correlated with perceived soreness. Ergonomic and biomechanical analyses provide important information about the handwriting process. Knowledge of pen tip movement kinematics and wrist-joint position can help occupational therapists plan treatment for individuals with handwriting induced pain. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effectiveness of an integrated handwriting program for first-grade students: a pilot study.

PubMed

Case-Smith, Jane; Holland, Terri; Bishop, Beth

2011-01-01

We developed and piloted a program for first-grade students to promote development of legible handwriting and writing fluency. The Write Start program uses a coteaching model in which occupational therapists and teachers collaborate to develop and implement a handwriting-writing program. The small-group format with embedded individualized supports allows the therapist to guide and monitor student performance and provide immediate feedback. The 12-wk program was implemented with 1 class of 19 students. We administered the Evaluation of Children's Handwriting Test, Minnesota Handwriting Assessment, and Woodcock-Johnson Fluency and Writing Samples test at baseline, immediately after the Write Start program, and at the end of the school year. Students made large, significant gains in handwriting legibility and speed and in writing fluency that were maintained at 6-mo follow-up. The Write Start program appears to promote handwriting and writing skills in first-grade students and is ready for further study in controlled trials.

Persistent Handwriting Difficulties in Children With ADHD After Treatment With Stimulant Medication.

PubMed

Brossard-Racine, Marie; Shevell, Michael; Snider, Laurie; Bélanger, Stacey Ageranioti; Julien, Marilyse; Majnemer, Annette

2015-07-01

Children with ADHD often present with handwriting difficulties. However, the extent to which motor and attention skills influence performance in this group has not yet been explored. The objective of this study was to examine the factors associated with change in handwriting performance. This study examines the factors associated with change in handwriting performance of 49 children newly diagnosed with ADHD (mean age = 8.4 [SD=1.3] years) prior to and 3 months following use of a stimulant medication. Handwriting legibility and speed improved significantly at follow-up evaluation. However, most of the children with legibility difficulties at baseline continued to demonstrate difficulties when evaluated 3 months after initiation of medication. Change in handwriting legibility was best determined by improvements in visual-motor integration skills (β = 0.07-0.10; p < .001), while the change in speed did not appear to be consistently related to a single factor. Handwriting difficulties are common in children with ADHD, and medication alone is not sufficient to resolve these challenges. © 2012 SAGE Publications.

"Let Me Hear Your Handwriting!" Evaluating the Movement Fluency from Its Sonification.

PubMed

Danna, Jérémy; Paz-Villagrán, Vietminh; Gondre, Charles; Aramaki, Mitsuko; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Ystad, Sølvi; Velay, Jean-Luc

2015-01-01

The quality of handwriting is evaluated from the visual inspection of its legibility and not from the movement that generates the trace. Although handwriting is achieved in silence, adding sounds to handwriting movement might help towards its perception, provided that these sounds are meaningful. This study evaluated the ability to judge handwriting quality from the auditory perception of the underlying sonified movement, without seeing the written trace. In a first experiment, samples of a word written by children with dysgraphia, proficient children writers, and proficient adult writers were collected with a graphic tablet. Then, the pen velocity, the fluency, and the axial pen pressure were sonified in order to create forty-five audio files. In a second experiment, these files were presented to 48 adult listeners who had to mark the underlying unseen handwriting. In order to evaluate the relevance of the sonification strategy, two experimental conditions were compared. In a first 'implicit' condition, the listeners made their judgment without any knowledge of the mapping between the sounds and the handwriting variables. In a second 'explicit' condition, they knew what the sonified variables corresponded to and the evaluation criteria. Results showed that, under the implicit condition, two thirds of the listeners marked the three groups of writers differently. In the explicit condition, all listeners marked the dysgraphic handwriting lower than that of the two other groups. In a third experiment, the scores given from the auditory evaluation were compared to the scores given by 16 other adults from the visual evaluation of the trace. Results revealed that auditory evaluation was more relevant than the visual evaluation for evaluating a dysgraphic handwriting. Handwriting sonification might therefore be a relevant tool allowing a therapist to complete the visual assessment of the written trace by an auditory control of the handwriting movement quality.

“Let Me Hear Your Handwriting!” Evaluating the Movement Fluency from Its Sonification

PubMed Central

Danna, Jérémy; Paz-Villagrán, Vietminh; Gondre, Charles; Aramaki, Mitsuko; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Ystad, Sølvi; Velay, Jean-Luc

2015-01-01

The quality of handwriting is evaluated from the visual inspection of its legibility and not from the movement that generates the trace. Although handwriting is achieved in silence, adding sounds to handwriting movement might help towards its perception, provided that these sounds are meaningful. This study evaluated the ability to judge handwriting quality from the auditory perception of the underlying sonified movement, without seeing the written trace. In a first experiment, samples of a word written by children with dysgraphia, proficient children writers, and proficient adult writers were collected with a graphic tablet. Then, the pen velocity, the fluency, and the axial pen pressure were sonified in order to create forty-five audio files. In a second experiment, these files were presented to 48 adult listeners who had to mark the underlying unseen handwriting. In order to evaluate the relevance of the sonification strategy, two experimental conditions were compared. In a first ‘implicit’ condition, the listeners made their judgment without any knowledge of the mapping between the sounds and the handwriting variables. In a second ‘explicit’ condition, they knew what the sonified variables corresponded to and the evaluation criteria. Results showed that, under the implicit condition, two thirds of the listeners marked the three groups of writers differently. In the explicit condition, all listeners marked the dysgraphic handwriting lower than that of the two other groups. In a third experiment, the scores given from the auditory evaluation were compared to the scores given by 16 other adults from the visual evaluation of the trace. Results revealed that auditory evaluation was more relevant than the visual evaluation for evaluating a dysgraphic handwriting. Handwriting sonification might therefore be a relevant tool allowing a therapist to complete the visual assessment of the written trace by an auditory control of the handwriting movement quality. PMID:26083384

The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children

PubMed Central

James, Karin H.; Engelhardt, Laura

2014-01-01

In an age of increasing technology, the possibility that typing on a keyboard will replace handwriting raises questions about the future usefulness of handwriting skills. Here we present evidence that brain activation during letter perception is influenced in different, important ways by previous handwriting of letters versus previous typing or tracing of those same letters. Preliterate, five-year old children printed, typed, or traced letters and shapes, then were shown images of these stimuli while undergoing functional MRI scanning. A previously documented “reading circuit” was recruited during letter perception only after handwriting—not after typing or tracing experience. These findings demonstrate that handwriting is important for the early recruitment in letter processing of brain regions known to underlie successful reading. Handwriting therefore may facilitate reading acquisition in young children. PMID:25541600

Functional MRI of Handwriting Tasks: A Study of Healthy Young Adults Interacting with a Novel Touch-Sensitive Tablet

PubMed Central

Karimpoor, Mahta; Churchill, Nathan W.; Tam, Fred; Fischer, Corinne E.; Schweizer, Tom A.; Graham, Simon J.

2018-01-01

Handwriting is a complex human activity that engages a blend of cognitive and visual motor skills. Current understanding of the neural correlates of handwriting has largely come from lesion studies of patients with impaired handwriting. Task-based fMRI studies would be useful to supplement this work. To address concerns over ecological validity, previously we developed a fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system for writing and drawing including visual feedback of hand position and an augmented reality display. The purpose of the present work is to use the tablet system in proof-of-concept to characterize brain activity associated with clinically relevant handwriting tasks, originally developed to characterize handwriting impairments in Alzheimer’s disease patients. As a prelude to undertaking fMRI studies of patients, imaging was performed of twelve young healthy subjects who copied sentences, phone numbers, and grocery lists using the fMRI-compatible tablet. Activation maps for all handwriting tasks consisted of a distributed network of regions in reasonable agreement with previous studies of handwriting performance. In addition, differences in brain activity were observed between the test subcomponents consistent with different demands of neural processing for successful task performance, as identified by investigating three quantitative behavioral metrics (writing speed, stylus contact force and stylus in air time). This study provides baseline behavioral and brain activity results for fMRI studies that adopt this handwriting test to characterize patients with brain impairments. PMID:29487511

Functional MRI of Handwriting Tasks: A Study of Healthy Young Adults Interacting with a Novel Touch-Sensitive Tablet.

PubMed

Karimpoor, Mahta; Churchill, Nathan W; Tam, Fred; Fischer, Corinne E; Schweizer, Tom A; Graham, Simon J

2018-01-01

Handwriting is a complex human activity that engages a blend of cognitive and visual motor skills. Current understanding of the neural correlates of handwriting has largely come from lesion studies of patients with impaired handwriting. Task-based fMRI studies would be useful to supplement this work. To address concerns over ecological validity, previously we developed a fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system for writing and drawing including visual feedback of hand position and an augmented reality display. The purpose of the present work is to use the tablet system in proof-of-concept to characterize brain activity associated with clinically relevant handwriting tasks, originally developed to characterize handwriting impairments in Alzheimer's disease patients. As a prelude to undertaking fMRI studies of patients, imaging was performed of twelve young healthy subjects who copied sentences, phone numbers, and grocery lists using the fMRI-compatible tablet. Activation maps for all handwriting tasks consisted of a distributed network of regions in reasonable agreement with previous studies of handwriting performance. In addition, differences in brain activity were observed between the test subcomponents consistent with different demands of neural processing for successful task performance, as identified by investigating three quantitative behavioral metrics (writing speed, stylus contact force and stylus in air time). This study provides baseline behavioral and brain activity results for fMRI studies that adopt this handwriting test to characterize patients with brain impairments.

Predicting Handwriting Difficulties Through Spelling Processes.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Cristina; Villarroel, Rebeca

This study examined whether spelling tasks contribute to the prediction of the handwriting status of children with poor and good handwriting skills in a cross-sectional study with 276 Spanish children from Grades 1 and 3. The main hypothesis was that the spelling tasks would predict the handwriting status of the children, although this influence would decrease with age due to a gradual automatization of handwriting skills. The results confirmed this hypothesis. Another interesting result was that the pattern of pseudoword and irregular word spellings as predictors of handwriting status changed from Grade 1 to Grade 3. In Grade 1, the pseudoword spelling task made a significant contribution, whereas the irregular word spelling task did not. The opposite pattern was found in Grade 3. These results may be a consequence of progressive acquisition of orthographic representations. The orthographic role of the task of writing the alphabet in order from memory in the prediction model was also analyzed. The writing of the alphabet in order from memory task made a significant contribution to the prediction of handwriting status of the children beyond the orthographic influence of spelling tasks. The additional effect of this task on the prediction of handwriting status is presumably due to the fact that this measure is based on fluency.

Graphomotor skills in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): Handwriting and learning a new letter.

PubMed

Huau, Andréa; Velay, Jean-Luc; Jover, Marianne

2015-08-01

The aim of the present study was to analyze handwriting difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and investigate the hypothesis that a deficit in procedural learning could help to explain them. The experimental set-up was designed to compare the performances of children with DCD with those of a non-DCD group on tasks that rely on motor learning in different ways, namely handwriting and learning a new letter. Ten children with DCD and 10 non-DCD children, aged 8-10 years, were asked to perform handwriting tasks (letter/word/sentence; normal/fast), and a learning task (new letter) on a graphic tablet. The BHK concise assessment scale for children's handwriting was used to evaluate their handwriting quality. Results showed that both the handwriting and learning tasks differentiated between the groups. Furthermore, when speed or length constraints were added, handwriting was more impaired in children with DCD than in non-DCD children. Greater intra-individual variability was observed in the group of children with DCD, arguing in favor of a deficit in motor pattern stabilization. The results of this study could support both the hypothesis of a deficit in procedural learning and the hypothesis of neuromotor noise in DCD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Examining the relationship between motor assessments and handwriting consistency in children with and without probable developmental coordination disorder.

PubMed

Bo, Jin; Colbert, Alison; Lee, Chi-Mei; Schaffert, Jeffrey; Oswald, Kaitlin; Neill, Rebecca

2014-09-01

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) often experience difficulties in handwriting. The current study examined the relationships between three motor assessments and the spatial and temporal consistency of handwriting. Twelve children with probable DCD and 29 children from 7 to 12 years who were typically developing wrote the lowercase letters "e" and "l" in cursive and printed forms repetitively on a digitizing tablet. Three behavioral assessments, including the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC), were administered. Children with probable DCD had low scores on the VMI, MABC and MHA and showed high temporal, not spatial, variability in the letter-writing task. Their MABC scores related to temporal consistency in all handwriting conditions, and the Legibility scores in their MHA correlated with temporal consistency in cursive "e" and printed "l". It appears that children with probable DCD have prominent difficulties on the temporal aspect of handwriting. While the MHA is a good product-oriented assessment for measuring handwriting deficits, the MABC shows promise as a good assessment for capturing the temporal process of handwriting in children with DCD. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FIR signature verification system characterizing dynamics of handwriting features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thumwarin, Pitak; Pernwong, Jitawat; Matsuura, Takenobu

2013-12-01

This paper proposes an online signature verification method based on the finite impulse response (FIR) system characterizing time-frequency characteristics of dynamic handwriting features. First, the barycenter determined from both the center point of signature and two adjacent pen-point positions in the signing process, instead of one pen-point position, is used to reduce the fluctuation of handwriting motion. In this paper, among the available dynamic handwriting features, motion pressure and area pressure are employed to investigate handwriting behavior. Thus, the stable dynamic handwriting features can be described by the relation of the time-frequency characteristics of the dynamic handwriting features. In this study, the aforesaid relation can be represented by the FIR system with the wavelet coefficients of the dynamic handwriting features as both input and output of the system. The impulse response of the FIR system is used as the individual feature for a particular signature. In short, the signature can be verified by evaluating the difference between the impulse responses of the FIR systems for a reference signature and the signature to be verified. The signature verification experiments in this paper were conducted using the SUBCORPUS MCYT-100 signature database consisting of 5,000 signatures from 100 signers. The proposed method yielded equal error rate (EER) of 3.21% on skilled forgeries.

When Are High-Tech Communicators Effective in Parkinson's Disease?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferriero, Giorgio; Caligari, Marco; Ronconi, Gianpaolo; Franchignoni, Franco

2012-01-01

This report describes a 63-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease showing loss of intelligibility of speech and severely impaired handwriting, despite undergoing physical and speech therapies. As the patient had sufficient residual motor abilities and adequate cognitive function and motivation, a computer-based communication aid with a software…

A Password System Based on Sketches

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-12

than traditional passwords. Biometrics include biological properties such as fingerprints, voices, faces, and even handwriting . Fingerprints have been...perturbation of the sketch495 results in a corresponding change in the model, which is exactly what we imply when we say that model is (locally...Conf. on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition (2010) 339–344.690 [29] M. Martinez-Diaz, J. Fierrez, J. Galbally, The DooDB Graphical Password Database: Data Analysis and Benchmark Results, IEEE Access 1 (2013) 596–605. 32 33

The effect of fine motor skills on handwriting legibility in preschool age children

PubMed Central

Seo, Sang-Min

2018-01-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that fine motor skills have on handwriting legibility in children of preschool age. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects of this study were 52 children of normal growth and development. In order to ascertain handwriting legibility, a Korean alphabet writing assessment was used; to measure fine motor skills, fine motor precision and manual dexterity, sub-items of BOT-2 were measured. Furthermore, in order to measure in-hand manipulation skills, a Functional Dexterity Test was conducted. [Results] The results of the study showed a high level of correlation between fine motor skills and handwriting legibility. The study revealed that the accuracy of hand and in-hand manipulation skills is factors that have an effect on handwriting legibility. [Conclusion] Through the current research, occupational therapists can provide activities that aid the development of fine motor precision and in-hand manipulation skills for children during the instruction and treatment of handwriting to preschool age children, which helps to conduct better legibility in their handwriting. PMID:29545705

Dysfluent Handwriting in Schizophrenic Outpatients.

PubMed

Gawda, Barbara

2016-04-01

Taking into account findings in the literature, the author aimed to test whether specific graphical characteristics of handwriting can distinguish patients diagnosed with schizophrenic disorders from healthy controls. Handwriting samples (one sample from each person) from 60 outpatients (29 women, 31 men; age M = 28.5, SD = 5.4) with paranoid schizophrenia were analyzed by three documents examiners and were compared to samples from 60 controls (30 men, 30 women, age M = 28.0, SD = 3.0) without psychiatric disorders. Document examiners assessed 32 graphical features potentially related to schizophrenia. The comparisons between groups revealed that only 7 out of 32 handwriting properties were significantly different in the handwriting of schizophrenic outpatients from controls: the calligraphic forms of letters, loops in ovals, lacking of dots, tremor, sinusoidal baseline, and irregularities size of lower zone. These findings are discussed in terms of motor disturbances in schizophrenia and in relation to the previous research on handwriting of other mental disorders. Similarities between the graphical patterns of handwriting of schizophrenic patients and those of other mental disorders and/or other mental states have been demonstrated. © The Author(s) 2016.

The effect of fine motor skills on handwriting legibility in preschool age children.

PubMed

Seo, Sang-Min

2018-02-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the effect that fine motor skills have on handwriting legibility in children of preschool age. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects of this study were 52 children of normal growth and development. In order to ascertain handwriting legibility, a Korean alphabet writing assessment was used; to measure fine motor skills, fine motor precision and manual dexterity, sub-items of BOT-2 were measured. Furthermore, in order to measure in-hand manipulation skills, a Functional Dexterity Test was conducted. [Results] The results of the study showed a high level of correlation between fine motor skills and handwriting legibility. The study revealed that the accuracy of hand and in-hand manipulation skills is factors that have an effect on handwriting legibility. [Conclusion] Through the current research, occupational therapists can provide activities that aid the development of fine motor precision and in-hand manipulation skills for children during the instruction and treatment of handwriting to preschool age children, which helps to conduct better legibility in their handwriting.

Preliminary study towards the development of copying skill assessment on dyslexic children in Jawi handwriting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahim, Kartini Abdul; Kahar, Rosmila Abdul; Khalid, Halimi Mohd.; Salleh, Rohayu Mohd; Hashim, Rathiah

2015-05-01

Recognition of Arabic handwritten and its variants such as Farsi (Persian) and Urdu had been receiving considerable attention in recent years. Being contrast to Arabic handwritten, Jawi, as a second method of Malay handwritten, has not been studied yet, but if any, there were a few references on it. The recent transformation in Malaysian education, the Special Education is one of the priorities in the Malaysia Blueprint. One of the special needs quoted in Malaysia education is dyslexia. A dyslexic student is considered as student with learning disability. Concluding a student is truly dyslexia might be incorrect for they were only assessed through Roman alphabet, without considering assessment via Jawi handwriting. A study was conducted on dyslexic students attending a special class for dyslexia in Malay Language to determine whether they are also dyslexia in Jawi handwriting. The focus of the study is to test the copying skills in relation to word reading and writing in Malay Language with and without dyslexia through both characters. A total of 10 dyslexic children and 10 normal children were recruited. In conclusion for future study, dyslexic students have less difficulty in performing Jawi handwriting in Malay Language through statistical analysis.

Handwriting in children with ADHD.

PubMed

Langmaid, Rebecca A; Papadopoulos, Nicole; Johnson, Beth P; Phillips, James G; Rinehart, Nicole J

2014-08-01

Children with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-CT) display fine and gross motor problems, often expressed as handwriting difficulties. This study aimed to kinematically characterize the handwriting of children with ADHD using a cursive letter l's task. In all, 28 boys (7-12 years), 14 ADHD-CT and 14 typically developing (TD), without developmental coordination disorder (DCD) or comorbid autism, wrote a series of four cursive letter l's using a graphics tablet and stylus. Children with ADHD-CT had more inconsistent writing size than did TD controls. In addition, ADHD-CT symptom severity, specifically inattention, predicted poorer handwriting outcomes. In a sample of children with ADHD-CT who do not have DCD or autism, subtle handwriting differences were evident. It was concluded that handwriting might be impaired in children with ADHD in a manner dependent on symptom severity. This may reflect reports of underlying motor impairment in ADHD. © 2011 SAGE Publications.

Effects of neoprene wrist/hand splints on handwriting for students with joint hypermobility syndrome: a single system design study.

PubMed

Frohlich, Lauren; Wesley, Alison; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2012-08-01

Pain associated with hypermobility of wrist and hand joints can contribute to decreased handwriting output. This study examined the effectiveness of a neoprene wrist/hand splint in reducing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for students with joint hypermobility syndrome. Multiple baseline, single system design (SSD) methodology was used. Four ninth grade students with handwriting difficulties because of joint hypermobility syndrome participated in this study. Visual and statistical (two standard deviation band method) analyses indicated a significant decrease in handwriting speed when using the splint for three out of four participants. No significant change in pain or endurance was noted during intervention. There was a significant decrease in pain following withdrawal of the splint for three participants. Evidence from this study does not support use of this particular splint for decreasing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for ninth grade students with joint hypermobility syndrome.

Technology-enhanced writing therapy for people with aphasia: results of a quasi-randomized waitlist controlled study.

PubMed

Marshall, Jane; Caute, Anna; Chadd, Katie; Cruice, Madeline; Monnelly, Katie; Wilson, Stephanie; Woolf, Celia

2018-05-10

Acquired writing impairment, or dysgraphia, is common in aphasia. It affects both handwriting and typing, and may recover less well than other aphasic symptoms. Dysgraphia is an increasing priority for intervention, particularly for those wishing to participate in online written communication. Effective dysgraphia treatment studies have been reported, but many did not target, or did not achieve, improvements in functional writing. Functional outcomes might be promoted by therapies that exploit digital technologies, such as voice recognition and word prediction software. This study evaluated the benefits of technology-enhanced writing therapy for people with acquired dysgraphia. It aimed to explore the impact of therapy on a functional writing activity, and to examine whether treatment remediated or compensated for the writing impairment. The primary question was: Does therapy improve performance on a functional assessment of writing; and, if so, do gains occur only when writing is assisted by technology? Secondary measures examined whether therapy improved unassisted written naming, functional communication, mood and quality of life. The study employed a quasi-randomized waitlist controlled design. A total of 21 people with dysgraphia received 12 h of writing therapy either immediately or after a 6-week delay. The primary outcome measure was a functional assessment of writing, which was administered in handwriting and on a computer with assistive technology enabled. Secondary measures were: The Boston Naming Test (written version), Communication Activities of Daily Living-2, Visual Analogue Mood Scales (Sad question), and the Assessment of Living with Aphasia. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used to examine change on the outcome measures over two time points, between which the immediate group had received therapy but the delayed group had not. Pre-therapy, post-therapy and follow-up scores on the measures were also examined for all participants. Time × group interactions in the ANOVA analyses showed that therapy improved performance on the functional writing assessment. Further interactions with condition showed that gains occurred only when writing was assisted by technology. There were no significant interactions in the analyses of the secondary outcome measures. A treatment effect on these measures was therefore unconfirmed. This study showed that 21 people with dysgraphia improved on a functional writing measure following therapy using assistive technology. The results suggest that treatment compensated for, rather than remediated, the impairment, given that unassisted writing did not change. Further studies of technology-enhanced writing therapy are warranted. © 2018 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Perceptual reasoning predicts handwriting impairments in adolescents with autism

PubMed Central

Fuentes, Christina T.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.; Bastian, Amy J.

2010-01-01

Background: We have previously shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have specific handwriting deficits consisting of poor form, and that these deficits are predicted by their motor abilities. It is not known whether the same handwriting impairments persist into adolescence and whether they remain linked to motor deficits. Methods: A case-control study of handwriting samples from adolescents with and without ASD was performed using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Samples were scored on an individual letter basis in 5 categories: legibility, form, alignment, size, and spacing. Subjects were also administered an intelligence test and the Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs (PANESS). Results: We found that adolescents with ASD, like children, show overall worse performance on a handwriting task than do age- and intelligence-matched controls. Also comparable to children, adolescents with ASD showed motor impairments relative to controls. However, adolescents with ASD differ from children in that Perceptual Reasoning Indices were significantly predictive of handwriting performance whereas measures of motor skills were not. Conclusions: Like children with ASD, adolescents with ASD have poor handwriting quality relative to controls. Despite still demonstrating motor impairments, in adolescents perceptual reasoning is the main predictor of handwriting performance, perhaps reflecting subjects' varied abilities to learn strategies to compensate for their motor impairments. GLOSSARY ASD = autism spectrum disorder; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; PANESS = Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs; PRI = Perceptual Reasoning Index; WASI = Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; WISC = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children IV. PMID:21079184

Survey of handwriting instruction practices of elementary teachers and educational programs: implications for occupational therapy.

PubMed

Donica, Denise K; Larson, Michelle H; Zinn, Abbey A

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of elementary school teachers on training in handwriting instruction received during their education, as well as their current classroom practices. The quantity and quality of training in handwriting instruction provided by baccalaureate degree-granting teacher education programs in North Carolina was also examined. An online survey was administered to each population identified to inquire about handwriting instruction practices. Results from 505 teachers and 16 professors indicated that while handwriting instruction content is valued by both teachers and professors, varied levels of training were provided to the teachers. Implications for occupational therapy practice are discussed including strategies for school-based therapists.

Study of Pattern of Change in Handwriting Class Characters with Different Grades of Myopia.

PubMed

Hedge, Shruti Prabhat; Dayanidhi, Vijay Kautilya; Sriram

2015-12-01

Handwriting is a visuo-motor skill highly dependent on visual skills. Any defect in the visual inputs could affect a change in the handwriting. Understanding the variation in handwriting characters caused by visual acuity change can help in identifying learning disabilities in children and also assess the disability in elderly. In our study we try to analyse and catalogue these changes in the handwriting of a person. The study was conducted among 100 subjects having normal visual acuity. They were asked to perform a set of writing tasks, after which the same tasks were repeated after inducing different grades of myopia. Changes in the handwriting class characters were analysed and compared in all grades of myopia. In the study it was found that the letter size, pastiosity, word omissions, inability to stay on line all increase with changes in visual acuity. However these finding are not proportional to the grade of myopia. From the findings of the study it can be concluded that myopia significantly influences the handwriting and any change in visual acuity would induce corresponding changes in handwriting. There is increase in letter size, pastiosity where as the ability to stay on line and space between the lines decrease in different grades of myopia. The changes are not linear and cannot be used to predict the grade of myopia but can be used as parameters suggestive of refractive error.

The effects of pencil grip posture and different desk designs on handwriting performance in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

PubMed

Kavak, Sermin Tukel; Bumin, Gonca

2009-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different ergonomic desk designs and pencil grip patterns on handwriting performance in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy and healthy children. Twenty-six children with left hemiplegic cerebral palsy and 32 typically developing children were included. The Minnesota Handwriting Assessment was used to evaluate handwriting abilities. Pencil grip posture was assessed with a 5-point rating system. Specifically designed adjustable desks and chairs were used. Four different desk types were used in this study: 1) regular desk; 2) regular desk with a 20 degrees inclination; 3) cutout desk; and 4) cutout desk with a 20 degrees inclination. Statistically significant differences were found between both groups in terms of handwriting ability (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference regarding grip scores between children with cerebral palsy and healthy children (p > 0.05). We found that children with cerebral palsy had better performance using cutout desks in relation to rate and spacing parameters of handwriting (p < 0.05). The results of our study demonstrated that the pencil grip patterns have no effect on the handwriting parameters in both children with cerebral palsy and healthy children. It is recommended that a cutout table be used to provide more upper extremity support in handwriting activities for students with cerebral palsy.

Children with autism show specific handwriting impairments

PubMed Central

Fuentes, Christina T.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.; Bastian, Amy J.

2009-01-01

Background: Handwriting skills, which are crucial for success in school, communication, and building children’s self-esteem, have been observed to be poor in individuals with autism. Little information exists on the handwriting of children with autism, without delineation of specific features that can contribute to impairments. As a result, the specific aspects of handwriting in which individuals with autism demonstrate difficulty remain unknown. Methods: A case-control study of handwriting samples from children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was performed using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. Samples were scored on an individual letter basis in 5 categories: legibility, form, alignment, size, and spacing. Subjects were also tested on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–IV and the Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs. Results: We found that children with ASD do indeed show overall worse performance on a handwriting task than do age- and intelligence-matched controls. More specifically, children with ASD show worse quality of forming letters but do not show differences in their ability to correctly size, align, and space their letters. Within the ASD group, motor skills were significantly predictive of handwriting performance, whereas age, gender, IQ, and visuospatial abilities were not. Conclusions: We addressed how different elements of handwriting contribute to impairments observed in children with autism. Our results suggest that training targeting letter formation, in combination with general training of fine motor control, may be the best direction for improving handwriting performance in children with autism. GLOSSARY ADI-R = Autism Diagnostic Interview–Revised; ADOS-G = Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule–Generic; ASD = autism spectrum disorders; DICA-IV = Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents, 4th edition; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; FSIQ = full-scale IQ; PANESS = Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle (Motor) Signs; PRI = Perceptual Reasoning Indices; WISC-IV = Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–IV. PMID:19901244

Feasibility study: Effect of hand resistance exercise on handwriting in Parkinson's disease and essential tremor.

PubMed

Bryant, Mon S; Workman, Craig D; Jamal, Fariha; Meng, Hao; Jackson, George R

A single group, repeated measures design was used. Tremor can lead to impaired hand function in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET). Difficulty with handwriting is a common complaint in these patients suffering from hand tremors. The effect of hand resistance exercise on handwriting is unknown. To explore the influence of 6 weeks of home-based hand resistance exercise on handwriting in individuals with PD and ET. Nine individuals with PD and 9 with ET participated in the study. The average age was 65.3 (6.0) years with an average disease duration of 7.8 years. Participants were instructed to perform a home-based, hand and arm resistance exercise program 3 times a week for 6 weeks. Samples of the area of handwriting and maximal grip strength were measured at baseline and after 6 weeks of exercise. The area of the handwriting sample and maximal grip strength measured before and after 6 weeks were compared. Mean grip strength of the participants with PD improved after 6 weeks of hand resistance exercise (P = .031), but grip strength did not change in ET (P = .091). The size of the handwriting samples (words and sentences) did not change after exercise in either participants with PD or ET. Micrographia in patients with PD and macrographia in patients with ET represent complex fine motor skills. More research is needed to understand what therapies could be effective in modifying the size and quality of handwriting. The purpose of this feasibility study was to explore the influence of home-based wrist resistance exercise on handwriting in individuals with PD and ET. Despite small gains in grip strength, the size of the handwriting samples (words and sentences) did not change for patients with PD or ET following a 6-week home-based hand resistance exercise program. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Handwriting capacity in children newly diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Brossard-Racine, Marie; Majnemer, Annette; Shevell, Michael; Snider, Laurie; Bélanger, Stacey Ageranioti

2011-01-01

Preliminary evidence suggests that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may exhibit handwriting difficulties. However, the exact nature of these difficulties and the extent to which they may relate to motor or behavioural difficulties remains unclear. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in children newly diagnosed with ADHD and identify predictors of performance. Forty medication-naïve children with ADHD (mean age 8.1 years) were evaluated with the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC), the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Conner Global Index. An important subset (85.0%) exhibited manual dexterity difficulties. Handwriting performance was extremely variable in terms of speed and legibility. VMI was the most important predictor of legibility. Upper extremity coordination, as measured by the M-ABC ball skills subtest, was also a good predictor of word legibility. Poor handwriting legibility and slow writing speed were common in children newly diagnosed with ADHD and were associated with motor abilities. Future studies are needed to determine whether interventions, including stimulant medications, can improve handwriting performance and related motor functioning. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Age-related changes in executive control and their relationships with activity performance in handwriting.

PubMed

Rosenblum, Sara; Engel-Yeger, Batya; Fogel, Yael

2013-04-01

Deterioration in the frontal and prefrontal cortex associated with executive functions (EF) occurs with age and may be associated with changes in daily performance. The aim of the present study was to describe changes occurring with age in Executive Functions (EF) and handwriting activity, as well as to analyze relationships between age, EF and handwriting performance. The study population included 80 healthy participants (aged 31 to 76+) living in the community. After answering five questions about their writing habits, the participants completed the Behavioral Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS). In addition, they performed a handwriting task on a digitizer included in the Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET), which provides kinematic measures of the handwriting process. Significant differences were found between the four age groups for both EF and temporal and spatial handwriting measures. A series of regressions indicated that age predicted 35% of the variance of the BADS profile score (EF control) and 32% of the variance of in-air time while writing. The results of this study indicated age effect on both EF control and handwriting performance. Possible implications for further research and clinical evaluation and intervention are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Eye movements during the handwriting of words: Individually and within sentences.

PubMed

Sita, Jodi C; Taylor, Katelyn A

2015-10-01

Handwriting, a complex motor process involves the coordination of both the upper limb and visual system. The gaze behavior that occurs during the handwriting process is an area that has been little studied. This study investigated the eye-movements of adults during writing and reading tasks. Eye and handwriting movements were recorded for six different words over three different tasks. The results compared reading and handwriting the same words, a between condition comparison and a comparison between the two handwriting tasks. Compared to reading, participants produced more fixations during handwriting tasks and the average fixation durations were longer. When reading fixations were found to be mostly around the center of word, whereas fixations when writing appear to be made for each letter in a written word and were located around the base of letters and flowed in a left to right direction. Between the two writing tasks more fixations were made when words were written individually compared to within sentences, yet fixation durations were no different. Correlation of the number of fixations made to kinematic variables revealed that horizontal size and road length held a strong correlation with the number of fixations made by participants. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effects of human finger and Chinese character on Chinese handwriting performance on mobile touch devices.

PubMed

Chen, Zhe; Rau, Pei-Luen Patrick; Chen, Cuiling

2014-05-01

The aim of the present study is to investigate Chinese handwriting on mobile touch devices, considering the effects of three characteristics of the human finger (type, length, and width) and three characteristics of Chinese characters (direction of the first stroke, number of strokes, and structure). Due to the popularity of touch devices in recent years, finger input for Chinese characters has attracted more attention from both industry and academia. However, previous studies have no systematical consideration on the effects of human finger and Chinese characters on Chinese handwriting performance. An experiment was reported in this article to illustrate the effects of the human finger and Chinese characters on the Chinese handwriting performance (i.e., input time, accuracy, number of protruding strokes, mental workload, satisfaction, and physical fatigue). The experiment results indicated that all six factors have significant effects on Chinese handwriting performance, especially on the input time, accuracy, and number of protruding strokes. Finger type, finger length, finger width, direction of the first stroke, number of strokes, and character structures are significantly influencing Chinese handwriting performance. These factors should be taken into more consideration in future research and the practical design for Chinese handwriting systems.

Spatial and dynamical handwriting analysis in mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Kawa, Jacek; Bednorz, Adam; Stępień, Paula; Derejczyk, Jarosław; Bugdol, Monika

2017-03-01

Background and Objectives Standard clinical procedure of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) assessment employs time-consuming tests of psychological evaluation and requires the involvement of specialists. The employment of quantitative methods proves to be superior to clinical judgment, yet reliable, fast and inexpensive tests are not available. This study was conducted as a first step towards the development of a diagnostic tool based on handwriting. Methods In this paper the handwriting sample of a group of 37 patients with MCI (mean age 76.1±5.8) and 37 healthy controls (mean age 74.8±5.7) was collected using a Livescribe Echo Pen while completing three tasks: (1) regular writing, (2) all-capital-letters writing, and (3) single letter multiply repeated. Parameters differentiating both groups were selected in each task. Results Subjects with confirmed MCI needed more time to complete task one (median 119.5s, IQR - interquartile range - 38.1 vs. 95.1s, IQR 29.2 in control and MCI group, p-value <0.05) and two (median 84.2s, IQR 49.2 and 53.7s, IQR 30.5 in control and MCI group) as their writing was significantly slower. These results were associated with a longer time to complete a single stroke of written text. The written text was also noticeably larger in the MCI group in all three tasks (e.g. median height of the text block in task 2 being 22.3mm, IQR 12.9 in MCI and 20.2mm, IQR 8.7 in control group). Moreover, the MCI group showed more variation in the dynamics of writing: longer pause between strokes in task 1 and 2. The all-capital-letters task produced most of the discriminating features. Conclusion Proposed handwriting features are significant in distinguishing MCI patients. Inclusion of quantitative handwriting analysis in psychological assessment may be a step forward towards a fast MCI diagnosis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of Handwriting of People With Cerebellar Ataxia: Three-Dimensional Movement Analysis of the Pen Tip, Finger, and Wrist.

PubMed

Fujisawa, Yuhki; Okajima, Yasutomo

2015-11-01

There are several functional tests for evaluating manual performance; however, quantitative manual tests for ataxia, especially those for evaluating handwriting, are limited. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of cerebellar ataxia by analyzing handwriting, with a special emphasis on correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist. This was an observational study. Eleven people who were right-handed and had cerebellar ataxia and 17 people to serve as controls were recruited. The Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was used to grade the severity of ataxia. Handwriting movements of both hands were analyzed. The time required for writing a character, the variability of individual handwriting, and the correlation between the movement of the pen tip and the movement of the finger or wrist were evaluated for participants with ataxia and control participants. The writing time was longer and the velocity profile and shape of the track of movement of the pen tip were more variable in participants with ataxia than in control participants. For participants with ataxia, the direction of movement of the pen tip deviated more from that of the finger or wrist, and the shape of the track of movement of the pen tip differed more from that of the finger or wrist. The severity of upper extremity ataxia measured with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia was mostly correlated with the variability parameters. Furthermore, it was correlated with the directional deviation of the trajectory of movement of the pen tip from that of the finger and with increased dissimilarity of the shapes of the tracks. The results may have been influenced by the scale and parameters used to measure movement. Ataxic handwriting with increased movement noise is characterized by irregular pen tip movements unconstrained by the finger or wrist. The severity of ataxia is correlated with these unconstrained movements. © 2015 American Physical Therapy Association.

Handwriting performance versus arm forward reach and grasp abilities among post-stroke patients, a case-control study.

PubMed

Israely, Sharon; Carmeli, Eli

2017-01-01

Evidence-based studies regarding deficits in handwriting performance relative to hand reaching and grasping after a stroke are lacking. To evaluate the extent of damage to handwriting skills compared to arm reach and grasp task among post-stroke patients. Eighteen patients and 19 healthy subjects were recruited to this case-control study. Patients were evaluated 15.2 days (±6.5) after the stroke using a Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool, surface Electromyography and Fugl-Meyer assessment. This study compared motor deficits in hand reaching and grasping and in handwriting between stroke patients and healthy subjects. Damage to handwriting performance relative to hand reaching and grasping skills was also evaluated. Significant differences were found between groups in handwriting performance (p < 0.05). The performance of the trapezius, biceps, and triceps muscles can predict 63.5% of the variance in the ability to write a short sentence (p < 0.023). Pen pressure can predict 74.9% of the hand motor performance from Fugl-Meyer assessment (p < 0.05). Handwriting was more damaged than was the pattern of activation of the proximal muscles of the shoulder and arm (p < 0.05). FM scores were highly, negatively correlated with the in-air writing time across tasks (r = -0.819, p < 0.004). This study confirms the clinical observation that dexterity skills are more damaged than are arm forward reach after a stroke. However, these differences in motor performance were not significant in mildly disabled patients, demonstrating the feasibility of handwriting rehabilitation in these patients. Therefore, we modestly recommend focusing on handwriting rehabilitation of the hemiparetic upper extremity in mildly impaired patients after a stroke.

Effect of pencil grasp on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task in Grade 4 children.

PubMed

Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl; Chau, Tom

2012-06-01

To investigate the impact of common pencil grasp patterns on the speed and legibility of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task, intended to induce muscle fatigue, in typically developing children and in those non-proficient in handwriting. A total of 120 Grade 4 students completed a standardised handwriting assessment before and after a 10-minute copy task. The students indicated the perceived difficulty of the handwriting task at baseline and after 10 minutes. The students also completed a self-report questionnaire regarding their handwriting proficiency upon completion. The majority of the students rated higher effort after the 10-minute copy task than at baseline (rank sum: P = 0.00001). The effort ratings were similar for the different grasp patterns (multiple linear regression: F = 0.37, P = 0.895). For both typically developing children and those with handwriting issues, the legibility of the writing samples decreased after the 10-minute copy task but the speed of writing increased. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: The quality of the handwriting decreased after the 10-minute copy task; however, there was no difference in the quality or speed scores among the different pencil grasps before and after the copy task. The dynamic tripod pencil grasp did not offer any advantage over the lateral tripod or the dynamic or lateral quadrupod pencil grasps in terms of quality of handwriting after a 10-minute copy task. These four pencil grasp patterns performed equivalently. Our findings question the practice of having students adopt the dynamic tripod pencil grasp. © 2012 The Authors Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2012 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Do Handwriting Difficulties Correlate with Core Symptomology, Motor Proficiency and Attentional Behaviours?

PubMed

Grace, Nicci; Enticott, Peter Gregory; Johnson, Beth Patricia; Rinehart, Nicole Joan

2017-04-01

Handwriting is commonly identified as an area of weakness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but precise deficits have not been fully characterised. Boys with ASD (n = 23) and matched controls (n = 20) aged 8-12 years completed a simple, digitised task to objectively assess handwriting performance using advanced descriptive measures. Moderate to large associations were identified between handwriting performance and attention, ASD symptoms and motor proficiency. The ASD group demonstrated significantly less smooth movements and significantly greater sizing variability and peak velocity relative to controls. These findings provide a clearer indication of the specific nature of handwriting impairments in children with ASD, and suggest a relationship with core clinical symptom severity, attention and motor behaviours.

Handwriting and Children with Visual Impairments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arter, Christine; And Others

1996-01-01

Teaching methods to develop the handwriting skills of children who have low vision are discussed. Difficulties are seen to result from problems with motor skills, visual factors, and mechanical difficulties. Stressed throughout is adaptation of the handwriting program to the particular needs of the individual child. (DB)

Studies in interactive communication. I - The effects of four communication modes on the behavior of teams during cooperative problem-solving.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapanis, A.; Ochsman, R. B.; Parrish, R. N.; Weeks, G. D.

1972-01-01

Two-man teams solved credible, 'real-world' problems for which computer assistance has been or could be useful. Conversations were carried on in one of four modes of communication: (1) typewriting, (2) handwriting, (3) voice, and (4) natural, unrestricted communication. Two groups of subjects (experienced and inexperienced typists) were tested in the typewriting mode. Performance was assessed on three classes of dependent measures: time to solution, behavioral measures of activity, and linguistic measures. Significant and meaningful differences among the communication modes were found in each of the three classes of dependent variable. This paper is concerned mainly with the results of the activity analyses. Behavior was recorded in 15 different categories. The analyses of variance yielded 34 statistically significant terms of which 27 were judged to be practically significant as well. When the data were transformed to eliminate heterogeneity, the analyses of variance yielded 35 statistically significant terms of which 26 were judged to be practically significant.

Increasing viscosity and inertia using a robotically-controlled pen improves handwriting in children

PubMed Central

Ben-Pazi, Hilla; Ishihara, Abraham; Kukke, Sahana; Sanger, Terence D

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of mechanical properties of the pen on the quality of handwriting in children. Twenty two school aged children, ages 8–14 years wrote in cursive using a pen attached to a robot. The robot was programmed to increase the effective weight (inertia) and stiffness (viscosity) of the pen. Speed, frequency, variability, and quality of the two handwriting samples were compared. Increased inertia and viscosity improved handwriting quality in 85% of children (p<0.05). Handwriting quality did not correlate with changes in speed, suggesting that improvement was not due to reduced speed. Measures of movement variability remained unchanged, suggesting that improvement was not due to mechanical smoothing of pen movement by the robot. Since improvement was not explained by reduced speed or mechanical smoothing, we conclude that children alter handwriting movements in response to pen mechanics. Altered movement could be caused by changes in proprioceptive sensory feedback. PMID:19794098

Dyslexic children fail to comply with the rhythmic constraints of handwriting.

PubMed

Pagliarini, Elena; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Toneatto, Carlo; Granocchio, Elisa; Riva, Federica; Sarti, Daniela; Molteni, Bruna; Stucchi, Natale

2015-08-01

In this study, we sought to demonstrate that deficits in a specific motor activity, handwriting, are associated to Developmental Dyslexia. The linguistic and writing performance of children with Developmental Dyslexia, with and without handwriting problems (dysgraphia), were compared to that of children with Typical Development. The quantitative kinematic variables of handwriting were collected by means of a digitizing tablet. The results showed that all children with Developmental Dyslexia wrote more slowly than those with Typical Development. Contrary to typically developing children, they also varied more in the time taken to write the individual letters of a word and failed to comply with the principles of isochrony and homothety. Moreover, a series of correlations was found among reading, language measures and writing measures suggesting that the two abilities may be linked. We propose that the link between handwriting and reading/language deficits is mediated by rhythm, as both reading (which is grounded on language) and handwriting are ruled by principles of rhythmic organization. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration (VMI): An Effective Outcome Measure for Handwriting Interventions for Kindergarten, First-Grade, and Second-Grade Students?

PubMed Central

Moskowitz, Beverly; Paoletti, Andrew; Brusilovskiy, Eugene; Zylstra, Sheryl Eckberg; Murray, Tammy

2015-01-01

We determined whether a widely used assessment of visual–motor skills, the Beery–Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual–Motor Integration (VMI), is appropriate for use as an outcome measure for handwriting interventions. A two-group pretest–posttest design was used with 207 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students. Two well-established handwriting measures and the VMI were administered pre- and postintervention. The intervention group participated in the Size Matters Handwriting Program for 40 sessions, and the control group received standard instruction. Paired and independent-samples t tests were used to analyze group differences. The intervention group demonstrated significant improvements on the handwriting measures, with change scores having mostly large effect sizes. We found no significant difference in change scores on the VMI, t(202) = 1.19, p = .23. Results of this study suggest that the VMI may not detect changes in handwriting related to occupational therapy intervention. PMID:26114468

Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI): An Effective Outcome Measure for Handwriting Interventions for Kindergarten, First-Grade, and Second-Grade Students?

PubMed

Pfeiffer, Beth; Moskowitz, Beverly; Paoletti, Andrew; Brusilovskiy, Eugene; Zylstra, Sheryl Eckberg; Murray, Tammy

2015-01-01

We determined whether a widely used assessment of visual-motor skills, the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), is appropriate for use as an outcome measure for handwriting interventions. A two-group pretest-posttest design was used with 207 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students. Two well-established handwriting measures and the VMI were administered pre- and postintervention. The intervention group participated in the Size Matters Handwriting Program for 40 sessions, and the control group received standard instruction. Paired and independent-samples t tests were used to analyze group differences. The intervention group demonstrated significant improvements on the handwriting measures, with change scores having mostly large effect sizes. We found no significant difference in change scores on the VMI, t(202)=1.19, p=.23. Results of this study suggest that the VMI may not detect changes in handwriting related to occupational therapy intervention. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Handwriting assessment to distinguish comorbid learning difficulties from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Chinese adolescents: A case-control study.

PubMed

Li-Tsang, Cecilia W P; Li, Tim M H; Lau, Mandy S W; Ho, Choco H Y; Leung, Howard W H

2018-05-15

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning difficulties (LDs) are proposed as 2 overlapping disorders. The objective of this study was to investigate the handwriting performance in ADHD and comorbid ADHD-LD adolescents. The study examined the Chinese and English handwriting performance and sensorimotor skills of 32 ADHD, 12 ADHD-LD, and their matched controls. Participants with ADHD had comparable writing time and speed, but the readability was lower than their controls. Participants with ADHD-LD had lower writing speeds in both Chinese and English handwriting than their controls. The ADHD and ADHD-LD groups also showed larger variations in either speed or pen pressure than their controls. Chinese handwriting assessment effectively classified ADHD and ADHD-LD with good sensitivity and positive predictive value. Clinicians should be aware of the fundamental difference between the 2 disorders and make good use of handwriting assessment as a reference to deliver effective therapies and trainings. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Study of Pattern of Change in Handwriting Class Characters with Different Grades of Myopia

PubMed Central

Hedge, Shruti Prabhat; Sriram

2015-01-01

Introduction Handwriting is a visuo-motor skill highly dependent on visual skills. Any defect in the visual inputs could affect a change in the handwriting. Understanding the variation in handwriting characters caused by visual acuity change can help in identifying learning disabilities in children and also assess the disability in elderly. In our study we try to analyse and catalogue these changes in the handwriting of a person. Materials and Methods The study was conducted among 100 subjects having normal visual acuity. They were asked to perform a set of writing tasks, after which the same tasks were repeated after inducing different grades of myopia. Changes in the handwriting class characters were analysed and compared in all grades of myopia. Results In the study it was found that the letter size, pastiosity, word omissions, inability to stay on line all increase with changes in visual acuity. However these finding are not proportional to the grade of myopia. Conclusion From the findings of the study it can be concluded that myopia significantly influences the handwriting and any change in visual acuity would induce corresponding changes in handwriting. There is increase in letter size, pastiosity where as the ability to stay on line and space between the lines decrease in different grades of myopia. The changes are not linear and cannot be used to predict the grade of myopia but can be used as parameters suggestive of refractive error. PMID:26816917

Relationship between the quality of children's handwriting and the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration after one year of writing tuition.

PubMed

Duiser, Ivonne H F; van der Kamp, John; Ledebt, Annick; Savelsbergh, Geert J P

2014-04-01

We examined whether the three subtests of the Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration predicted quality of handwriting across and within groups of boys and girls classified as proficient, at risk or non-proficient writers according to the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting. The Beery Buktenica developmental test of visuomotor integration and the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting tests were administered to 240 grade 2 children. Proficient writers scored better on the visuomotor integration subtest than non-proficient writers, while proficient and at risk writers scored better than non-proficient writers on the motor coordination subtest. No differences were found on the visual perception subtest. Girls were more often classified as proficient writers than boys, and they scored better on the motor coordination subtest. Across groups, regression indicated that gender and both the visuomotor integration subtest and the motor coordination subtest were significant predictors for the quality of handwriting (i.e., accounted for 17% of the variance). After one year of writing tuition, the visuomotor integration subtest (and to a lesser extent the motor coordination subtest) but not the visual perception subtest significant relates to quality of children's handwriting as measured with the Concise Assessment Scale for Children's Handwriting. However, the relatively little variance explained also points to other abilities and/or task constraints that underlie quality of handwriting. © 2013 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Analyzing handwriting biometrics in metadata context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scheidat, Tobias; Wolf, Franziska; Vielhauer, Claus

2006-02-01

In this article, methods for user recognition by online handwriting are experimentally analyzed using a combination of demographic data of users in relation to their handwriting habits. Online handwriting as a biometric method is characterized by having high variations of characteristics that influences the reliance and security of this method. These variations have not been researched in detail so far. Especially in cross-cultural application it is urgent to reveal the impact of personal background to security aspects in biometrics. Metadata represent the background of writers, by introducing cultural, biological and conditional (changing) aspects like fist language, country of origin, gender, handedness, experiences the influence handwriting and language skills. The goal is the revelation of intercultural impacts on handwriting in order to achieve higher security in biometrical systems. In our experiments, in order to achieve a relatively high coverage, 48 different handwriting tasks have been accomplished by 47 users from three countries (Germany, India and Italy) have been investigated with respect to the relations of metadata and biometric recognition performance. For this purpose, hypotheses have been formulated and have been evaluated using the measurement of well-known recognition error rates from biometrics. The evaluation addressed both: system reliance and security threads by skilled forgeries. For the later purpose, a novel forgery type is introduced, which applies the personal metadata to security aspects and includes new methods of security tests. Finally in our paper, we formulate recommendations for specific user groups and handwriting samples.

Interpreting Chicken-Scratch: Lexical Access for Handwritten Words

PubMed Central

Barnhart, Anthony S.; Goldinger, Stephen D.

2014-01-01

Handwritten word recognition is a field of study that has largely been neglected in the psychological literature, despite its prevalence in society. Whereas studies of spoken word recognition almost exclusively employ natural, human voices as stimuli, studies of visual word recognition use synthetic typefaces, thus simplifying the process of word recognition. The current study examined the effects of handwriting on a series of lexical variables thought to influence bottom-up and top-down processing, including word frequency, regularity, bidirectional consistency, and imageability. The results suggest that the natural physical ambiguity of handwritten stimuli forces a greater reliance on top-down processes, because almost all effects were magnified, relative to conditions with computer print. These findings suggest that processes of word perception naturally adapt to handwriting, compensating for physical ambiguity by increasing top-down feedback. PMID:20695708

SOS: A Screening Instrument to Identify Children with Handwriting Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Waelvelde, Hilde; Hellinckx, Tinneke; Peersman, Wim; Smits-Engelsman, Bouwien C. M.

2012-01-01

Poor handwriting has been shown to be associated with developmental disorders such as Developmental Coordination Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, autism, and learning disorders. Handwriting difficulties could lead to academic underachievement and poor self-esteem. Therapeutic intervention has been shown to be effective in…

78 FR 7798 - Privacy Act of 1974; Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-010...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-04

... personnel and law enforcement officers. For Confidential Informants, fingerprints, handwriting samples... Informant; Fingerprints; Handwriting sample; Identifying numbers, such as Social Security Number, Alien...; Photograph of the individual; Fingerprints; Handwriting sample; Identifying numbers, such as Social Security...

Handwriting Development, Competency, and Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feder, Katya P.; Majnemer, Annette

2007-01-01

Failure to attain handwriting competency during the school-age years often has far-reaching negative effects on both academic success and self-esteem. This complex occupational task has many underlying component skills that may interfere with handwriting performance. Fine motor control, bilateral and visual-motor integration, motor planning,…

Handwriting and Students with Disabilities: Overcoming First Impressions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenland, Roy; Polloway, Edward A.

Students with disabilities often experience particular difficulties with handwriting, and these problems can hinder their development both in school and in postsecondary settings. This paper addresses three issues: (1) the possibility of a prejudicial and potentially lasting first impression, based on the individual's handwriting; (2) the lack of…

Development of Malayalam Handwriting Scale for School Students in Kerala

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gafoor, K. Abdul; Naseer, A. R.

2015-01-01

With a view to support instruction, formative and summative assessment and to provide model handwriting performance for students to compare their own performance, a Malayalam handwriting scale is developed. Data from 2640 school students belonging to Malappuram, Palakkad and Kozhikode districts, sampled by taking 240 students per each grade…

Novel Automated Morphometric and Kinematic Handwriting Assessment: A Validity Study in Children with ASD and ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dirlikov, Benjamin; Younes, Laurent; Nebel, Mary Beth; Martinelli, Mary Katherine; Tiedemann, Alyssa Nicole; Koch, Carolyn A.; Fiorilli, Diana; Bastian, Amy J.; Denckla, Martha Bridge; Miller, Michael I.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.

2017-01-01

This study presents construct validity for a novel automated morphometric and kinematic handwriting assessment, including (1) convergent validity, establishing reliability of automated measures with traditional manual-derived Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA), and (2) discriminant validity, establishing that the automated methods distinguish…

Handwriting Automaticity: The Search for Performance Thresholds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

2014-01-01

Evidence is accumulating that handwriting has an important role in written composition. In particular, handwriting automaticity appears to relate to success in composition. This relationship has been little explored in British contexts and we currently have little idea of what threshold performance levels might be. In this paper, we report on two…

Examining First Grade Teachers' Handwriting Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arslan, Derya

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine the first grade teachers' practices of handwriting instructions in terms of teaching, evaluation and handwriting difficulties. From qualitative research patterns, phenomenology was used. The study was applied to the 54 First grade teachers who work at central Burdur and Burdur county centre primary education…

Pencil Size and Their Impact on Penmanship Legibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinclair, Becky; Szabo, Susan

2015-01-01

Legible penmanship is important. However, young students have difficulty producing legible handwriting (Marr, Windsor, & Cermak, 2001). As legible handwriting is a benefit for both the students and the teachers in the classroom setting, this study examined if pencil size had an impact on preschool and kindergarten students' handwriting. The…

Handwriting Automaticity and Writing Instruction in Australian Kindergarten: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malpique, Anabela Abreu; Pino-Pasternak, Deborah; Valcan, Debora

2017-01-01

Accumulating evidence indicates handwriting automaticity is related to the development of effective writing skills. The present study examined the levels of handwriting automaticity of Australian children at the end of kindergarten and the amount and type of writing instruction they experienced before entering first grade. The current study…

Handwriting Difficulties in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kushki, Azadeh; Chau, Tom; Anagnostou, Evdokia

2011-01-01

Functional handwriting involves complex interactions among physical, cognitive and sensory systems. Impairments in many aspects of these systems are associated with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD), suggesting a heightened risk of handwriting difficulties in children with ASD. This scoping review aimed to: (1) survey the existing evidence about…

Use of Weighted Pencils to Improve Handwriting Legibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Michelle J.

2017-01-01

Several therapeutic strategies and approaches are used to facilitate handwriting skills in children with illegible writing. One strategy is weighted pencils; however, there is little empirical evidence of the strategy's efficacy. In case scenarios of three children who were unable to form letters, weighted pencils improved their handwriting, and a…

A Longitudinal Study on Dysgraphic Handwriting in Primary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamstra-Bletz, Lisa; Blote, Anke W.

1993-01-01

Annual evaluation for 5 years of the handwriting of 121 Dutch primary school children revealed that children with dysgraphic handwriting had lower fine motor ability, exhibited poorer structural performance, and, in higher grades, showed less preference for a personal style, than did other writers. Children with and without dysgraphic handwriting…

Handwriting changes due to aging and Parkinson's syndrome.

PubMed

Walton, J

1997-08-22

Wills signed by elderly people are often contested on the grounds the the signature is different from their earlier specimen signatures. Neurological disease, which can affect handwriting, is very common and progressive amongst elderly people. Handwriting change due to old age and neurological disease is poorly understood. To better understand this subject, we carried out a large methodical study based on almost 200 handwriting specimens of Parkinson patients and age-matched controls. Interestingly, our findings indicate that some of the handwriting changes which occur in these populations tend to resemble forgery indicia although upon close inspection they are distinguishable from them. Thus, document examiners are urged to exercise caution in assessing purported forgeries on wills and other documents signed of written during older age or a writer suffering from neurological disease.

Visual perceptual and handwriting skills in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.

PubMed

Prunty, Mellissa; Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy

2016-10-01

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder demonstrate a lack of automaticity in handwriting as measured by pauses during writing. Deficits in visual perception have been proposed in the literature as underlying mechanisms of handwriting difficulties in children with DCD. The aim of this study was to examine whether correlations exist between measures of visual perception and visual motor integration with measures of the handwriting product and process in children with DCD. The performance of twenty-eight 8-14year-old children who met the DSM-5 criteria for DCD was compared with 28 typically developing (TD) age and gender-matched controls. The children completed the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS). Group comparisons were made, correlations were conducted between the visual perceptual measures and handwriting measures and the sensitivity and specificity examined. The DCD group performed below the TD group on the VMI and TVPS. There were no significant correlations between the VMI or TVPS and any of the handwriting measures in the DCD group. In addition, both tests demonstrated low sensitivity. Clinicians should execute caution in using visual perceptual measures to inform them about handwriting skill in children with DCD. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Size variability of handwriting in healthy Korean older adults.

PubMed

Yoon, Ji Hye; Kim, Hyanghee; Kim, Jungwan; Park, Eunjeong; Kim, Soo Ryon

2014-04-01

The aim of the present study was to delineate how age-related deterioration affects the handwriting of healthy elderly (HE) subjects. A total of 235 HE (54 males, 181 females) aged 57-91 years participated as subjects in the study. In order to compare the area of handwriting, we divided the participants into two groups: (i) aged 57-74 years; and (ii) aged 75-91 years. The writing stimulus was a four-syllabic word with one-to-one grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence. The size of each syllable in the target word was measured using a software program. Alignment of the word to baseline was assessed using a multiple-choice checklist. As compared with handwriting by the younger group, the older group showed greater variability in the size of the written syllables within the word (P = 0.023). The handwriting was characterized by unequal size among syllables and non-perpendicular alignment, which could be explained by several factors. First, the variability might have resulted from irregular fine movement motor control in older adults. Second, the deterioration of visual feedback and visuomotor integration in normal aging might have affected handwriting performance. In conclusion, variability of handwriting can be sensitive in predicting the aging process. © 2013 Japan Geriatrics Society.

Human-Assisted-Manufacturing Model Library

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

Handwrite 1 Word Continuous H21 0.04515 1 Word Discontinuous H25 0.05375 1 Word Upper Case H35 0.07525 1 Character Continuous H4 0.0086...also needs to include the relationship that says “this fastener connects these parts”. If this information is not explicitly included in the design...fasteners (or structural interface definitions) have been attached. Note that if after doing this there is NOT a single tree, we can say that the

Computerized Writing and Reading Instruction for Students in Grades 4 to 9 With Specific Learning Disabilities Affecting Written Language

PubMed Central

Tanimoto, Steven; Thompson, Rob; Berninger, Virginia W.; Nagy, William; Abbott, Robert D.

2015-01-01

Computer scientists and educational researchers evaluated effectiveness of computerized instruction tailored to evidence-based impairments in specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in students in grades 4 to 9 with persisting SLDs despite prior extra help. Following comprehensive, evidence-based differential diagnosis for dysgraphia (impaired handwriting), dyslexia (impaired word reading and spelling), and oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD), students completed 18 sessions of computerized instruction over about 3 months. The 11 students taught letter formation with sequential, numbered, colored arrow cues with full contours who wrote letters on lines added to iPAD screen showed more and stronger treatment effects than the 21 students taught using only visual motion cues for letter formation who wrote on an unlined computer monitor. Teaching to all levels of language in multiple functional language systems (by ear, eye, mouth, and hand) close in time resulted in significant gains in reading and writing skills for the group and in diagnosed SLD hallmark impairments for individuals; also, performance on computerized learning activities correlated with treatment gains. Results are discussed in reference to need for both accommodations and explicit instruction for persisting SLDs and the potential for computers to teach handwriting, morphophonemic orthographies, comprehension, and composition. PMID:26858470

Evaluation of Handwriting Movement Kinematics: From an Ecological to a Magnetic Resonance Environment

PubMed Central

Bisio, Ambra; Pedullà, Ludovico; Bonzano, Laura; Ruggeri, Piero; Brichetto, Giampaolo; Bove, Marco

2016-01-01

Writing is a means of communication which requires complex motor, perceptual, and cognitive skills. If one of these abilities gets lost following traumatic events or due to neurological diseases, handwriting could deteriorate. Occupational therapy practitioners provide rehabilitation services for people with impaired handwriting. However, to determine the effectiveness of handwriting interventions no studies assessed whether the proposed treatments improved the kinematics of writing movement or had an effect at the level of the central nervous system. There is need to find new quantitative methodologies able to describe the behavioral and the neural outcomes of the rehabilitative interventions for handwriting. In the present study we proposed a combined approach that allowed evaluating the kinematic parameters of handwriting movements, acquired by means of a magnetic resonance-compatible tablet, and their neural correlates obtained simultaneously from a functional magnetic resonance imaging examination. Results showed that the system was reliable in term of reproducibility of the kinematic data during a test/re-test procedure. Further, despite the modifications with respect to an ecological writing movement condition, the kinematic parameters acquired inside the MR-environment were descriptive of individuals’ movement features. At last, the imaging protocol succeeded to show the activation of the cerebral regions associated with the production of writing movement in healthy people. From these findings, this methodology seems to be promising to evaluate the handwriting movement deficits and the potential alterations in the neural activity in those individuals who have handwriting difficulties. Finally, it would provide a mean to quantitatively assess the effect of a rehabilitative treatment. PMID:27746727

34 CFR 99.3 - What definitions apply to these regulations?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (b)(3)(i) of this definition. (4) Records on a student who is 18 years of age or older, or is...)) Eligible student means a student who has reached 18 years of age or is attending an institution of..., handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm, and microfiche. (Authority: 20 U.S.C...

34 CFR 99.3 - What definitions apply to these regulations?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... who is 18 years of age or older, or is attending an institution of postsecondary education, that are... by a teacher. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)) Eligible student means a student who has reached 18... any way, including, but not limited to, handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film...

34 CFR 99.3 - What definitions apply to these regulations?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... who is 18 years of age or older, or is attending an institution of postsecondary education, that are... by a teacher. (Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)) Eligible student means a student who has reached 18... any way, including, but not limited to, handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film...

34 CFR 99.3 - What definitions apply to these regulations?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (b)(3)(i) of this definition. (4) Records on a student who is 18 years of age or older, or is...)) Eligible student means a student who has reached 18 years of age or is attending an institution of..., handwriting, print, computer media, video or audio tape, film, microfilm, and microfiche. (Authority: 20 U.S.C...

Relationship Between Orthographic-Motor Integration And Computer Use For The Production Of Creative And Well-Structured Written Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christensen, Carol A.

2004-01-01

Background: Orthographic-motor integration refers to the way in which orthographic knowledge is integrated with fine-motor demands of handwriting. A strong relationship has shown to exist between orthographic-motor integration and students' ability to produce creative and well-structured written text (De La Paz & Graham, 1995). This…

Handwriting Deficits in Children with Minimal Brain Dysfunction: Effects of Methylphenidate (Ritalin) and Placebo.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lerer, Robert J.; And Others

1979-01-01

Fifty hyperactive and learning disabled children (8 to 12 years old) were selected for study because of severe handwriting difficulties. The children received methylphenidate (Ritalin) or placebo under double blind conditions. Twenty-six students (52 percent) showed improvement in overall handwriting following the administration of methylphenidate…

Handwriting Capacity in Children Newly Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brossard-Racine, Marie; Majnemer, Annette; Shevell, Michael; Snider, Laurie; Belanger, Stacey Ageranioti

2011-01-01

Preliminary evidence suggests that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may exhibit handwriting difficulties. However, the exact nature of these difficulties and the extent to which they may relate to motor or behavioural difficulties remains unclear. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in children…

Where Does Handwriting Fit in? Strategies to Support Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cahill, Susan M.

2009-01-01

In today's environment of high-stakes testing, handwriting is a skill that is often overlooked in order to focus on other areas of the curriculum. However, research indicates that handwriting is tied to academic achievement, especially composition and literacy skills. This article provides strategies that can be used to support students with…

Exploring the Participation of Children with Down Syndrome in Handwriting without Tears

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patton, Sandra; Hutton, Eve

2017-01-01

Children with Down Syndrome typically experience difficulties with attention to task and lack motivation when learning to write. This article provides an evaluation of the HWT (Handwriting Without Tears) method applied as an intervention to promote handwriting among children with Down Syndrome attending mainstream school in the Republic of…

How Do Primary Grade Teachers Teach Handwriting? A National Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve; Harris, Karen R.; Mason, Linda; Fink-Chorzempa, Barbara; Moran, Susan; Saddler, Bruce

2008-01-01

A random sample of primary grade teachers from across the United States was surveyed about their instructional practices in handwriting. Nine out of every ten teachers indicated that they taught handwriting, averaging 70 minutes of instruction per week. Only 12% of teachers, however, indicated that the education courses taken in college adequately…

The Influence of Spelling Ability on Handwriting Production: Children with and without Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L.

2014-01-01

Current models of writing do not sufficiently address the complex relationship between the 2 transcription skills: spelling and handwriting. For children with dyslexia and beginning writers, it is conceivable that spelling ability will influence rate of handwriting production. Our aim in this study was to examine execution speed and temporal…

The Effect of Conscious Control on Handwriting in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tucha, Oliver; Lange, Klaus W.

2005-01-01

Two experiments were performed regarding the effect of conscious control on handwriting fluency in healthy adults and ADHD children. First, 26 healthy students were asked to write a sentence under different conditions. The results indicate that automated handwriting movements are independent from visual feedback. Second, the writing performance of…

Survey of Technologies for the Airport Border of the Future

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

geometry Handwriting recognition ID cards Image classification Image enhancement Image fusion Image matching Image processing Image segmentation Iris...00 Tongue print Footstep recognition Odour recognition Retinal recognition Emotion recognition Periocular recognition Handwriting recognition Ear...recognition Palmprint recognition Hand geometry DNA matching Vein matching Ear recognition Handwriting recognition Periocular recognition Emotion

Tier 1 and Tier 2 Early Intervention for Handwriting and Composing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berninger, Virginia W.; Rutberg, Judith E.; Abbott, Robert D.; Garcia, Noelia; Anderson-Youngstrom, Marci; Brooks, Allison; Fulton, Cynthia

2006-01-01

Three studies evaluated Tier 1 early intervention for handwriting at a critical period for literacy development in first grade and one study evaluated Tier 2 early intervention in the critical period between third and fourth grades for composing on high stakes tests. The results contribute to knowledge of research-supported handwriting and…

Handwriting: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medwell, Jane; Wray, David

2007-01-01

Handwriting has a low status and profile in literacy education in England and in recent years has attracted little attention from teachers, policy-makers or researchers into mainstream educational processes. This article identifies a substantial programme of research into handwriting, including studies located in the domains of special needs…

Educational Interventions for Visual-Motor Deficiencies That Affect Handwriting in School-Aged Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dikowski, Timothy J.

This practicum was designed to remediate handwriting skills in school-aged children who displayed visual-motor deficiencies that affect mechanical skills. Practicum goals were to: (1) identify and diagnose children with handwriting delays; (2) involve school and parent interaction by involving them with pre- and post-program assessment; (3)…

Handwriting Error Patterns of Children with Mild Motor Difficulties.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malloy-Miller, Theresa; And Others

1995-01-01

A test of handwriting legibility and 6 perceptual-motor tests were completed by 66 children ages 7-12. Among handwriting error patterns, execution was associated with visual-motor skill and sensory discrimination, aiming with visual-motor and fine-motor skills. The visual-spatial factor had no significant association with perceptual-motor…

Handwriting Performance and Underlying Factors in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, I-Hsuan; Lee, Tsai-Yun; Chen, Chia-Ling

2012-01-01

Preliminary evidence suggests that handwriting difficulties are common to children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, the nature of the task-specific impairments is needed to be clarified. The aim of this study was to describe handwriting capacity in ADHD children without DCD and identify underlying factors of…

Towards a Better Understanding of the Legibility Bias in Performance Assessments: The Case of Gender-Based Inferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greifeneder, Rainer; Zelt, Sarah; Seele, Tim; Bottenberg, Konstantin; Alt, Alexander

2012-01-01

Background: Handwriting legibility systematically biases evaluations in that highly legible handwriting results in more positive evaluations than less legible handwriting. Because performance assessments in educational contexts are not only based on computerized or multiple choice tests but often include the evaluation of handwritten work samples,…

Chinese Handwriting Performance of Primary School Children with Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lam, Sutie S. T.; Au, Ricky K. C.; Leung, Howard W. H.; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the Chinese handwriting performance of typical children and children with dyslexia, and to examine whether speed and accuracy of handwriting could reliably discriminate these two groups of children. One hundred and thirty-seven children with dyslexia and 756 typical children were recruited from main stream…

People Patterns: Handwriting. Environmental Module for Use in a Mathematics Laboratory Setting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trojan, Arthur; Zastrocky, Mike

This module was not meant to make handwriting analysts of students, but to make them aware that mathematics is used in analyzing handwriting. Activities revolve around ratio, mean, mode, measurement and some graphing. Sample spaces are explored and used to gain insight into how people write habitually. (Author/MK)

Effect of a coteaching handwriting program for first graders: one-group pretest-posttest design.

PubMed

Case-Smith, Jane; Holland, Terri; Lane, Alison; White, Susan

2012-01-01

We examined the effects of a cotaught handwriting and writing program on first-grade students grouped by low, average, and high baseline legibility. The program's aim was to increase legibility, handwriting speed, writing fluency, and written expression in students with diverse learning needs. Thirty-six first-grade students in two classrooms participated in a 12-wk handwriting and writing program cotaught by teachers and an occupational therapist. Students were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 6-mo follow-up using the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript (ETCH-M) and the Woodcock-Johnson Writing Fluency and Writing Samples tests. Students made large gains in ETCH-M legibility (η² = .74), speed (η²s = .52-.65), Writing Fluency (η² = .58), and Writing Samples (η² = .59). Students with initially low legibility improved most in legibility; progress on the other tests was similar across low-, average-, and high-performing groups. This program appeared to benefit first-grade students with diverse learning needs and to increase handwriting legibility and speed and writing fluency. Copyright © 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Neuropsychological analysis of a typewriting disturbance following cerebral damage.

PubMed

Boyle, M; Canter, G J

1987-01-01

Following a left CVA, a skilled professional typist sustained a disturbance of typing disproportionate to her handwriting disturbance. Typing errors were predominantly of the sequencing type, with spatial errors much less frequent, suggesting that the impairment was based on a relatively early (premotor) stage of processing. Depriving the subject of visual feedback during handwriting greatly increased her error rate. Similarly, interfering with auditory feedback during speech substantially reduced her self-correction of speech errors. These findings suggested that impaired ability to utilize somesthetic information--probably caused by the subject's parietal lobe lesion--may have been the basis of the typing disorder.

Handwriting individualization using distance and rarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Yi; Srihari, Sargur; Srinivasan, Harish

2012-01-01

Forensic individualization is the task of associating observed evidence with a specific source. The likelihood ratio (LR) is a quantitative measure that expresses the degree of uncertainty in individualization, where the numerator represents the likelihood that the evidence corresponds to the known and the denominator the likelihood that it does not correspond to the known. Since the number of parameters needed to compute the LR is exponential with the number of feature measurements, a commonly used simplification is the use of likelihoods based on distance (or similarity) given the two alternative hypotheses. This paper proposes an intermediate method which decomposes the LR as the product of two factors, one based on distance and the other on rarity. It was evaluated using a data set of handwriting samples, by determining whether two writing samples were written by the same/different writer(s). The accuracy of the distance and rarity method, as measured by error rates, is significantly better than the distance method.

A Cursive Handwriting Skills Program for LD Students To Be Used by Regular and LD Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMillan, Ida L.

Many learning disabled students attending Avocado Elementary School in Homestead, Florida, were unable to write legibly when taught with available cursive handwriting programs. To redress the problem, a complete, sequential cursive handwriting program was devised for use with learning disabled and other students. The program combined tracing and…

Handwriting in 2015: A Main Occupation for Primary School-Aged Children in the Classroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMaster, Emily; Roberts, Tara

2016-01-01

Historically, handwriting is a skill acquired by children in the classroom. The relevance of this skill today is currently debated due to advances in technology. A nonexperimental time-series design investigated how much time Australian primary school children spend on handwriting in the classroom. A second aim investigated how much time was spent…

Relationships between Handwriting Performance and Organizational Abilities among Children with and without Dysgraphia: A Preliminary Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblum, Sara; Aloni, Tsipi; Josman, Naomi

2010-01-01

Organizational ability constitutes one executive function (EF) component essential for common everyday performance. The study aim was to explore the relationship between handwriting performance and organizational ability in school-aged children. Participants were 58 males, aged 7-8 years, 30 with dysgraphia and 28 with proficient handwriting.…

Specifying the Graphic Characteristics of Words That Influence Children's Handwriting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gosse, Claire; Carbonnelle, Simon; de Vleeschouwer, Christophe; Van Reybroeck, Marie

2018-01-01

Research about the development of the graphomotor side of writing is very scarce. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of what constitutes graphic complexity of written material by determining the impact of graphic characteristics on handwriting production. In this end, the pen stroke of cursive handwriting was precisely…

Effects of Neoprene Wrist/Hand Splints on Handwriting for Students with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome: A Single System Design Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frohlich, Lauren; Wesley, Alison; Wallen, Margaret; Bundy, Anita

2012-01-01

Purpose: Pain associated with hypermobility of wrist and hand joints can contribute to decreased handwriting output. This study examined the effectiveness of a neoprene wrist/hand splint in reducing pain and increasing handwriting speed and endurance for students with joint hypermobility syndrome. Methods: Multiple baseline, single system design…

Relationship between Legible Handwriting and Level of Success of Third Grade Students in Written Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bayat, Seher; Küçükayar, Hasan

2016-01-01

This study aims to identify third-grade students' performance levels for written expression and handwriting and to find the relationship between these performances. The study is based on relational screening model. It is carried out with 110 third grade students. Students' levels of success in handwriting and in written expression are evaluated…

Practice Patterns of School-Based Occupational Therapists Targeting Handwriting: A Knowledge-to-Practice Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cramm, Heidi; Egan, Mary

2015-01-01

Poor handwriting is a common reason for referral to school-based occupational therapy. A survey was used to explore the extent to which current practice patterns in Ontario, Canada, align with evidence on effective intervention for handwriting. Knowledge-to-practice gaps were identified related to focus on performance components versus…

Handwriting in Children and Adults with Down Syndrome: Developmental Delay or Specific Features?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsao, Raphaele

2017-01-01

While there is a long history and tradition of behavioral research on basic motor skills in Down syndrome (DS), there has been only limited research on handwriting ability. We analyzed the spatiotemporal features of handwriting produced by children and adults with DS (n = 24), and compared their productions with those of comparison groups matched…

Do Handwriting Difficulties Correlate with Core Symptomology, Motor Proficiency and Attentional Behaviours?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grace, Nicci; Enticott, Peter Gregory; Johnson, Beth Patricia; Rinehart, Nicole Joan

2017-01-01

Handwriting is commonly identified as an area of weakness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but precise deficits have not been fully characterised. Boys with ASD (n = 23) and matched controls (n = 20) aged 8-12 years completed a simple, digitised task to objectively assess handwriting performance using advanced descriptive measures.…

Predictors of Handwriting in Adolescents and Adults with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moy, Eloïse; Tardif, Carole; Tsao, Raphaele

2017-01-01

Handwriting is a skill that is constantly used in schools and in the workplace--two environments that are targeted in French legislation passed in 2005 on the integration of people with disabilities. The aim of the present study was to determine the predictive factors for handwriting speed and quality in adolescents and adults with Down syndrome…

Extraction of Dynamic Features from Hand Drawn Data for the Identification of Children with Handwriting Difficulty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khalid, Puspa Inayat; Yunus, Jasmy; Adnan, Robiah

2010-01-01

Studies have shown that differences between children with and without handwriting difficulties lie not only in the written product (static data) but also in dynamic data of handwriting process. Since writing system varies among countries and individuals, this study was conducted to determine the feasibility of using quantitative outcome measures…

Changes in Kinetics and Kinematics of Handwriting during a Prolonged Writing Task in Children with and without Dysgraphia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kushki, Azadeh; Schwellnus, Heidi; Ilyas, Faizah; Chau, Tom

2011-01-01

Handwriting difficulties or dysgraphia have a profound impact on children's psychosocial development, and yet, 10-30% of school-aged children are reported to experience difficulties mastering this skill. Several studies have examined the nature and biomechanical underpinnings of handwriting difficulties in children with and without dysgraphia.…

Experts Fear Handwriting Will become a Lost Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zubrzycki, Jaclyn

2012-01-01

Educators and experts say students still need to learn penmanship, even in a digital age. Handwriting still has a place in the digital age, its proponents say, and they hoped that what they billed as a "summit" on the subject at a conference would spotlight their case for the enduring value of handwriting in the learning process. The Washington…

The Effect of Two Handwriting Approaches, D'Nealian and Sunform, on Kindergartners' Letter Formations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Donita Massengill

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of two handwriting approaches, D'Nealian and Sunform, on kindergartners' letter formations. Forty-one participants received D'Nealian handwriting instruction as the control group; 133 kindergartners were instructed in Sunform as the experimental approach. Pre-post tests at the beginning and end…

For a Psycholinguistic Model of Handwriting Production: Testing the Syllable-Bigram Controversy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kandel, Sonia; Peereman, Ronald; Grosjacques, Geraldine; Fayol, Michel

2011-01-01

This study examined the theoretical controversy on the impact of syllables and bigrams in handwriting production. French children and adults wrote words on a digitizer so that we could collect data on the local, online processing of handwriting production. The words differed in the position of the lowest frequency bigram. In one condition, it…

Improvement of Handwriting Automaticity among Children Treated for Graphomotor Difficulties over a Period of Six Months

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wicki, Werner; Hurschler Lichtsteiner, Sibylle

2018-01-01

Although fluency and automaticity of handwriting have been recognized as important research topics for 30 years, empirical data on respective developmental courses among typically developing children as well as clinical samples have remained very limited. To fill this gap, this study investigates the development of handwriting automaticity…

Hand Strength, Handwriting, and Functional Skills in Children With Autism.

PubMed

Alaniz, Michele L; Galit, Eleanor; Necesito, Corina Isabel; Rosario, Emily R

2015-01-01

To establish hand strength development trends in children with autism and to investigate correlations between grip and pinch strength, components of handwriting, and functional activities in children with and without autism. Fifty-one children were divided into two groups: typically developing children and children on the autism spectrum. Each child completed testing for pinch and grip strength, handwriting legibility, pencil control, and independence in functional activities. The children with autism followed the same strength development trends as the typically developing children. Grip strength correlated with pencil control in both groups and with handwriting legibility in the typically developing children but not in the children with autism. Grip and pinch strength correlated with independence with functional activities in both groups. This study provides evidence that grip and pinch strength are important components in developing pencil control, handwriting legibility, and independence with functional fine motor tasks. Copyright © 2015 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Machine printed text and handwriting identification in noisy document images.

PubMed

Zheng, Yefeng; Li, Huiping; Doermann, David

2004-03-01

In this paper, we address the problem of the identification of text in noisy document images. We are especially focused on segmenting and identifying between handwriting and machine printed text because: 1) Handwriting in a document often indicates corrections, additions, or other supplemental information that should be treated differently from the main content and 2) the segmentation and recognition techniques requested for machine printed and handwritten text are significantly different. A novel aspect of our approach is that we treat noise as a separate class and model noise based on selected features. Trained Fisher classifiers are used to identify machine printed text and handwriting from noise and we further exploit context to refine the classification. A Markov Random Field-based (MRF) approach is used to model the geometrical structure of the printed text, handwriting, and noise to rectify misclassifications. Experimental results show that our approach is robust and can significantly improve page segmentation in noisy document collections.

Handwriting Movement Kinematics for Quantifying EPS in Patients Treated with Atypical Antipsychotics

PubMed Central

Caligiuri, Michael P.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E.; Niculescu, Alexander B.; Lohr, James B.

2009-01-01

Ongoing monitoring of neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) is important to maximize treatment outcome, improve medication adherence and reduce re-hospitalization. Traditional approaches for assessing EPS such as parkinsonism, tardive akathisia, or dyskinesia rely upon clinical ratings. However, these observer-based EPS severity ratings can be unreliable and are subject to examiner bias. In contrast, quantitative instrumental methods are less subject to bias. Most instrumental methods have only limited clinical utility because of their complexity and costs. This paper describes an easy-to-use instrumental approach based on handwriting movements for quantifying EPS. Here, we present findings from psychiatric patients treated with atypical (second generation) antipsychotics. The handwriting task consisted of a sentence written several times within a 2 cm vertical boundary at a comfortable speed using an inkless pen and digitizing tablet. Kinematic variables including movement duration, peak vertical velocity and the number of acceleration peaks, and average normalized jerk (a measure of smoothness) for each up or down stroke and their submovements were analyzed. Results from 59 psychosis patients and 46 healthy comparison subjects revealed significant slowing and dysfluency in patients compared to controls. We observed differences across medications and daily dose. These findings support the ecological validity of handwriting movement analysis as an objective behavioral biomarker for quantifying the effects of antipsychotic medication and dose on the motor system. PMID:20381875

Children with Dyslexia Are Slow Writers Because They Pause More Often and Not Because They Are Slow at Handwriting Execution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L.

2013-01-01

It is commonly assumed that children with dyslexia are slower at handwriting than other children. However, evidence of slow handwriting in children with dyslexia is very mixed. Thirty-one children with dyslexia, aged 9 years, were compared to both age-matched children and younger spelling-ability matched children. Participants completed an…

The Effects of 10 Communication Modes on the Behavior of Teams During Co-Operative Problem-Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ochsman, Richard B.; Chapanis, Alphonse

1974-01-01

Sixty teams of two college students each solved credible "real world" problems co-operatively. Conversations were carried on in one of 10 modes of communication: (1) typewriting only, (2) handwriting only, (3) handwriting and typewriting, (4) typewriting and video, (5) handwriting and video, (6) voice only, (7) voice and typewriting, (8) voice and…

Handwriting Development in Grade 2 and Grade 3 Primary School Children with Normal, At Risk, or Dysgraphic Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overvelde, Anneloes; Hulstijn, Wouter

2011-01-01

The wide variation in prevalence of dysgraphic handwriting (5-33%) is of clinical importance, because poor handwriting has been identified as one of the most common reasons for referring school-age children to occupational therapy or physiotherapy, and is included as an criterion for the diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder. This study…

The Influence of Chinese Character Handwriting Diagnosis and Remedial Instruction System on Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsiao, Hsien-Sheng; Chang, Cheng-Sian; Chen, Chiao-Jia; Wu, Chia-Hou; Lin, Chien-Yu

2015-01-01

This study designed and developed a Chinese character handwriting diagnosis and remedial instruction (CHDRI) system to improve Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) learners' ability to write Chinese characters. The CFL learners were given two tests based on the CHDRI system. One test focused on Chinese character handwriting to diagnose the CFL…

Digital Paper Technologies for Topographical Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-19

measures examine were training time for each method, time for entry offeatures, procedural errors, handwriting recognition errors, and user preference...time for entry of features, procedural errors, handwriting recognition errors, and user preference. For these metrics, temporal association was...checkbox, text restricted to a specific list of values, etc.) that provides constraints to the handwriting recognizer. When the user fills out the form

The Use of Graphic Rules in Grade One to Help Identify Children at Risk of Handwriting Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khalid, Puspa Inayat; Yunus, Jasmy; Adnan, Robiah; Harun, Mokhtar; Sudirman, Rubita; Mahmood, Nasrul Humaimi

2010-01-01

Previous researches on elementary grade handwriting revealed that pupils employ certain strategy when writing or drawing. The relationship between this strategy and the use of graphic rules has been documented but very little research has been devoted to the connection between the use of graphic rules and handwriting proficiency. Thus, this study…

Interaction of attentional and motor control processes in handwriting.

PubMed

Brown, T L; Donnenwirth, E E

1990-01-01

The interaction between attentional capacity, motor control processes, and strategic adaptations to changing task demands was investigated in handwriting, a continuous (rather than discrete) skilled performance. Twenty-four subjects completed 12 two-minute handwriting samples under instructions stressing speeded handwriting, normal handwriting, or highly legible handwriting. For half of the writing samples, a concurrent auditory monitoring task was imposed. Subjects copied either familiar (English) or unfamiliar (Latin) passages. Writing speed, legibility ratings, errors in writing and in the secondary auditory task, and a derived measure of the average number of characters held in short-term memory during each sample ("planning unit size") were the dependent variables. The results indicated that the ability to adapt to instructions stressing speed or legibility was substantially constrained by the concurrent listening task and by text familiarity. Interactions between instructions, task concurrence, and text familiarity in the legibility ratings, combined with further analyses of planning unit size, indicated that information throughput from temporary storage mechanisms to motor processes mediated the loss of flexibility effect. Overall, the results suggest that strategic adaptations of a skilled performance to changing task circumstances are sensitive to concurrent attentional demands and that departures from "normal" or "modal" performance require attention.

Fluency and Accuracy in Alphabet Writing by Keyboarding: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish-Speaking Children With and Without Learning Disabilities.

PubMed

Bisschop, Elaine; Morales, Celia; Gil, Verónica; Jiménez-Suárez, Elizabeth

The aim of this study was to analyze whether children with and without difficulties in handwriting, spelling, or both differed in alphabet writing when using a keyboard. The total sample consisted of 1,333 children from Grades 1 through 3. Scores on the spelling and handwriting factors from the Early Grade Writing Assessment (Jiménez, in press) were used to assign the participants to one of four groups with different ability patterns: poor handwriters, poor spellers, a mixed group, and typically achieving students. Groups were equalized by a matching strategy, resulting in a final sample of 352 children. A MANOVA was executed to analyze effects of group and grade on orthographic motor integration (fluency of alphabet writing) and the number of omissions when writing the alphabet (accuracy of alphabet writing) by keyboard writing mode. The results indicated that poor handwriters did not differ from typically achieving children in both variables, whereas the poor spellers did perform below the typical achievers and the poor handwriters. The difficulties of poor handwriters seem to be alleviated by the use of the keyboard; however, children with spelling difficulties might need extra instruction to become fluent keyboard writers.

Electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for handwriting-enabled electronic paper

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komazaki, Y.; Hirama, H.; Torii, T.

2015-04-01

In this work, we describe the synthesis of novel electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for a handwriting-enabled twisting ball display via the microfluidic technique. One hemisphere of the Janus particles contains a charge control agent, which allows the display color to be controlled by applying a voltage and superparamagnetic nanoparticles, allows handwriting by applying a magnetic field to the display. We fabricated a twisting ball display utilizing these Janus particles and tested the electric color control and handwriting using a magnet. As a result, the display was capable of permitting handwriting with a small magnet in addition to conventional color control using an applied voltage (80 V). Handwriting performance was improved by increasing the concentration of superparamagnetic nanoparticles and was determined to be possible even when 80 V was applied across the electrodes for 4 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles in one hemisphere. This improvement was impossible when the concentration was reduced to 2 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The technology presented in our work can be applied to low-cost, lightweight, highly visible, and energy-saving electronic message boards and large whiteboards because the large-size display can be fabricated easily due to its simple structure.

Efficacy of guided spiral drawing in the classification of Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Zham, Poonam; Arjunan, Sridhar; Raghav, Sanjay; Kumar, Dinesh Kant

2017-10-11

Change of handwriting can be an early marker for severity of Parkinson's disease but suffers from poor sensitivity and specificity due to inter-subject variations. This study has investigated the group-difference in the dynamic features during sketching of spiral between PD and control subjects with the aim of developing an accurate method for diagnosing PD patients. Dynamic handwriting features were computed for 206 specimens collected from 62 Subjects (31 Parkinson's and 31 Controls). These were analyzed based on the severity of the disease to determine group-difference. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was computed to evaluate the strength of association for the different features. Maximum area under ROC curve (AUC) using the dynamic features during different writing and spiral sketching tasks were in the range of 67 to 79 %. However, when angular features ( and ) and count of direction inversion during sketching of the spiral were used, AUC improved to 93.3%. Spearman correlation coefficient was highest for and . The angular features and count of direction inversion which can be obtained in real-time while sketching the Archimedean guided spiral on a digital tablet can be used for differentiating between Parkinson's and healthy cohort.

Comprehension of handwriting development: Pen-grip kinetics in handwriting tasks and its relation to fine motor skills among school-age children.

PubMed

Lin, Yu-Chen; Chao, Yen-Li; Wu, Shyi-Kuen; Lin, Ho-Hsio; Hsu, Chieh-Hsiang; Hsu, Hsiao-Man; Kuo, Li-Chieh

2017-10-01

Numerous tools have been developed to evaluate handwriting performances by analysing written products. However, few studies have directly investigated kinetic performances of digits when holding a pen. This study thus attempts to investigate pen-grip kinetics during writing tasks of school-age children and explore the relationship between the kinetic factors and fine motor skills. This study recruited 181 children aged from 5 to 12 years old and investigated the effects of age on handwriting kinetics and the relationship between these and fine motor skills. The forces applied from the digits and pen-tip were measured during writing tasks via a force acquisition pen, and the children's fine motor performances were also evaluated. The results indicate that peak force and average force might not be direct indicators of handwriting performance for normally developing children at this age. Younger children showed larger force variation and lower adjustment frequency during writing, which might indicate they had poorer force control than the older children. Force control when handling a pen is significantly correlated with fine motor performance, especially in relation to the manual dexterity. A novel system is proposed for analysing school-age children's force control while handwriting. We observed the development of force control in relation to pen grip among the children with different ages in this study. The findings suggested that manipulation skill may be crucial when children are establishing their handwriting capabilities. © 2017 Occupational Therapy Australia.

Handwriting in Signing Deaf Middle-School Students and Relationship with Text Composition and Spelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alamargot, Denis; Morin, Marie-France; Simard-Dupuis, Érika

2018-01-01

We set out to (i) assess the handwriting skills of signing deaf students, and (ii) examine the extent to which their text composition and spelling performances are linked to their handwriting efficiency. We asked 15 prelingually and profoundly deaf middle-school students (M = 15.18 years), all sign-language users, and a group of hearing students…

Characterization of Motor Control in Handwriting Difficulties in Children with or without Developmental Coordination Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Shao-Hsia; Yu, Nan-Ying

2010-01-01

Aim: The purpose of this study was to characterize handwriting deficits in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) using computerized movement analyses. Method: Seventy-two children (40 females, 32 males; mean age 7y, SD 7mo; range 6y 2mo to 7y 11mo) with handwriting deficits (33 with DCD, 39 without DCD); and 22 age- and…

The Introduction of Keyboarding to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders with Handwriting Difficulties: A Help or a Hindrance?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashburner, Jill; Ziviani, Jenny; Pennington, Ana

2012-01-01

This study explored the utility of using keyboarding as an alternative to handwriting for students with ASD who experience handwriting difficulties. Participants included 22 students with ASD (M age = 10.83 plus or minus 1.4 years) who had been using portable word processors in mainstream classrooms for at least 6 months to circumvent handwriting…

Effects of a Classroom-Embedded Occupational Therapist–Teacher Handwriting Program for First-Grade Students

PubMed Central

Weaver, Lindy; Holland, Terri

2014-01-01

This study examined the effectiveness of Write Start, a handwriting and writing program cotaught by teachers and occupational therapists for first-grade children. Four classrooms (n = 80) received the Write Start program, and four (n = 58) received standard handwriting and writing instruction. Two teachers and an occupational therapist implemented the 24-session manualized program, which included station teaching and individualized supports. The program emphasized practice in small groups in which the coteaching team provided students with frequent feedback, encouraged self-evaluation, and facilitated peer modeling and peer evaluation. Students who completed the Write Start program improved more in handwriting legibility and speed than the group receiving standard instruction. Writing fluency and written composition were no different between groups at posttest; however, writing fluency was significantly higher for Write Start students at 6-mo follow-up. Write Start students with low legibility at baseline made significant improvements, suggesting that the program may benefit students at risk for handwriting and writing problems. PMID:25397764

Does handwriting on a tablet screen affect students' graphomotor execution? A comparison between Grades Two and Nine.

PubMed

Alamargot, Denis; Morin, Marie-France

2015-12-01

We sought to ascertain how handwriting with a plastic-tipped pen on the screen of a digital tablet affects graphomotor execution in students, compared with handwriting on paper with a ballpoint pen. We predicted that the modification to propriokinesthetic feedback induced by the screen/plastic tip combination would differently disturb younger and older students, who rely on perceptual feedback either to form letters (former) or to adjust movement execution (latter). Twenty-eight students from Grades Two and Nine were asked to handwrite the alphabet and their names and surnames under the two conditions. Kinematics were recorded using the tablet, controlled by Eye and Pen software. Results showed that handwriting on the tablet surface with a plastic-tipped pen primarily affected pen pauses in the second graders and pen movements in the ninth graders, suggesting a disturbance in segment trajectory calculation in the younger participants and reduced control of muscular adjustment in the older children. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reliability of the detailed assessment of speed of handwriting on Flemish children.

PubMed

Simons, Johan; Probst, Michel

2014-01-01

This study evaluates the reliability of the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) in a Dutch-speaking sample of children. The sample included 650 boys and 513 girls (age range = 9-16 years). Handwriting speed measurements were obtained using the DASH. Interrater agreement, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were calculated; gender and age effects were analyzed. Interrater agreement shows excellent reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients of at least 0.94. Test-retest correlations ranged from r = 0.65 to r = 0.81. The internal consistency measures, calculated with Cronbach's alpha, were between 0.88 and 0.94. Both gender and age have a significant effect on handwriting speed, with F (7.1144) = 17.43 (P < .001) for gender and F (7.1144) = 21.8 (P < .001) for age. The DASH is a reliable assessment tool to evaluate handwriting speed of Dutch-speaking children. There is a tendency of girls to write faster than boys.

Measuring the Frequency Occurrence of Handwriting and Handprinting Characteristics^.

PubMed

Johnson, Mark E; Vastrick, Thomas W; Boulanger, Michèle; Schuetzner, Ellen

2017-01-01

The premise of this study was to take a valid population sampling of handwriting and handprinting and assess how many times each of the predetermined characteristic is found in the samples. Approximately 1500 handwriting specimens were collected from across the United States and pared to obtain a representative sample of the U.S. adult population according to selected demographics based on age, sex, ethnicity, handedness, education level, and location of lower-grade school education. This study has been able to support a quantitative assessment of extrinsic and intrinsic effects in handwriting and handprinting for the six subgroups. Additional results include analyses of the interdependence of characteristics. This study found that 98.55% of handprinted characteristics and 97.39% of cursive characteristics had an independence correlation of under 0.2. The conclusions support use of the product rule in general, but with noted caveats. Finally, this study provides frequency occurrence proportions for 776 handwriting and handprinting characteristics. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

What do the experts know? Calibration, precision, and the wisdom of crowds among forensic handwriting experts.

PubMed

Martire, Kristy A; Growns, Bethany; Navarro, Danielle J

2018-04-17

Forensic handwriting examiners currently testify to the origin of questioned handwriting for legal purposes. However, forensic scientists are increasingly being encouraged to assign probabilities to their observations in the form of a likelihood ratio. This study is the first to examine whether handwriting experts are able to estimate the frequency of US handwriting features more accurately than novices. The results indicate that the absolute error for experts was lower than novices, but the size of the effect is modest, and the overall error rate even for experts is large enough as to raise questions about whether their estimates can be sufficiently trustworthy for presentation in courts. When errors are separated into effects caused by miscalibration and those caused by imprecision, we find systematic differences between individuals. Finally, we consider several ways of aggregating predictions from multiple experts, suggesting that quite substantial improvements in expert predictions are possible when a suitable aggregation method is used.

Automatically measuring the effect of strategy drawing features on pupils' handwriting and gender

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabatabaey-Mashadi, Narges; Sudirman, Rubita; Guest, Richard M.; Khalid, Puspa Inayat

2013-12-01

Children's dynamic drawing strategies have been recently recognized as indicators of handwriting ability. However the influence of each feature in predicting handwriting is unknown due to lack of a measuring system. An automated measuring algorithm suitable for psychological assessment and non-subjective scoring is presented here. Using the weight vector and classification rate of a machine learning algorithm, an overall feature's effect is calculated which is comparable in different groupings. In this study thirteen previously detected drawing strategy features are measured for their influence on handwriting and gender. Features are extracted from drawing a triangle, Beery VMI and Bender Gestalt tangent patterns. Samples are related to 203 pupils (77 below average writers, and 101 female). The results show that the number of strokes in drawing the triangle pattern plays a major role in both groupings; however Left Tendency flag feature is affected by children's handwriting about 2.5 times greater than their gender. Experiments indicate that different forms of a feature sometimes show different influences.

Parameter calibration for synthesizing realistic-looking variability in offline handwriting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Wen; Lopresti, Dan

2011-01-01

Motivated by the widely accepted principle that the more training data, the better a recognition system performs, we conducted experiments asking human subjects to do evaluate a mixture of real English handwritten text lines and text lines altered from existing handwriting with various distortion degrees. The idea of generating synthetic handwriting is based on a perturbation method by T. Varga and H. Bunke that distorts an entire text line. There are two purposes of our experiments. First, we want to calibrate distortion parameter settings for Varga and Bunke's perturbation model. Second, we intend to compare the effects of parameter settings on different writing styles: block, cursive and mixed. From the preliminary experimental results, we determined appropriate ranges for parameter amplitude, and found that parameter settings should be altered for different handwriting styles. With the proper parameter settings, it should be possible to generate large amount of training and testing data for building better off-line handwriting recognition systems.

Handwriting Tics in Tourette’s Syndrome: A Single Center Study

PubMed Central

Zanaboni Dina, Carlotta; Bona, Alberto R.; Zekaj, Edvin; Servello, Domenico; Porta, Mauro

2016-01-01

Tourette’s syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically defined by multiple motor tics and at least one sound tic, beginning in childhood or in adolescence. Handwriting is one of the most impaired school activities for TS patients because of the presence of tics that hamper learning processes. In this paper, we present a case of handwriting tics in a TS patient highlighting the main features. PMID:26924993

The Impact of Supplemental Handwriting and Spelling Instruction with First Grade Students Who Do Not Acquire Transcription Skills as Rapidly as Peers: A Randomized Control Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Steve; Harris, Karen R.; Adkins, Mary

2018-01-01

The impact of supplemental handwriting and spelling instruction on learning to write was examined in an experimental study with first grade students who were not acquiring these skills as rapidly as their classmates. Thirty students (16 boys, 14 girls) were randomly assigned to a handwriting and spelling instructional condition or a phonological…

Feature-Based Methods for Landmine Detection with Ground Penetrating Radar

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-27

of abstraction without having to resort to assumptions about the events. DS fusion was applied to handwriting recognition [67], decision making [68...has been applied to landmine detection [80], and (in a different way) to handwriting recognition [46], and fusion of social choices (voting...applications to handwriting recognition, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics 22 (3) (1992) 418–435. [68] M. Beynon, D. Cosker, A.D. Marshall

A computerized tablet with visual feedback of hand position for functional magnetic resonance imaging

PubMed Central

Karimpoor, Mahta; Tam, Fred; Strother, Stephen C.; Fischer, Corinne E.; Schweizer, Tom A.; Graham, Simon J.

2015-01-01

Neuropsychological tests behavioral tasks that very commonly involve handwriting and drawing are widely used in the clinic to detect abnormal brain function. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may be useful in increasing the specificity of such tests. However, performing complex pen-and-paper tests during fMRI involves engineering challenges. Previously, we developed an fMRI-compatible, computerized tablet system to address this issue. However, the tablet did not include visual feedback of hand position (VFHP), a human factors component that may be important for fMRI of certain patient populations. A real-time system was thus developed to provide VFHP and integrated with the tablet in an augmented reality display. The effectiveness of the system was initially tested in young healthy adults who performed various handwriting tasks in front of a computer display with and without VFHP. Pilot fMRI of writing tasks were performed by two representative individuals with and without VFHP. Quantitative analysis of the behavioral results indicated improved writing performance with VFHP. The pilot fMRI results suggest that writing with VFHP requires less neural resources compared to the without VFHP condition, to maintain similar behavior. Thus, the tablet system with VFHP is recommended for future fMRI studies involving patients with impaired brain function and where ecologically valid behavior is important. PMID:25859201

Changes in kinetics and kinematics of handwriting during a prolonged writing task in children with and without dysgraphia.

PubMed

Kushki, Azadeh; Schwellnus, Heidi; Ilyas, Faizah; Chau, Tom

2011-01-01

Handwriting difficulties or dysgraphia have a profound impact on children's psychosocial development, and yet, 10-30% of school-aged children are reported to experience difficulties mastering this skill. Several studies have examined the nature and biomechanical underpinnings of handwriting difficulties in children with and without dysgraphia. While the majority of these studies have considered short handwriting activities involving a sentence or a paragraph, handwriting quality and speed are reported to vary with the length of the writing task. Further, it is suggested that the biomechanics of handwriting also evolve over extended writing periods, and that these changes may be distinct between children with and without dysgraphia. The nature and specificity of these biomechanical alterations remain unknown. To address this knowledge gap, we examined changes in writing speed, grip forces on the pen barrel, and normal forces on the writing surface, over the course of a 10-min writing task, in a large cohort of 4th grade children with and without dysgraphia. Horizontal stroke speed, grip force and normal force increased over time while vertical stroke speed decreased in all children. These biomechanical changes may be attributable to physical and psychological fatigue and the corresponding compensatory processes invoked by the motor system. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The impact of handwriting difficulties on compositional quality in children with developmental coordination disorder

PubMed Central

Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy S

2016-01-01

Introduction There is substantial evidence to support the relationship between transcription skills (handwriting and spelling) and compositional quality. For children with developmental coordination disorder, handwriting can be particularly challenging. While recent research has aimed to investigate their handwriting difficulties in more detail, the impact of transcription on their compositional quality has not previously been examined. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine compositional quality in children with developmental coordination disorder and to ascertain whether their transcription skills influence writing quality. Method Twenty-eight children with developmental coordination disorder participated in the study, with 28 typically developing age and gender matched controls. The children completed the ‘free-writing’ task from the detailed assessment of speed of handwriting tool, which was evaluated for compositional quality using the Wechsler objective language dimensions. Results The children with developmental coordination disorder performed significantly below their typically developing peers on five of the six Wechsler objective language dimensions items. They also had a higher percentage of misspelled words. Regression analyses indicated that the number of words produced per minute and the percentage of misspelled words explained 55% of the variance for compositional quality. Conclusion The handwriting difficulties so commonly reported in children with developmental coordination disorder have wider repercussions for the quality of written composition. PMID:27807392

Handwriting features of children with developmental coordination disorder--results of triangular evaluation.

PubMed

Rosenblum, Sara; Margieh, Jumana Aassy; Engel-Yeger, Batya

2013-11-01

Developmental coordination disorders (DCD) is one of the most common disorders affecting school-aged children. The study aimed to characterize the handwriting performance of children with DCD who write in Arabic, based on triangular evaluation. Participants included 58 children aged 11-12 years, 29 diagnosed with DCD based on the DSM-IV criteria and the M-ABC, and 29 matched typically developed controls. Children were asked to copy a paragraph on a sheet of paper affixed to a digitizer supplying objective measures of the handwriting process. The handwriting proficiency screening questionnaire (HPSQ) was completed by their teachers while observing their performance and followed by evaluation of their final written product. Results indicated that compared to controls, children with DCD required significantly more on-paper and in-air time per stroke while copying. In addition, global legibility, unrecognizable letters and spatial arrangement measures of their written product were significantly inferior. Significant group differences were also found between the HPSQ subscales scores. Furthermore, 82.8% of all participants were correctly classified into groups based on one discriminate function which included two handwriting performance measures. These study results strongly propose application of triangular standardized evaluation to receive better insight of handwriting deficit features of individual children with DCD who write in Arabic. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Task specific grip force control in writer's cramp.

PubMed

Schneider, A S; Fürholzer, W; Marquardt, C; Hermsdörfer, J

2014-04-01

Writer's cramp is defined as a task specific focal dystonia generating hypertonic muscle co-contractions during handwriting resulting in impaired writing performance and exaggerated finger force. However, little is known about the generalisation of grip force across tasks others than writing. The aim of the study was to directly compare regulation of grip forces during handwriting with force regulation in other fine-motor tasks in patients and control subjects. Handwriting, lifting and cyclic movements of a grasped object were investigated in 21 patients and 14 controls. The applied forces were registered in all three tasks and compared between groups and tasks. In addition, task-specific measures of fine-motor skill were assessed. As expected, patients generated exaggerated forces during handwriting compared to control subjects. However there were no statistically significant group differences during lifting and cyclic movements. The control group revealed a generalisation of grip forces across manual tasks whereas in patients there was no such correlation. We conclude that increased finger forces during handwriting are a task-specific phenomenon that does not necessarily generalise to other fine-motor tasks. Force control of patients with writer's cramp in handwriting and other fine-motor tasks is characterised by individualised control strategies. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for handwriting-enabled electronic paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Komazaki, Y., E-mail: komazaki@dt.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Hirama, H.; Torii, T.

In this work, we describe the synthesis of novel electrically and magnetically dual-driven Janus particles for a handwriting-enabled twisting ball display via the microfluidic technique. One hemisphere of the Janus particles contains a charge control agent, which allows the display color to be controlled by applying a voltage and superparamagnetic nanoparticles, allows handwriting by applying a magnetic field to the display. We fabricated a twisting ball display utilizing these Janus particles and tested the electric color control and handwriting using a magnet. As a result, the display was capable of permitting handwriting with a small magnet in addition to conventionalmore » color control using an applied voltage (80 V). Handwriting performance was improved by increasing the concentration of superparamagnetic nanoparticles and was determined to be possible even when 80 V was applied across the electrodes for 4 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles in one hemisphere. This improvement was impossible when the concentration was reduced to 2 wt. % superparamagnetic nanoparticles. The technology presented in our work can be applied to low-cost, lightweight, highly visible, and energy-saving electronic message boards and large whiteboards because the large-size display can be fabricated easily due to its simple structure.« less

Effective Beginning Handwriting Instruction: Multi-modal, Consistent Format for 2 Years, and Linked to Spelling and Composing.

PubMed

Wolf, Beverly; Abbott, Robert D; Berninger, Virginia W

2017-02-01

In Study 1, the treatment group ( N = 33 first graders, M = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group ( N =16 first graders, M = 7 years 1 month, 7 girls) received manuscript handwriting instruction not systematically related to the other literacy activities. ANOVA showed both groups improved on automatic alphabet writing from memory; but ANCOVA with the automatic alphabet writing task as covariate showed that the treatment group improved significantly more than control group from the second to ninth month of first grade on dictated spelling and recognition of word-specific spellings among phonological foils. In Study 2 new groups received either a second year of manuscript ( N = 29, M = 7 years 8 months, 16 girls) or introduction to cursive (joined) instruction in second grade ( N = 24, M = 8 years 0 months, 11 girls) embedded in the Slingerland literacy program. ANCOVA with automatic alphabet writing as covariate showed that those who received a second year of manuscript handwriting instruction improved more on sustained handwriting over 30, 60, and 90 seconds than those who had had only one year of manuscript instruction; both groups improved in spelling and composing from the second to ninth month of second grade. Results are discussed in reference to mastering one handwriting format before introducing another format at a higher grade level and always embedding handwriting instruction in writing and reading instruction aimed at all levels of language.

Effective Beginning Handwriting Instruction: Multi-modal, Consistent Format for 2 Years, and Linked to Spelling and Composing

PubMed Central

Wolf, Beverly; Abbott, Robert D.; Berninger, Virginia W.

2016-01-01

In Study 1, the treatment group (N = 33 first graders, M = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group (N =16 first graders, M = 7 years 1 month, 7 girls) received manuscript handwriting instruction not systematically related to the other literacy activities. ANOVA showed both groups improved on automatic alphabet writing from memory; but ANCOVA with the automatic alphabet writing task as covariate showed that the treatment group improved significantly more than control group from the second to ninth month of first grade on dictated spelling and recognition of word-specific spellings among phonological foils. In Study 2 new groups received either a second year of manuscript (N = 29, M = 7 years 8 months, 16 girls) or introduction to cursive (joined) instruction in second grade (N = 24, M = 8 years 0 months, 11 girls) embedded in the Slingerland literacy program. ANCOVA with automatic alphabet writing as covariate showed that those who received a second year of manuscript handwriting instruction improved more on sustained handwriting over 30, 60, and 90 seconds than those who had had only one year of manuscript instruction; both groups improved in spelling and composing from the second to ninth month of second grade. Results are discussed in reference to mastering one handwriting format before introducing another format at a higher grade level and always embedding handwriting instruction in writing and reading instruction aimed at all levels of language. PMID:28190930

Traditional versus iPad-Mediated Handwriting Instruction in Early Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wells, Kevin E.; Sulak, Tracey N.; Saxon, Terrill F.; Howell, Leanne L.

2016-01-01

There has been a drastic increase in the use of technology in the classroom over the past 20 years. As computers and tablets permeate our schools, their presence is oftentimes seen as a cure to whatever problems may exist. While the promise of technology has held true within some domains, little has been done to examine its efficacy in some areas.…

Chinese handwriting performance in preterm children in grade 2

PubMed Central

Chang, Shao-Hsia; Hong, Rong-Bin

2018-01-01

Background First graders born prematurely perform poorly on handwriting speed and legibility. However, whether there are specific legibility factors in which preterm children demonstrate difficulty remains unknown. In addition, handwriting performance beyond the first grade and the influence of sex on handwriting performance in preterm children are still unclear. We aimed to investigate the influence of prematurity and sex on multiple dimensions of handwriting in grade two and to identify the contributors to performance. Methods Sixty-three preterm (34 boys and 29 girls) and 67 full-term (27 boys and 40 girls) peers in grade two were included. Class teachers were asked to complete the Chinese Handwriting Evaluation Form. A subgroup of 39 preterm children received assessments on intelligence, visual perception, tactile and kinesthetic sensation, and fine motor skills. Their inattention behavior was rated using a maternal self-report with a behavioral scale. Results Boys born prematurely exhibited poorer performance in the speed dimension than full-term boys (p = 0.008), whereas there was comparable performance in the two groups of girls (p = 0.221). In the dimensions related to legibility, preterm boys (32.4%) had a higher percentage of children with difficulty in the construction dimension than the other groups (preterm girls: 6.9%, full-term boys: 7.4%, full-term girls: 5.0%). However, no group difference was found in the dimensions of accuracy and directionality. Of the sensory-perceptual-motor factors, attention was the most significant predictor of accuracy in performance (p = 0.046) and speed dimensions (p = 0.001) in preterm children. Conclusions Boys appear to be vulnerable to the adverse impacts of preterm birth in terms of performance in the dimensions of speed and construction in grade two. Based on the significant contribution of attention to handwriting performance in preterm children, assessment and intervention in the area of attention is strongly suggested for preterm children with handwriting problems. PMID:29920537

Surface Modeling, Solid Modeling and Finite Element Modeling. Analysis Capabilities of Computer-Assisted Design and Manufacturing Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nee, John G.; Kare, Audhut P.

1987-01-01

Explores several concepts in computer assisted design/computer assisted manufacturing (CAD/CAM). Defines, evaluates, reviews and compares advanced computer-aided geometric modeling and analysis techniques. Presents the results of a survey to establish the capabilities of minicomputer based-systems with the CAD/CAM packages evaluated. (CW)

The Kritzel System for handwriting interpretation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Qian, G.

We present a new system for recognizing on-line cursive handwriting. The system, which is called the Kritzel System, has four features. First, the system characterizes handwriting as a sequence of feature vectors. Second, the system adapts to a particular writing style itself through a learning process. Third, the reasoning of the system is formulated in propositional logic with likelihoods. Fourth, the system can be readily linked with other English processing systems for lexical and contextual checking.

Character context: a shape descriptor for Arabic handwriting recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mudhsh, Mohammed; Almodfer, Rolla; Duan, Pengfei; Xiong, Shengwu

2017-11-01

In the handwriting recognition field, designing good descriptors are substantial to obtain rich information of the data. However, the handwriting recognition research of a good descriptor is still an open issue due to unlimited variation in human handwriting. We introduce a "character context descriptor" that efficiently dealt with the structural characteristics of Arabic handwritten characters. First, the character image is smoothed and normalized, then the character context descriptor of 32 feature bins is built based on the proposed "distance function." Finally, a multilayer perceptron with regularization is used as a classifier. On experimentation with a handwritten Arabic characters database, the proposed method achieved a state-of-the-art performance with recognition rate equal to 98.93% and 99.06% for the 66 and 24 classes, respectively.

Does the Handwriting Style Learned in First Grade Determine the Style Used in the Fourth and Fifth Grades and Influence Handwriting Speed and Quality? A Comparison between French and Quebec Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bara, Florence; Morin, Marie-France

2013-01-01

An important issue relating to the teaching of handwriting concerns the style that should be learned at school (manuscript or cursive). Whereas some countries choose to teach both styles (e.g., Canada), other countries choose to teach only one (e.g., France). Our research had three main underlying goals, namely (1) to observe and describe the…

Employing Handwriting without Tears® to Teach a 4-Year-Old Preschool Student to Write His Name with the Appropriate Size, Shape, and Form Combined with an Imitate/Trace/Copy/Memory Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Emalia C.; McLaughlin, Thomas; Derby, K. Mark; Weber, Kimberly P.; Donica, Denise K.; McKenzie, Michelle

2015-01-01

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the prewriting and handwriting curriculum Handwriting Without Tears® (HWT) in a preschool setting with a single student who has developmental delays and a suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. Data were collected during the regular preschool day. The behavior…

Handwriting generates variable visual output to facilitate symbol learning.

PubMed

Li, Julia X; James, Karin H

2016-03-01

Recent research has demonstrated that handwriting practice facilitates letter categorization in young children. The present experiments investigated why handwriting practice facilitates visual categorization by comparing 2 hypotheses: that handwriting exerts its facilitative effect because of the visual-motor production of forms, resulting in a direct link between motor and perceptual systems, or because handwriting produces variable visual instances of a named category in the environment that then changes neural systems. We addressed these issues by measuring performance of 5-year-old children on a categorization task involving novel, Greek symbols across 6 different types of learning conditions: 3 involving visual-motor practice (copying typed symbols independently, tracing typed symbols, tracing handwritten symbols) and 3 involving visual-auditory practice (seeing and saying typed symbols of a single typed font, of variable typed fonts, and of handwritten examples). We could therefore compare visual-motor production with visual perception both of variable and similar forms. Comparisons across the 6 conditions (N = 72) demonstrated that all conditions that involved studying highly variable instances of a symbol facilitated symbol categorization relative to conditions where similar instances of a symbol were learned, regardless of visual-motor production. Therefore, learning perceptually variable instances of a category enhanced performance, suggesting that handwriting facilitates symbol understanding by virtue of its environmental output: supporting the notion of developmental change though brain-body-environment interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Handwriting generates variable visual input to facilitate symbol learning

PubMed Central

Li, Julia X.; James, Karin H.

2015-01-01

Recent research has demonstrated that handwriting practice facilitates letter categorization in young children. The present experiments investigated why handwriting practice facilitates visual categorization by comparing two hypotheses: That handwriting exerts its facilitative effect because of the visual-motor production of forms, resulting in a direct link between motor and perceptual systems, or because handwriting produces variable visual instances of a named category in the environment that then changes neural systems. We addressed these issues by measuring performance of 5 year-old children on a categorization task involving novel, Greek symbols across 6 different types of learning conditions: three involving visual-motor practice (copying typed symbols independently, tracing typed symbols, tracing handwritten symbols) and three involving visual-auditory practice (seeing and saying typed symbols of a single typed font, of variable typed fonts, and of handwritten examples). We could therefore compare visual-motor production with visual perception both of variable and similar forms. Comparisons across the six conditions (N=72) demonstrated that all conditions that involved studying highly variable instances of a symbol facilitated symbol categorization relative to conditions where similar instances of a symbol were learned, regardless of visual-motor production. Therefore, learning perceptually variable instances of a category enhanced performance, suggesting that handwriting facilitates symbol understanding by virtue of its environmental output: supporting the notion of developmental change though brain-body-environment interactions. PMID:26726913

The use of handwriting examinations beyond the traditional court purpose.

PubMed

Agius, Anna; Jones, Kylie; Epple, Rochelle; Morelato, Marie; Moret, Sébastien; Chadwick, Scott; Roux, Claude

2017-09-01

Traditionally, forensic science has predominantly focused its resources and objectives on addressing court related questions. However, this view restricts the contribution of forensic science to one function and results in lost opportunities as investigative and intelligence roles are often overlooked. A change of perspective and expansion of the contributions of forensic science is required to take advantage of the benefits of abductive and inductive thought processes throughout the investigative and intelligence functions. One forensic discipline that has the potential to broaden its traditional focus is handwriting examination. Typically used in investigations that are focused on both criminal and civil cases, the examination procedure and outcome are time consuming and subjective, requiring a detailed study of the features of the handwriting in question. Traditionally, the major handwriting features exploited are characteristics that are often considered individual (or at least highly polymorphic) and habitual. However, handwriting can be considered as an information vector in an intelligence framework. One such example is the recognition of key elements related to the author's native language. This paper discusses the traditional method generally used around the world and proposes a theoretical approach to expand the application of handwriting examination towards gaining additional information for intelligence purposes. This concept will be designed and tested in a future research project. Copyright © 2017 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. All rights reserved.

Improving semi-text-independent method of writer verification using difference vector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xin; Ding, Xiaoqing

2009-01-01

The semi-text-independent method of writer verification based on the linear framework is a method that can use all characters of two handwritings to discriminate the writers in the condition of knowing the text contents. The handwritings are allowed to just have small numbers of even totally different characters. This fills the vacancy of the classical text-dependent methods and the text-independent methods of writer verification. Moreover, the information, what every character is, is used for the semi-text-independent method in this paper. Two types of standard templates, generated from many writer-unknown handwritten samples and printed samples of each character, are introduced to represent the content information of each character. The difference vectors of the character samples are gotten by subtracting the standard templates from the original feature vectors and used to replace the original vectors in the process of writer verification. By removing a large amount of content information and remaining the style information, the verification accuracy of the semi-text-independent method is improved. On a handwriting database involving 30 writers, when the query handwriting and the reference handwriting are composed of 30 distinct characters respectively, the average equal error rate (EER) of writer verification reaches 9.96%. And when the handwritings contain 50 characters, the average EER falls to 6.34%, which is 23.9% lower than the EER of not using the difference vectors.

Dystonias

MedlinePlus

... or walking some distance—or a worsening in handwriting after writing several lines. In other instances, the ... and sometimes the forearm, and only occurs during handwriting. Similar focal dystonias have also been called typist's ...

A Set of Handwriting Features for Use in Automated Writer Identification.

PubMed

Miller, John J; Patterson, Robert Bradley; Gantz, Donald T; Saunders, Christopher P; Walch, Mark A; Buscaglia, JoAnn

2017-05-01

A writer's biometric identity can be characterized through the distribution of physical feature measurements ("writer's profile"); a graph-based system that facilitates the quantification of these features is described. To accomplish this quantification, handwriting is segmented into basic graphical forms ("graphemes"), which are "skeletonized" to yield the graphical topology of the handwritten segment. The graph-based matching algorithm compares the graphemes first by their graphical topology and then by their geometric features. Graphs derived from known writers can be compared against graphs extracted from unknown writings. The process is computationally intensive and relies heavily upon statistical pattern recognition algorithms. This article focuses on the quantification of these physical features and the construction of the associated pattern recognition methods for using the features to discriminate among writers. The graph-based system described in this article has been implemented in a highly accurate and approximately language-independent biometric recognition system of writers of cursive documents. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Effects of a classroom-embedded occupational therapist-teacher handwriting program for first-grade students.

PubMed

Case-Smith, Jane; Weaver, Lindy; Holland, Terri

2014-01-01

This study examined the effectiveness of Write Start, a handwriting and writing program cotaught by teachers and occupational therapists for first-grade children. Four classrooms (n = 80) received the Write Start program, and four (n = 58) received standard handwriting and writing instruction. Two teachers and an occupational therapist implemented the 24-session manualized program, which included station teaching and individualized supports. The program emphasized practice in small groups in which the coteaching team provided students with frequent feedback, encouraged self-evaluation, and facilitated peer modeling and peer evaluation. Students who completed the Write Start program improved more in handwriting legibility and speed than the group receiving standard instruction. Writing fluency and written composition were no different between groups at posttest; however, writing fluency was significantly higher for Write Start students at 6-mo follow-up. Write Start students with low legibility at baseline made significant improvements, suggesting that the program may benefit students at risk for handwriting and writing problems. Copyright © 2014 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Short-term sensorimotor-based intervention for handwriting performance in elementary school children.

PubMed

Alhusaini, Adel A; Melam, Ganeswara Rao; Buragadda, Syamala

2016-11-01

Handwriting problems in childhood can have lifelong repercussions, affecting learning and career. Sensorimotor intervention therefore helps to alleviate these problems. Thirty-one students (16 boys, 15 girls) underwent Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA) to assess legibility, form, alignment, size, and spacing (the primary variables in this subject) as well as rate. Finally, 10 students (seven boys, three girls) aged 6-8 years (mean age, 77.1 ± 1.45 months) participated in an intervention program. Baseline MHA, Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ), and grip strength were measured. The same group of students acted as their own controls and were analyzed before the interventions and later after completion of the protocol. There was a significant improvement in MHA scores for legibility, form, alignment, size and spacing (P < 0.05), with the exception of rate. There were also significant changes in legibility, time performance and physical and emotional wellbeing domains in the HPSQ, and grip strength (P < 0.05, paired t-test). Short-term sensorimotor-based intervention produced significant improvements in the handwriting performance of elementary school children. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

Using perturbed handwriting to support writer identification in the presence of severe data constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jin; Cheng, Wen; Lopresti, Daniel

2011-01-01

Since real data is time-consuming and expensive to collect and label, researchers have proposed approaches using synthetic variations for the tasks of signature verification, speaker authentication, handwriting recognition, keyword spotting, etc. However, the limitation of real data is particularly critical in the field of writer identification in that in forensics, adversaries cannot be expected to provide sufficient data to train a classifier. Therefore, it is unrealistic to always assume sufficient real data to train classifiers extensively for writer identification. In addition, this field differs from many others in that we strive to preserve as much inter-writer variations, but model-perturbed handwriting might break such discriminability among writers. Building on work described in another paper where human subjects were involved in calibrating realistic-looking transformation, we then measured the effects of incorporating perturbed handwriting into the training dataset. Experimental results justified our hypothesis that with limited real data, model-perturbed handwriting improved the performance of writer identification. Particularly, if only one single sample for each writer was available, incorporating perturbed data achieved a 36x performance gain.

Initial Usability Testing of a Hand-Held Electronic Logbook Prototype for the Human Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berman, Andrea H.; Whitmore, Mihriban

1996-01-01

The Apple(R) Newton(TM) MessagePad 110 was flown aboard the KC-135 reduced gravity aircraft for microgravity usability testing. The Newton served as the initial hand-held electronic logbook prototype for the International Space Station (ISS) Human Research Facility (HRF). Subjects performed three different tasks with the Newton: (1) using the stylus to tap on different sections of the screen in order to launch an application and to select options within it; (2) using the stylus to write, and; (3) correcting handwriting recognition errors in a handwriting-intensive application. Subjects rated handwriting in microgravity 'Borderline' and had great difficulties finding a way in which to adequately restrain themselves at the lower body in order to have their hands free for the Newton. Handwriting recognition was rated 'Unacceptable,' but this issue is hardware-related and not unique to the microgravity environment. It is suggested that the restraint and handwriting issues are related and require further joint research with the current Handheld Electronic Logbook prototype: the Norand Pen*key Model #6300.

Developmental study of visual perception of handwriting movement: influence of motor competencies?

PubMed

Bidet-Ildei, Christel; Orliaguet, Jean-Pierre

2008-07-25

This paper investigates the influence of motor competencies for the visual perception of human movements in 6-10 years old children. To this end, we compared the kinematics of actual performed and perceptual preferred handwriting movements. The two children's tasks were (1) to write the letter e on a digitizer (handwriting task) and (2) to adjust the velocity of an e displayed on a screen so that it would correspond to "their preferred velocity" (perceptive task). In both tasks, the size of the letter (from 3.4 to 54.02 cm) was different on each trial. Results showed that irrespective of age and task, total movement time conforms to the isochrony principle, i.e., the tendency to maintain constant the duration of movement across changes of amplitude. However, concerning movement speed, there is no developmental correspondence between results obtained in the motor and the perceptive tasks. In handwriting task, movement time decreased with age but no effect of age was observed in the perceptive task. Therefore, perceptual preference of handwriting movement in children could not be strictly interpreted in terms of motor-perceptual coupling.

Albert Schweitzer: a patient with writer's cramp.

PubMed

Tacik, P; Schrader, C; Weber, E; Dressler, D

2012-06-01

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) the world-famous philosopher, theologian, concert organist, musicologist, philanthropist and winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize suffered throughout most of his life from severe and painful muscle cramps in his right upper extremity which were triggered exclusively by handwriting. They led to tonic finger flexion and wrist extension and produced slow and clumsy handwriting of a reduced character size. Other motor functions including Schweitzer's highly skilful and famous organ playing were not affected. Inheritance from his mother is likely. Schweitzer applied several coping strategies including a specific holding pattern for pens, usage of special pens, avoidance of handwriting and slowing of handwriting. With all these features Schweitzer presents as a classical case of action-specific dystonia in the form of a simple tonic writer's cramp. Interestingly, Schweitzer never received a medical diagnosis, although writer's cramp had already been identified and described as a medical condition. Impairment of his handwriting but not his organ playing may give insight into the multifactorial aetiology of writer's cramp. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Examining the contribution of handwriting and spelling to written expression in kindergarten children

PubMed Central

AlOtaiba, Stephanie

2011-01-01

In this study, we examined the development of beginning writing skills in kindergarten children and the contribution of spelling and handwriting to these writing skills after accounting for early language, literacy, cognitive skills, and student characteristics. Two hundred and forty two children were given a battery of cognitive, oral language, reading, and writing measures. They exhibited a range of competency in spelling, handwriting, written expression, and in their ability to express ideas. Handwriting and spelling made statistically significant contributions to written expression, demonstrating the importance of these lower-order transcription skills to higher order text-generation skills from a very early age. The contributions of oral language and reading skills were not significant. Implications of these findings for writing development and instruction are addressed. PMID:23087544

Effectiveness of a handwriting readiness program in head start: a two-group controlled trial.

PubMed

Lust, Carol A; Donica, Denise K

2011-01-01

This study measured skill improvement in prewriting skills, kindergarten readiness, first-name writing, and handwriting-nonspecific fine motor skills of students at Head Start who participated in Handwriting Without Tears-Get Set for School (HWT-GSS) programming. We conducted a two-group, nonrandomized controlled trial using a pretest-posttest design at a rural Head Start. The effectiveness of adding the HWT-GSS curriculum in one preschool classroom was compared with a control classroom. On posttesting, the experimental group made significant improvements compared with the control group in prewriting, kindergarten readiness, and fine motor skills. Both groups made significant improvements between pretesting and posttesting in prewriting, first name writing, and school readiness. Adding HWT-GSS to the Head Start program would be beneficial in improving handwriting readiness skills.

Facilitating mathematics learning for students with upper extremity disabilities using touch-input system.

PubMed

Choi, Kup-Sze; Chan, Tak-Yin

2015-03-01

To investigate the feasibility of using tablet device as user interface for students with upper extremity disabilities to input mathematics efficiently into computer. A touch-input system using tablet device as user interface was proposed to assist these students to write mathematics. User-switchable and context-specific keyboard layouts were designed to streamline the input process. The system could be integrated with conventional computer systems only with minor software setup. A two-week pre-post test study involving five participants was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system and collect user feedback. The mathematics input efficiency of the participants was found to improve during the experiment sessions. In particular, their performance in entering trigonometric expressions by using the touch-input system was significantly better than that by using conventional mathematics editing software with keyboard and mouse. The participants rated the touch-input system positively and were confident that they could operate at ease with more practice. The proposed touch-input system provides a convenient way for the students with hand impairment to write mathematics and has the potential to facilitate their mathematics learning. Implications for Rehabilitation Students with upper extremity disabilities often face barriers to learning mathematics which is largely based on handwriting. Conventional computer user interfaces are inefficient for them to input mathematics into computer. A touch-input system with context-specific and user-switchable keyboard layouts was designed to improve the efficiency of mathematics input. Experimental results and user feedback suggested that the system has the potential to facilitate mathematics learning for the students.

The Effects of "Handwriting without Tears®" on the Handwriting Skills of Appropriate Size, Form, and Tool for a Four Year-Old Boy with a Developmental Delay

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyers, Colleen; McLaughlin, T. F.; Derby, Mark; Weber, Kimberly P.; Robison, Milena

2015-01-01

The ability to write one's own name legibly is a critical lifelong skill for academic success. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the Handwriting Without Tears® program on teaching a four year-old how to write his first name using proper size, form, and tool. The participant was a four year-old boy in a self-contained…

Good handwriting: a vital element of a district nurse's duty of care.

PubMed

Griffith, Richard

2013-07-01

Written records and prescriptions continue to be common in district nursing and will continue to be until the Government achieves its goal of a fully digital NHS by 2018. The main issue with written records and prescriptions is the risk to patient safety caused by poor handwriting, resulting in illegible instructions and prescriptions. In this article the author considers the duty of district nurses to write clearly and highlights the financial and human cost of poor handwriting.

Using online handwriting and audio streams for mathematical expressions recognition: a bimodal approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medjkoune, Sofiane; Mouchère, Harold; Petitrenaud, Simon; Viard-Gaudin, Christian

2013-01-01

The work reported in this paper concerns the problem of mathematical expressions recognition. This task is known to be a very hard one. We propose to alleviate the difficulties by taking into account two complementary modalities. The modalities referred to are handwriting and audio ones. To combine the signals coming from both modalities, various fusion methods are explored. Performances evaluated on the HAMEX dataset show a significant improvement compared to a single modality (handwriting) based system.

Lecturing with a Virtual Whiteboard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milanovic, Zoran

2006-09-01

Recent advances in computer technology, word processing software, and projection systems have made traditional whiteboard lecturing obsolete. Tablet personal computers connected to display projectors and running handwriting software have replaced the marker-on-whiteboard method of delivering a lecture. Since the notes can be saved into an electronic file, they can be uploaded to a class website to be perused by the students later. This paper will describe the author's experiences in using this new technology to deliver physics lectures at an engineering school. The benefits and problems discovered will be reviewed and results from a survey of student opinions will be discussed.

Toward Monitoring Parkinson's Through Analysis of Static Handwriting Samples: A Quantitative Analytical Framework.

PubMed

Zhi, Naiqian; Jaeger, Beverly Kris; Gouldstone, Andrew; Sipahi, Rifat; Frank, Samuel

2017-03-01

Detection of changes in micrographia as a manifestation of symptomatic progression or therapeutic response in Parkinson's disease (PD) is challenging as such changes can be subtle. A computerized toolkit based on quantitative analysis of handwriting samples would be valuable as it could supplement and support clinical assessments, help monitor micrographia, and link it to PD. Such a toolkit would be especially useful if it could detect subtle yet relevant changes in handwriting morphology, thus enhancing resolution of the detection procedure. This would be made possible by developing a set of metrics sensitive enough to detect and discern micrographia with specificity. Several metrics that are sensitive to the characteristics of micrographia were developed, with minimal sensitivity to confounding handwriting artifacts. These metrics capture character size-reduction, ink utilization, and pixel density within a writing sample from left to right. They are used here to "score" handwritten signatures of 12 different individuals corresponding to healthy and symptomatic PD conditions, and sample control signatures that had been artificially reduced in size for comparison purposes. Moreover, metric analyses of samples from ten of the 12 individuals for which clinical diagnosis time is known show considerable informative variations when applied to static signature samples obtained before and after diagnosis. In particular, a measure called pixel density variation showed statistically significant differences ( ) between two comparison groups of remote signature recordings: earlier versus recent, based on independent and paired t-test analyses on a total of 40 signature samples. The quantitative framework developed here has the potential to be used in future controlled experiments to study micrographia and links to PD from various aspects, including monitoring and assessment of applied interventions and treatments. The inherent value in this methodology is further enhanced by its reliance solely on static signatures, not requiring dynamic sampling with specialized equipment.

The influence of writing practice on letter recognition in preschool children: a comparison between handwriting and typing.

PubMed

Longcamp, Marieke; Zerbato-Poudou, Marie-Thérèse; Velay, Jean-Luc

2005-05-01

A large body of data supports the view that movement plays a crucial role in letter representation and suggests that handwriting contributes to the visual recognition of letters. If so, changing the motor conditions while children are learning to write by using a method based on typing instead of handwriting should affect their subsequent letter recognition performances. In order to test this hypothesis, we trained two groups of 38 children (aged 3-5 years) to copy letters of the alphabet either by hand or by typing them. After three weeks of learning, we ran two recognition tests, one week apart, to compare the letter recognition performances of the two groups. The results showed that in the older children, the handwriting training gave rise to a better letter recognition than the typing training.

Handwriting performance in the absence of visual control in writer's cramp patients: Initial observations

PubMed Central

Chakarov, Vihren; Hummel, Sibylla; Losch, Florian; Schulte-Mönting, Jürgen; Kristeva, Rumyana

2006-01-01

Background The present study was aimed at investigating the writing parameters of writer's cramp patients and control subjects during handwriting of a test sentence in the absence of visual control. Methods Eight right-handed patients with writer's cramp and eight healthy volunteers as age-matched control subjects participated in the study. The experimental task consisted in writing a test sentence repeatedly for fifty times on a pressure-sensitive digital board. The subject did not have visual control on his handwriting. The writing performance was stored on a PC and analyzed off-line. Results During handwriting all patients developed a typical dystonic limb posture and reported an increase in muscular tension along the experimental session. The patients were significantly slower than the controls, with lower mean vertical pressure of the pen tip on the paper and they could not reach the endmost letter of the sentence in the given time window. No other handwriting parameter differences were found between the two groups. Conclusion Our findings indicate that during writing in the absence of visual feedback writer's cramp patients are slower and could not reach the endmost letter of the test sentence, but their level of automatization is not impaired and writer's cramp handwriting parameters are similar to those of the controls except for even lower vertical pressure of the pen tip on the paper, which is probably due to a changed strategy in such experimental conditions. PMID:16594993

Low-frequency periodicity in the coordination of progressive handwriting.

PubMed

Thomassen, A J; Meulenbroek, R G

1998-11-01

The paper addresses the question how the effector segments are coordinated during handwriting, in particular as a function of the left-to-right progression within words. It studies the phase relations between wrist and finger-joint rotations during a repetitive graphic task (long words consisting of letters 'e'), and it subjects the resulting continuous phase-relation plots to autocorrelation analysis. A novel phenomenon, viz. that of low-frequency (1-Hz) periodicity, is observed which presumably reflects adjustments of the coordination pattern about once per second, i.e., after every three or four letters 'e'. Moreover, word length and word position are found to affect this periodicity in a predictable manner. These results are related to those of an earlier study which used an ad-hoc method of analysing wrist-finger coordination adjustments. The paper underlines the value of phase-relation analysis for certain graphic tasks, but it also points out its limitations for this purpose.

Handwriting speed in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: are they really slower?

PubMed

Prunty, Mellissa M; Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy S

2013-09-01

Handwriting difficulties are often included in descriptions of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). They are cited as the most common reason for referral to health professionals following parent and teacher concerns about slow and untidy writing. The aim of this study was to compare handwriting performance in English children with and without DCD across a range of writing tasks, to gain a better understanding of the nature of 'slowness' so commonly reported. Twenty-eight 8-14 year-old children with a diagnosis of DCD participated in the study, with 28 typically developing age and gender matched controls. Participants completed the four handwriting tasks from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) and wrote their own name; all on a digitising writing tablet. The number of words written, speed of pen movements and the time spent pausing during the tasks were calculated. The findings confirmed what many professionals report, that children with DCD produce less text than their peers. However, this was not due to slow movement execution, but rather a higher percentage of time spent pausing. Discussion centres on the understanding of the pausing phenomenon in children with DCD and areas for further research. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Actor-network Procedures: Modeling Multi-factor Authentication, Device Pairing, Social Interactions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-29

unmodifiable properties of your body; or the capabilities that you cannot convey to others, such as your handwriting . An identity can thus be determined by...network, two principals with the same set of secrets but, say , different computational powers, can be distinguished by timing their responses. Or they... says that configurations are finite sets. Partially ordered multisets, or pomsets were introduced and extensively studied by Vaughan Pratt and his

29 CFR 18.901 - Requirement of authentication or identification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... matter is what it is claimed to be. (2) Nonexpert opinion on handwriting. Nonexpert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of litigation. (3) Comparison by...

29 CFR 18.901 - Requirement of authentication or identification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... matter is what it is claimed to be. (2) Nonexpert opinion on handwriting. Nonexpert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of litigation. (3) Comparison by...

75 FR 28063 - M & N Distributors; Dismissal of Proceeding

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-19

... Respondent could improve the legibility of his records by either ``typing or carefully handwriting the logs... the originals are illegible. Second, the legibility of a person's handwriting is like beauty--it is in...

29 CFR 18.901 - Requirement of authentication or identification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... matter is what it is claimed to be. (2) Nonexpert opinion on handwriting. Nonexpert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of litigation. (3) Comparison by...

29 CFR 18.901 - Requirement of authentication or identification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... matter is what it is claimed to be. (2) Nonexpert opinion on handwriting. Nonexpert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of litigation. (3) Comparison by...

29 CFR 18.901 - Requirement of authentication or identification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... matter is what it is claimed to be. (2) Nonexpert opinion on handwriting. Nonexpert opinion as to the genuineness of handwriting, based upon familiarity not acquired for purposes of litigation. (3) Comparison by...

Improving a HMM-based off-line handwriting recognition system using MME-PSO optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamdani, Mahdi; El Abed, Haikal; Hamdani, Tarek M.; Märgner, Volker; Alimi, Adel M.

2011-01-01

One of the trivial steps in the development of a classifier is the design of its architecture. This paper presents a new algorithm, Multi Models Evolvement (MME) using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). This algorithm is a modified version of the basic PSO, which is used to the unsupervised design of Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based architectures. For instance, the proposed algorithm is applied to an Arabic handwriting recognizer based on discrete probability HMMs. After the optimization of their architectures, HMMs are trained with the Baum- Welch algorithm. The validation of the system is based on the IfN/ENIT database. The performance of the developed approach is compared to the participating systems at the 2005 competition organized on Arabic handwriting recognition on the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR). The final system is a combination between an optimized HMM with 6 other HMMs obtained by a simple variation of the number of states. An absolute improvement of 6% of word recognition rate with about 81% is presented. This improvement is achieved comparing to the basic system (ARAB-IfN). The proposed recognizer outperforms also most of the known state-of-the-art systems.

Handwriting Examination: Moving from Art to Science

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jarman, K.H.; Hanlen, R.C.; Manzolillo, P.A.

In this document, we present a method for validating the premises and methodology of forensic handwriting examination. This method is intuitively appealing because it relies on quantitative measurements currently used qualitatively by FDE's in making comparisons, and it is scientifically rigorous because it exploits the power of multivariate statistical analysis. This approach uses measures of both central tendency and variation to construct a profile for a given individual. (Central tendency and variation are important for characterizing an individual's writing and both are currently used by FDE's in comparative analyses). Once constructed, different profiles are then compared for individuality using clustermore » analysis; they are grouped so that profiles within a group cannot be differentiated from one another based on the measured characteristics, whereas profiles between groups can. The cluster analysis procedure used here exploits the power of multivariate hypothesis testing. The result is not only a profile grouping but also an indication of statistical significance of the groups generated.« less

Limitations of the dual-process-theory regarding the writing of words and non-words to dictation.

PubMed

Tucha, Oliver; Trumpp, Christian; Lange, Klaus W

2004-12-01

It is generally assumed that the lexical and phonological systems are involved in writing to dictation. In an experiment concerned with the writing of words and non-words to dictation, the handwriting of female students was registered using a digitising tablet. The data contradict the assumption that the phonological system represents an alexical process. Both words and non-words which were acoustically presented to the subjects were lexically parsed. The analysis of kinematic data revealed significant differences between the subjects' writing of words and non-words. The findings reveal gross disturbances of handwriting fluency during the writing of non-words. The findings of the experiment cannot be explained by the dual-process-theory.

An examination of writing pauses in the handwriting of children with developmental coordination disorder.

PubMed

Prunty, Mellissa M; Barnett, Anna L; Wilmut, Kate; Plumb, Mandy S

2014-11-01

Difficulties with handwriting are reported as one of the main reasons for the referral of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) to healthcare professionals. In a recent study we found that children with DCD produced less text than their typically developing (TD) peers and paused for 60% of a free-writing task. However, little is known about the nature of the pausing; whether they are long pauses possibly due to higher level processes of text generation or fatigue, or shorter pauses related to the movements between letters. This gap in the knowledge-base creates barriers to understanding the handwriting difficulties in children with DCD. The aim of this study was to characterise the pauses observed in the handwriting of English children with and without DCD. Twenty-eight 8-14 year-old children with a diagnosis of DCD participated in the study, with 28 TD age and gender matched controls. Participants completed the 10 min free-writing task from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) on a digitising writing tablet. The total overall percentage of pausing during the task was categorised into four pause time-frames, each derived from the literature on writing (250 ms to 2 s; 2-4 s; 4-10 s and >10 s). In addition, the location of the pauses was coded (within word/between word) to examine where the breakdown in the writing process occurred. The results indicated that the main group difference was driven by more pauses above 10 s in the DCD group. In addition, the DCD group paused more within words compared to TD peers, indicating a lack of automaticity in their handwriting. These findings may support the provision of additional time for children with DCD in written examinations. More importantly, they emphasise the need for intervention in children with DCD to promote the acquisition of efficient handwriting skill. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

76 FR 49497 - Privacy Act of 1974; Department of Homeland Security/United States Secret Service-001 Criminal...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-10

... material compiled for law enforcement purposes, including but not limited to, handwriting exemplars; laboratory analyses of inks and papers; handwriting analyses; petitions for the remission of forfeitures...

Writing to dictation and handwriting performance among Chinese children with dyslexia: relationships with orthographic knowledge and perceptual-motor skills.

PubMed

Cheng-Lai, Alice; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W P; Chan, Alan H L; Lo, Amy G W

2013-10-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between writing to dictation, handwriting, orthographic, and perceptual-motor skills among Chinese children with dyslexia. A cross-sectional design was used. A total of 45 third graders with dyslexia were assessed. Results of stepwise multiple regression models showed that Chinese character naming was the only predictor associated with word dictation (β=.32); handwriting speed was related to deficits in rapid automatic naming (β=-.36) and saccadic efficiency (β=-.29), and visual-motor integration predicted both of the number of characters exceeded grid (β=-.41) and variability of character size (β=-.38). The findings provided support to a multi-stage working memory model of writing for explaining the possible underlying mechanism of writing to dictation and handwriting difficulties. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reading words, seeing style: the neuropsychology of word, font and handwriting perception.

PubMed

Barton, Jason J S; Sekunova, Alla; Sheldon, Claire; Johnston, Samantha; Iaria, Giuseppe; Scheel, Michael

2010-11-01

The reading of text is predominantly a left hemisphere function. However, it is also possible to process text for attributes other than word or letter identity, such as style of font or handwriting. Anecdotal observations have suggested that processing the latter may involve the right hemisphere. We devised a test that, using the identical stimuli, required subjects first to match on the basis of word identity and second to match on the basis of script style. We presented two versions, one using various computer fonts, and the other using the handwriting of different individuals. We tested four subjects with unilateral lesions who had been well characterized by neuropsychological testing and structural and/or functional MRI. We found that two prosopagnosic subjects with right lateral fusiform damage eliminating the fusiform face area and likely the right visual word form area were impaired in completion times and/or accuracy when sorting for script style, but performed better when sorting for word identity. In contrast, one alexic subject with left fusiform damage showed normal accuracy for sorting by script style and normal or mildly elevated completion times for sorting by style, but markedly prolonged reading times for sorting by word identity. A prosopagnosic subject with right medial occipitotemporal damage sparing areas in the lateral fusiform gyrus performed well on both tasks. The contrast in the performance of patients with right versus left fusiform damage suggests an important distinction in hemispheric processing that reflects not the type of stimulus but the nature of processing required. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

78 FR 77354 - Procedural Rules To Permit Parties To File and Serve Documents Electronically

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-23

... by handwriting his or her signature. For documents filed by electronic transmission, a party may sign... transmission. A party or representative of the party shall sign a document by handwriting his signature. (2...

Phase II randomised controlled trial of a 6-month self-managed community exercise programme for people with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Collett, Johnny; Franssen, Marloes; Meaney, Andy; Wade, Derick; Izadi, Hooshang; Tims, Martin; Winward, Charlotte; Bogdanovic, Marko; Farmer, Andrew; Dawes, Helen

2017-03-01

Evidence for longer term exercise delivery for people with Parkinson's disease (PwP) is deficient. Evaluate safety and adherence to a minimally supported community exercise intervention and estimate effect sizes (ES). 2-arm parallel phase II randomised controlled trial with blind assessment. PwP able to walk ≥100 m and with no contraindication to exercise were recruited from the Thames valley, UK, and randomised (1:1) to intervention (exercise) or control (handwriting) groups, via a concealed computer-generated list. Groups received a 6-month, twice weekly programme. Exercise was undertaken in community facilities (30 min aerobic and 30 min resistance) and handwriting at home, both were delivered through workbooks with monthly support visits. Primary outcome was a 2 min walk, with motor symptoms (Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, MDS-UPDRS III), fitness, health and well-being measured. Between December 2011 and August 2013, n=53 (n=54 analysed) were allocated to exercise and n=52 (n=51 analysed) to handwriting. N=37 adhered to the exercise, most attending ≥1 session/week. Aerobic exercise was performed in 99% of attended sessions and resistance in 95%. Attrition and adverse events (AEs) were similar between groups, no serious AEs (n=2 exercise, n=3 handwriting) were related, exercise group-related AEs (n=2) did not discontinue intervention. Largest effects were for motor symptoms (2 min walk ES=0.20 (95% CI -0.44 to 0.45) and MDS-UPDRS III ES=-0.30 (95% CI 0.07 to 0.54)) in favour of exercise over the 12-month follow-up period. Some small effects were observed in fitness and well-being measures (ES>0.1). PwP exercised safely and the possible long-term benefits observed support a substantive evaluation of this community programme. NCT01439022. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Segmental Rescoring in Text Recognition

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-04

description relates to rescoring text hypotheses in text recognition based on segmental features. Offline printed text and handwriting recognition (OHR) can... Handwriting , College Park, Md., 2006, which is incorporated by reference here. For the set of training images 202, a character modeler 208 receives

Benchmarking desktop and mobile handwriting across COTS devices: The e-BioSign biometric database

PubMed Central

Tolosana, Ruben; Vera-Rodriguez, Ruben; Fierrez, Julian; Morales, Aythami; Ortega-Garcia, Javier

2017-01-01

This paper describes the design, acquisition process and baseline evaluation of the new e-BioSign database, which includes dynamic signature and handwriting information. Data is acquired from 5 different COTS devices: three Wacom devices (STU-500, STU-530 and DTU-1031) specifically designed to capture dynamic signatures and handwriting, and two general purpose tablets (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung ATIV 7). For the two Samsung tablets, data is collected using both pen stylus and also the finger in order to study the performance of signature verification in a mobile scenario. Data was collected in two sessions for 65 subjects, and includes dynamic information of the signature, the full name and alpha numeric sequences. Skilled forgeries were also performed for signatures and full names. We also report a benchmark evaluation based on e-BioSign for person verification under three different real scenarios: 1) intra-device, 2) inter-device, and 3) mixed writing-tool. We have experimented the proposed benchmark using the main existing approaches for signature verification: feature- and time functions-based. As a result, new insights into the problem of signature biometrics in sensor-interoperable scenarios have been obtained, namely: the importance of specific methods for dealing with device interoperability, and the necessity of a deeper analysis on signatures acquired using the finger as the writing tool. This e-BioSign public database allows the research community to: 1) further analyse and develop signature verification systems in realistic scenarios, and 2) investigate towards a better understanding of the nature of the human handwriting when captured using electronic COTS devices in realistic conditions. PMID:28475590

Benchmarking desktop and mobile handwriting across COTS devices: The e-BioSign biometric database.

PubMed

Tolosana, Ruben; Vera-Rodriguez, Ruben; Fierrez, Julian; Morales, Aythami; Ortega-Garcia, Javier

2017-01-01

This paper describes the design, acquisition process and baseline evaluation of the new e-BioSign database, which includes dynamic signature and handwriting information. Data is acquired from 5 different COTS devices: three Wacom devices (STU-500, STU-530 and DTU-1031) specifically designed to capture dynamic signatures and handwriting, and two general purpose tablets (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and Samsung ATIV 7). For the two Samsung tablets, data is collected using both pen stylus and also the finger in order to study the performance of signature verification in a mobile scenario. Data was collected in two sessions for 65 subjects, and includes dynamic information of the signature, the full name and alpha numeric sequences. Skilled forgeries were also performed for signatures and full names. We also report a benchmark evaluation based on e-BioSign for person verification under three different real scenarios: 1) intra-device, 2) inter-device, and 3) mixed writing-tool. We have experimented the proposed benchmark using the main existing approaches for signature verification: feature- and time functions-based. As a result, new insights into the problem of signature biometrics in sensor-interoperable scenarios have been obtained, namely: the importance of specific methods for dealing with device interoperability, and the necessity of a deeper analysis on signatures acquired using the finger as the writing tool. This e-BioSign public database allows the research community to: 1) further analyse and develop signature verification systems in realistic scenarios, and 2) investigate towards a better understanding of the nature of the human handwriting when captured using electronic COTS devices in realistic conditions.

Brainstem arteriovenous malformation presenting with dyspraxic handwriting in a young girl.

PubMed

Coppola, Giangennaro; D'Amico, Alessandra; Pironti, Erica; Martino, Federica; Santoro, Elena; Di Paolo, Nilde; Isone, Claudia; Catone, Gennaro

2014-06-01

We report the case of a 11-year-old girl who developed an isolated hand-writing disorder with dysgraphia at the beginning of the school year in the sixth grade. A brain magnetic resonance angiography showed a round arteriovenous malformation sited in the left side of the midbrain extending to the ipsilateral medio-basal thalamus. Child neurologists should never neglect a thorough neurological evaluation in case of isolated worsening of handwriting, to rule out possible underlying organic causes. Copyright © 2013 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Handwritten document age classification based on handwriting styles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramaiah, Chetan; Kumar, Gaurav; Govindaraju, Venu

2012-01-01

Handwriting styles are constantly changing over time. We approach the novel problem of estimating the approximate age of Historical Handwritten Documents using Handwriting styles. This system will have many applications in handwritten document processing engines where specialized processing techniques can be applied based on the estimated age of the document. We propose to learn a distribution over styles across centuries using Topic Models and to apply a classifier over weights learned in order to estimate the approximate age of the documents. We present a comparison of different distance metrics such as Euclidean Distance and Hellinger Distance within this application.

Font generation of personal handwritten Chinese characters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Jeng-Wei; Wang, Chih-Yin; Ting, Chao-Lung; Chang, Ray-I.

2014-01-01

Today, digital multimedia messages have drawn more and more attention due to the great achievement of computer and network techniques. Nevertheless, text is still the most popular media for people to communicate with others. Many fonts have been developed so that product designers can choose unique fonts to demonstrate their idea gracefully. It is commonly believed that handwritings can reflect one's personality, emotion, feeling, education level, and so on. This is especially true in Chinese calligraphy. However, it is not easy for ordinary users to customize a font of their personal handwritings. In this study, we performed a process reengineering in font generation. We present a new method to create font in a batch mode. Rather than to create glyphs of characters one by one according to their codepoints, people create glyphs incrementally in an on-demand manner. A Java Implementation is developed to read a document image of user handwritten Chinese characters, and make a vector font of these handwritten Chinese characters. Preliminary experiment result shows that the proposed method can help ordinary users create their personal handwritten fonts easily and quickly.

Studies in interactive communication. II - The effects of four communication modes on the linguistic performance of teams during cooperative problem solving

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapanis, A.; Parrish, R. N.; Ochsman, R. B.; Weeks, G. D.

1977-01-01

Two-man teams solved credible, 'real world' problems for which computer assistance has been or could be useful. Conversations were carried on in one of four modes of communication: typewriting, handwriting, voice, and natural unrestricted communication. Performance was assessed on three classes of dependent measures: time to solution, behavioral measures of activity, and linguistic measures. Significant differences among the communication modes were found in each of the three classes. This paper is concerned mainly with the results of the linguistic analyses. Linguistic performance was assessed with 182 measures, most of which turned out to be redundant and some of which were useless or meaningless. Those that remain show that although problems can be solved faster in the oral modes than in the hard-copy modes, the oral modes are characterized by many more messages, sentences, words, and unique words; much higher communication rates; but lower type-token ratios. Although a number of significant problem and job-role effects were found, there were relatively few significant interactions of modes with thsse variables. It appears, therefore, that the mode effects hold for both problems and for both job roles assigned to the subjects.

The Impact of Transcription Writing Interventions for First-Grade Students

PubMed Central

Wanzek, Jeanne; Gatlin, Brandy; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of transcription instruction for students in first grade. Students in the lowest 70% of the participating schools were selected for the study. These 81 students were randomly assigned to: (a) spelling instruction, (b) handwriting instruction, (c) combination spelling and handwriting instruction, or (d) no intervention. Intervention was provided in small groups of 4 students, 25 min a day, 4 days a week for 8 weeks. Students in the spelling condition outperformed the control group on spelling measures with moderate effect sizes noted on curriculum-based writing measures (e.g., correct word sequence; g range = 0.34 to 0.68). Students in the handwriting condition outperformed the control group on correct word sequences with small to moderate effects on other handwriting and writing measures (g range = 0.31 to 0.71). Students in the combined condition outperformed the control group on correct word sequences with a small effect on total words written (g range = 0.39 to 0.84). PMID:28989267

Altered effective connectivity contributes to micrographia in patients with Parkinson's disease and freezing of gait.

PubMed

Nackaerts, Evelien; Nieuwboer, Alice; Broeder, Sanne; Swinnen, Stephan; Vandenberghe, Wim; Heremans, Elke

2018-02-01

Recently, it was shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and freezing of gait (FOG) can also experience freezing episodes during handwriting and present writing problems outside these episodes. So far, the neural networks underlying increased handwriting problems in subjects with FOG are unclear. This study used dynamic causal modeling of fMRI data to investigate neural network dynamics underlying freezing-related handwriting problems and how these networks changed in response to visual cues. Twenty-seven non-freezers and ten freezers performed a pre-writing task with and without visual cues in the scanner with their right hand. The results showed that freezers and non-freezers were able to recruit networks involved in cued and uncued writing in a similar fashion. Whole group analysis also revealed a trend towards altered visuomotor integration in patients with FOG. Next, we controlled for differences in disease severity between both patient groups using a sensitivity analysis. For this, a subgroup of ten non-freezers matched for disease severity was selected by an independent researcher. This analysis further exposed significantly weaker coupling in mostly left hemispheric visuo-parietal, parietal - supplementary motor area, parietal - premotor, and premotor-M1 pathways in freezers compared to non-freezers, irrespective of cues. Correlation analyses revealed that these impairments in connectivity were related to writing amplitude and quality. Taken together, these findings show that freezers have reduced involvement of the supplementary motor area in the motor network, which explains the impaired writing amplitude regulation in this group. In addition, weaker supportive premotor connectivity may have contributed to micrographia in freezers, a pattern that was independent of cueing.

Sub-word based Arabic handwriting analysis for writer identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maliki, Makki; Al-Jawad, Naseer; Jassim, Sabah

2013-05-01

Analysing a text or part of it is key to handwriting identification. Generally, handwriting is learnt over time and people develop habits in the style of writing. These habits are embedded in special parts of handwritten text. In Arabic each word consists of one or more sub-word(s). The end of each sub-word is considered to be a connect stroke. The main hypothesis in this paper is that sub-words are essential reflection of Arabic writer's habits that could be exploited for writer identification. Testing this hypothesis will be based on experiments that evaluate writer's identification, mainly using K nearest neighbor from group of sub-words extracted from longer text. The experimental results show that using a group of sub-words could be used to identify the writer with a successful rate between 52.94 % to 82.35% when top1 is used, and it can go up to 100% when top5 is used based on K nearest neighbor. The results show that majority of writers are identified using 7 sub-words with a reliability confident of about 90% (i.e. 90% of the rejected templates have significantly larger distances to the tested example than the distance from the correctly identified template). However previous work, using a complete word, shows successful rate of at most 90% in top 10.

Helping Children Develop Skills in Phonic Analysis, Sight Vocabulary and Handwriting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rinder, Susan

A study tested the effectiveness of precision teaching through a summer pilot project involving four male students between the ages of 6 and 7, all of whom had demonstrated some difficulty with basic reading skills. The 6-week program concentrated on those skills most important to emergent readers, namely, phonic analysis, sight vocabulary and…

The paramedian diencephalic syndrome: a dynamic phenomenon.

PubMed

Meissner, I; Sapir, S; Kokmen, E; Stein, S D

1987-01-01

The paramedian diencephalic syndrome is characterized by a clinical triad: hypersomnolent apathy, amnesic syndrome, and impaired vertical gaze. We studied 4 cases with computed tomography evidence of bilateral diencephalic infarctions. Each case began abruptly with hypersomnolent apathy followed by fluctuations from appropriate affect, full orientation, and alertness to labile mood, confabulation, and apathy. Speech varied from hypophonia to normal; handwriting varied from legible script to gross scrawl. Psychological testing revealed poor learning and recall, with low performance scores. In 3 patients the predominant abnormality was in downward gaze.

Effects of Early Bright, Late Bright and Dim Illumination upon Circadian Neuroendocrine, Electrophysiological and Behavioral Responses

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-07-29

ranging from about 50 lux for computer monitor display work to approximately 3500 lux for such tasks as reading # 4 pencil handwriting and machine repair...regulation of physiology, mood and behavior. In: Bggic Effects of Light (Holick & Kligman, Eds.) New York: Walter de Gruyter & Co. (in press) Gaddy...1991 meetings. i~ge,~c 8! pFP EZ-T9 C0 F OGHr BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LIGHT IN HUMANS: THE REGULATION OF PHYSIOLOGY, MOOD AND BEHAVIOR George C

CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. Volume 25, Number 4, July/August 2012

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-01

understand the interface between various code components. For example, consider a situation in which handwrit - ten code produced by one team generates an...conclusively say that a division by zero will not occur. The abstract interpretation concept can be generalized as a tool set that can be used to determine...word what makes a good manager, I would say decisiveness. You can use the fan- ciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set

VIDANN: a video annotation system.

PubMed

De Clercq, A; Buysse, A; Roeyers, H; Ickes, W; Ponnet, K; Verhofstadt, L

2001-05-01

VIDANN is a computer program that allows participants to watch a video on a standard TV and to write their annotations (thought/feeling entries) on paper attached to a writing tablet. The system is designed as a Microsoft ActiveX module. It can be further adapted by the individual researcher through the use of a VBScript. All data, including the participant's handwriting, are stored in an XML database. An accompanying Wizard has been designed that enables researchers to generate VBScripts for standard configurations.

Handwriting in Adults with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsao, Raphaele; Fartoukh, Mickael; Barbier, Marie-Laure

2011-01-01

Background: Although there is growing awareness about the potential for people with Down syndrome (DS) to become literate, we know little about the characteristics of handwriting within this population. Methods: Thirty-three participants took part in this experiment. Eleven adults with DS and 22 typically developing individuals (11 children…

Remediating Handwriting Skills for Learning Disabled Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Highsmith, Victoria

The paper describes strategies for teaching six different handwriting skills to learning disabled (LD) elementary students. A rationale for each strategy precedes step-by-step procedural descriptions. Strategies in the following areas are described: (1) introducing LD children with motor coordination deficits to alphabetic symbols using sandpaper…

Survey of Forensic Document Examination Habit Areas: Degree of Use and Discriminatory Power

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

G Sperry; PA Manzolillo; RC Hanlan

Beginning in 1998, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL), US Postal Inspection Service Forensic Laboratory (USPIS), and the Data Fusion Laboratory, Drexel University (DFL) have been collaborating on a large scale research project ''Handwriting Individuality--Moving From Art to Science''. In April 1998 a survey was distributed to the community of forensic document examiners (FDEs) requesting input on the habit areas used and their utility in distinguishing handwriting. The information obtained from this survey was intended to provide the data necessary to select the criteria and begin the evaluation of the handwriting samples currently in the project. Preliminary results of themore » survey were made available to the community at the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners (ASQDE) meeting in August 1998 and the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) meeting in February 1999. This report provides final documentation of the survey and its results. This survey has two objectives: (1) to compile a list of handwriting features and characteristics used by professional forensic document examiners in the examination and comparison of handwriting and (2) to gather information about the significance of these features and characteristics. These objectives are met by having the FDEs provide an indication of their experience in the frequency of habit area evaluation and the utility of the habit area for discrimination.« less

On Writing and Handwriting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kucera, Miloš

2010-01-01

Writing is often considered secondary to the spoken language, as it is only coded sound-by-sound. But other scholars have demonstrated that writing is similar to "arithmetic": a cognitive structuring, a shift to the meta-level ("for the eye"). "Handwriting" (referred to here as the cursive writing in the sense of…

English Language Arts Curriculum Guide, Intermediate Elementary Level: Grade 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saporito, Leo C., Ed.; And Others

Prepared for use in grade four, this language arts curriculum guide bases its reading strand on "Roads to Everywhere" (Ginn 100), the English strand on "Roberts English Series" (Harcourt), the spelling strand on "Sound and Sense in Spelling" (Harcourt), and the handwriting strand on "Better Handwriting for…

Handwriting: A Matter of Affairs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ghabra, Iman M. M. Muwafaq

2015-01-01

Academic performance is the main concern of educators all over the world. Authentic researchers have studied the importance of handwriting for improving students' performance, and they have proved that using the hand in writing activates many regions in the brain that are related to memory and comprehension. The study aims at displaying the…

Attribution of Spear Phishing Attacks: A Literature Survey

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

header of an email, verbally informed by another person, or easily ascertained via the handwriting of the text. In a few specific cases, this...scene would be scrutinised, based on both the handwriting and the content of the letter, to identify a suspect. The goal of this phase is to establish

Predictors of Handwriting in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hellinckx, Tinneke; Roeyers, Herbert; Van Waelvelde, Hilde

2013-01-01

During writing, perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes interact. This study explored the predictive value of several factors on handwriting quality as well as on speed in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Our results showed that, in this population, age, gender, and visual-motor integration significantly predicted handwriting…

Strategies for Teaching Handwriting to the Learning Disabled.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dice-Ziegler, Barbara

The article outlines six strategies for teaching handwriting to learning disabled elementary students with differing instructional needs. A rationale for the use of each strategy is followed by a step-by-step description of the teaching procedure. Strategy goals include the following: (1) teaching the manuscript alphabet through letter pictures to…

Handwriting Skills in Children with Spina Bifida: Assessment, Monitoring and Measurement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hancock, Julie; Alston, Jean

1986-01-01

Case studies of three students with spina bifida (ages 8-11) illustrate an individualized six-week handwriting intervention program which stressed assessment, monitoring, and measurement of changes in writing performance. Appropriate changes in physical support (sitting position, writing surface, and choice of writing tool) are recommended. (JW)

Multi-model approach to characterize human handwriting motion.

PubMed

Chihi, I; Abdelkrim, A; Benrejeb, M

2016-02-01

This paper deals with characterization and modelling of human handwriting motion from two forearm muscle activity signals, called electromyography signals (EMG). In this work, an experimental approach was used to record the coordinates of a pen tip moving on the (x, y) plane and EMG signals during the handwriting act. The main purpose is to design a new mathematical model which characterizes this biological process. Based on a multi-model approach, this system was originally developed to generate letters and geometric forms written by different writers. A Recursive Least Squares algorithm is used to estimate the parameters of each sub-model of the multi-model basis. Simulations show good agreement between predicted results and the recorded data.

Off-lexicon online Arabic handwriting recognition using neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yahia, Hamdi; Chaabouni, Aymen; Boubaker, Houcine; Alimi, Adel M.

2017-03-01

This paper highlights a new method for online Arabic handwriting recognition based on graphemes segmentation. The main contribution of our work is to explore the utility of Beta-elliptic model in segmentation and features extraction for online handwriting recognition. Indeed, our method consists in decomposing the input signal into continuous part called graphemes based on Beta-Elliptical model, and classify them according to their position in the pseudo-word. The segmented graphemes are then described by the combination of geometric features and trajectory shape modeling. The efficiency of the considered features has been evaluated using feed forward neural network classifier. Experimental results using the benchmarking ADAB Database show the performance of the proposed method.

Mid-term survival analysis of closed wedge high tibial osteotomy: A comparative study of computer-assisted and conventional techniques.

PubMed

Bae, Dae Kyung; Song, Sang Jun; Kim, Kang Il; Hur, Dong; Jeong, Ho Yeon

2016-03-01

The purpose of the present study was to compare the clinical and radiographic results and survival rates between computer-assisted and conventional closing wedge high tibial osteotomies (HTOs). Data from a consecutive cohort comprised of 75 computer-assisted HTOs and 75 conventional HTOs were retrospectively reviewed. The Knee Society knee and function scores, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score and femorotibial angle (FTA) were compared between the two groups. Survival rates were also compared with procedure failure. The knee and function scores at one year postoperatively were slightly better in the computer-assisted group than those in conventional group (90.1 vs. 86.1) (82.0 vs. 76.0). The HSS scores at one year postoperatively were slightly better for the computer-assisted HTOs than those of conventional HTOs (89.5 vs. 81.8). The inlier of the postoperative FTA was wider in the computer-assisted group than that in the conventional HTO group (88.0% vs. 58.7%), and mean postoperative FTA was greater in the computer-assisted group that in the conventional HTO group (valgus 9.0° vs. valgus 7.6°, p<0.001). The five- and 10-year survival rates were 97.1% and 89.6%, respectively. No difference was detected in nine-year survival rates (p=0.369) between the two groups, although the clinical and radiographic results were better in the computer-assisted group that those in the conventional HTO group. Mid-term survival rates did not differ between computer-assisted and conventional HTOs. A comparative analysis of longer-term survival rate is required to demonstrate the long-term benefit of computer-assisted HTO. III. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Handwriting, Visuomotor Integration, and Neurological Condition at School Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Hoorn, Jessika F.; Maathuis, Carel G. B.; Peters, Lieke H. J.; Hadders-Algra, Mijna

2010-01-01

Aim: The study investigated the relationships between handwriting, visuomotor integration, and neurological condition. We paid particular attention to the presence of minor neurological dysfunction (MND). Method : Participants were 200 children (131 males, 69 females; age range 8-13y) of whom 118 received mainstream education (mean age 10y 5mo, SD…

Integrating Eye Trackers with Handwriting Tablets to Discover Difficulties of Solving Geometry Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, John J. H.; Lin, Sunny S. J.

2018-01-01

To deepen our understanding of those aspects of problems that cause the most difficulty for solvers, this study integrated eye-tracking with handwriting devices to investigate problem solvers' online processes while solving geometry problems. We are interested in whether the difference between successful and unsuccessful solvers can be identified…

Visual-Motor Symbol Production Facilitates Letter Recognition in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zemlock, Deborah; Vinci-Booher, Sophia; James, Karin H.

2018-01-01

Previous research has suggested that handwriting letters may be an important exerciser to facilitate early letter understanding. Experimental studies to date, however, have not investigated whether this effect is general to any visual-motor experience or specific to handwriting letters. In the present work, we addressed this issue by testing…

Use of Handwriting Recognition Technologies in Tablet-Based Learning Modules for First Grade Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanikoglu, Berrin; Gogus, Aytac; Inal, Emre

2017-01-01

Learning through modules on a tablet helps students participate effectively in learning activities in classrooms and provides flexibility in the learning process. This study presents the design and evaluation of an application that is based on handwriting recognition technologies and e-content for the developed learning modules. The application…

Metallic Material Image Segmentation by using 3D Grain Structure Consistency and Intra/Inter-Grain Model Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-05

Wang. KinWrite: Handwriting -Based Authentication Using Kinect, Annual Network & Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS), San Diego, CA, 2013 21...the large varia- tion of different handwriting styles, neighboring characters within a word are usually connected, and we may need to segment a word

Both Handwriting Speed and Selective Attention Are Important to Lecture Note-Taking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peverly, Stephen T.; Garner, Joanna K.; Vekaria, Pooja C.

2014-01-01

The primary purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship of handwriting speed, fine motor fluency, speed of verbal access, language comprehension, working memory, and attention (executive control; selective) to note-taking and all of the aforementioned variables to test performance (written recall). A second purpose was to…

Handwriting, Spelling, and Narrative Competence in the Fictional Stories of Italian Primary-School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Longobardi, Emiddia; Spataro, Pietro; Pizzicannella, Emiliano

2018-01-01

Previous studies with English-speaking children showed that handwriting and spelling abilities played a critical role in the development of writing fluency and quality, particularly during the transition from the kindergarten to primary school; in contrast, studies dealing with orthographically transparent languages found small or no relations…

Impact of Handwriting Training on Fluency, Spelling and Text Quality among Third Graders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hurschler Lichtsteiner, Sibylle; Wicki, Werner; Falmann, Péter

2018-01-01

As recent studies and theoretical assumptions suggest that the quality of texts composed by children and adolescents is affected by their transcription skills, this experimental field trial aims at investigating the impact of combined handwriting/spelling training on fluency, spelling and text quality among normally developing 3rd graders…

Speaker-dependent Multipitch Tracking Using Deep Neural Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

connections through time. Studies have shown that RNNs are good at modeling sequential data like handwriting [12] and speech [26]. We plan to explore RNNs in...Schmidhuber, and S. Fernández, “Unconstrained on-line handwriting recognition with recurrent neural networks,” in Proceedings of NIPS, 2008, pp. 577–584. [13

Handwriting as a Tool for Learning in ELT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lund, Ragnhild Elisabeth

2016-01-01

This article discusses the role that handwriting can have when writing is used as a tool for learning in English language education. Nineteen Norwegian EFL teacher training students were interviewed in focus groups about their own practices and their thoughts about writing-to-learn activities. All the students said that they prefer to write by…

The Attitudes of Primary School Pre-Service Teachers towards Cursive Handwriting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karadag, Ruhan

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine the primary school pre-service teachers' attitude toward cursive handwriting and to determine whether a significant difference exists among those pre-service teachers' attitude with respect to gender, class and their universities. In order to collect data "Scale for Attitude towards Cursive…

In Early Education, Why Teach Handwriting before Keyboarding?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Nancy C.; Just, Carol

2014-01-01

Legible written communication is essential for students to share knowledge (Rogers and Case-Smith 2002). If students lack proficiency in written communication, their composition skills will suffer, which can affect their self-esteem and grades. Whether or not this proficiency is in handwriting or keyboarding is a question worthy of discussion. In…

The Impact of Transcription Writing Interventions for First-Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wanzek, Jeanne; Gatlin, Brandy; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2017-01-01

We examined the effects of transcription instruction for students in 1st grade. We selected students in the lowest 70% of the participating schools for the study. We randomly assigned these 81 students to (a) spelling instruction, (b) handwriting instruction, (c) combination spelling and handwriting instruction, or (d) no intervention.…

Standardized Tests of Handwriting Readiness: A Systematic Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Hartingsveldt, Margo J.; de Groot, Imelda J. M.; Aarts, Pauline B. M.; Nijhuis-van der Sanden, Maria W. G.

2011-01-01

Aim: To establish if there are psychometrically sound standardized tests or test items to assess handwriting readiness in 5- and 6-year-old children on the levels of occupations activities/tasks and performance. Method: Electronic databases were searched to identify measurement instruments. Tests were included in a systematic review if: (1)…

Communication via Chalkboard and on Paper. TLA-100.00 (F.U.F.).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardison, Margaret J.

The purpose of this cluster of learning modules is to increase the teacher intern's understanding and skills with regard to his role as a communicator. The cluster contains three modules: (a) objectives for teaching handwriting, (b) methodology of manuscript writing, and (c) practice teaching of manuscript handwriting. Each module contains a…

Numbers can move our hands: a spatial representation effect in digits handwriting.

PubMed

Perrone, Gelsomina; de Hevia, Maria Dolores; Bricolo, Emanuela; Girelli, Luisa

2010-09-01

The interaction between numbers and action-related processes is currently one of the most investigated topics in numerical cognition. The present study contributes to this line of research by investigating, for the first time, the effects of number on an overlearned complex motor plan that does not require explicit lateralised movements or strict spatial constrains: spontaneous handwriting. In particular, we investigated whether the spatial mapping of numbers interferes with the motor planning involved in writing. To this aim, participants' spontaneous handwriting of single digits (Exp. 1) and letters (Exp. 2) was recorded with a digitising tablet. We show that the writing of numbers is characterised by a spatial dislocation of the digits as a function of their magnitude, i.e., small numbers were written leftwards relative to large numbers. In contrast, the writing of letters showed a null or marginal effect with respect to their dislocation on the writing area. These findings show that the automatic mapping of numbers into space interacts with action planning by modulating specific motor parameters in spontaneous handwriting.

The role of size of input box, location of input box, input method and display size in Chinese handwriting performance and preference on mobile devices.

PubMed

Chen, Zhe; Rau, Pei-Luen Patrick

2017-03-01

This study presented two experiments on Chinese handwriting performance (time, accuracy, the number of protruding strokes and number of rewritings) and subjective ratings (mental workload, satisfaction, and preference) on mobile devices. Experiment 1 evaluated the effects of size of the input box, input method and display size on Chinese handwriting performance and preference. It was indicated that the optimal input sizes were 30.8 × 30.8 mm, 46.6 × 46.6 mm, 58.9 × 58.9 mm and 84.6 × 84.6 mm for devices with 3.5-inch, 5.5-inch, 7.0-inch and 9.7-inch display sizes, respectively. Experiment 2 proved the significant effects of location of the input box, input method and display size on Chinese handwriting performance and subjective ratings. It was suggested that the optimal location was central regardless of display size and input method. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An online handwriting recognition system for Turkish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vural, Esra; Erdogan, Hakan; Oflazer, Kemal; Yanikoglu, Berrin A.

2004-12-01

Despite recent developments in Tablet PC technology, there has not been any applications for recognizing handwritings in Turkish. In this paper, we present an online handwritten text recognition system for Turkish, developed using the Tablet PC interface. However, even though the system is developed for Turkish, the addressed issues are common to online handwriting recognition systems in general. Several dynamic features are extracted from the handwriting data for each recorded point and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) are used to train letter and word models. We experimented with using various features and HMM model topologies, and report on the effects of these experiments. We started with first and second derivatives of the x and y coordinates and relative change in the pen pressure as initial features. We found that using two more additional features, that is, number of neighboring points and relative heights of each point with respect to the base-line improve the recognition rate. In addition, extracting features within strokes and using a skipping state topology improve the system performance as well. The improved system performance is 94% in recognizing handwritten words from a 1000-word lexicon.

An online handwriting recognition system for Turkish

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vural, Esra; Erdogan, Hakan; Oflazer, Kemal; Yanikoglu, Berrin A.

2005-01-01

Despite recent developments in Tablet PC technology, there has not been any applications for recognizing handwritings in Turkish. In this paper, we present an online handwritten text recognition system for Turkish, developed using the Tablet PC interface. However, even though the system is developed for Turkish, the addressed issues are common to online handwriting recognition systems in general. Several dynamic features are extracted from the handwriting data for each recorded point and Hidden Markov Models (HMM) are used to train letter and word models. We experimented with using various features and HMM model topologies, and report on the effects of these experiments. We started with first and second derivatives of the x and y coordinates and relative change in the pen pressure as initial features. We found that using two more additional features, that is, number of neighboring points and relative heights of each point with respect to the base-line improve the recognition rate. In addition, extracting features within strokes and using a skipping state topology improve the system performance as well. The improved system performance is 94% in recognizing handwritten words from a 1000-word lexicon.

Handwriting Impairments in People With Parkinson's Disease and Freezing of Gait.

PubMed

Heremans, Elke; Nackaerts, Evelien; Broeder, Sanne; Vervoort, Griet; Swinnen, Stephan P; Nieuwboer, Alice

2016-11-01

Recent studies show that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and freezing of gait (FOG) experience motor problems outside their gait freezing episodes. Because handwriting is also a sequential movement, it may be affected in PD patients with FOG relative to those without. The current study aimed to assess the quality of writing in PD patients with and without FOG in comparison to healthy controls (CTs) during various writing tasks. Handwriting was assessed by the writing of cursive loops on a touch-sensitive writing tablet and by means of the Systematic Screening of Handwriting Difficulties (SOS) test in 30 PD patients with and without freezing and 15 healthy age-matched CTs. The tablet tests were performed at 2 different sizes, either continuously or alternatingly, as indicated by visual target lines. Patients with freezing showed decreased writing amplitudes and increased variability compared with CTs and patients without freezing on the writing tablet tests. Writing problems were present during both tests but were more pronounced during writing at alternating compared with writing at continuous size. Patients with freezing also had a higher total score on the SOS test than patients without freezing and CTs, reflecting more extensive handwriting problems, particularly with writing fluency. Writing is more severely affected in PD patients with FOG than in those without FOG. These results indicate that deficient movement sequencing and adaptation is a generic problem in patients with FOG. © The Author(s) 2016.

Handwriting measures as reflectors of executive functions among adults with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD)

PubMed Central

Rosenblum, Sara

2013-01-01

Planning ahead and organizational abilities in time and space are ingredients of high-level cognitive functions labeled as ‘Executive Functions’ (EF) required for daily activities such as writing or home management. EF deficits are considered a possible underlying brain mechanism involved in Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD). The aim: of the study was to compare the handwriting process measures and the planning and organizational abilities in space and time of students with DCD with those of matched controls and to find whether handwriting measures can predict daily planning and organizational abilities among students with DCD. Method: 30 students diagnosed with DCD, between the ages of 24–41, and 30 age- and gender-matched controls participated in the study. They filled out the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) and the Adult Developmental Co-ordination Disorders Checklist (ADC). Furthermore, they copied a paragraph on a digitizer that is part of a computerized system Computerised Penmanship Evaluation Toll (ComPET). Results: Significant group differences were found for the HPSQ subscales scores as well as for the temporal and spatial measures of the paragraph copy task. Significant group differences were also found for the planning and organizational abilities in space and time as reflected through the ADC subscales. Significant medium correlations were found in both groups between the mean HPSQ time subscale and the ADC-B subscale mean score (r = 0.50/0.58, p < 0.05). Series of regression analyses indicated that two handwriting performance measures (mean HPSQ time subscale and mean stroke duration) predicted 19% of planning and organizational abilities as reflected through daily functions (ADC-B) [F(3, 54) = 38.37, β = 0.40, p < 0.0001]. Conclusion: The results support previous evidence about EF deficits as an underlying brain mechanism involved in motor coordination disorders, their significance as related to theoretical models of handwriting and daily function among DCD will be examined. PMID:23805113

Computer-Assisted Analysis of Spontaneous Speech: Quantification of Basic Parameters in Aphasic and Unimpaired Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hussmann, Katja; Grande, Marion; Meffert, Elisabeth; Christoph, Swetlana; Piefke, Martina; Willmes, Klaus; Huber, Walter

2012-01-01

Although generally accepted as an important part of aphasia assessment, detailed analysis of spontaneous speech is rarely carried out in clinical practice mostly due to time limitations. The Aachener Sprachanalyse (ASPA; Aachen Speech Analysis) is a computer-assisted method for the quantitative analysis of German spontaneous speech that allows for…

Pencil grasp and children's handwriting legibility during different-length writing tasks.

PubMed

Dennis, J L; Swinth, Y

2001-01-01

This study examined the influence ofpencil grasp on handwriting legibility during both short and long writing tasks in 46fourth-grade students who were typically developing. Matched samples were used to controlfor variability. Regular classroom writing assignments were scoredfor word and letter legibility, and scores were compared using a mixed repeated-measures analysis of variance design. The two independent variables were pencil grasp (dynamic tripod grasp vs. atypical grasp) and task length (short vs. long). A significant difference was found between the letter legibility scores on the short task and the letter legibility scores on the long task. Students' legibility was greater on the short task than on the long task across both grasp conditions. No significant difference was found in scores between students who used dynamic tripod grasps and those who used atypical grasps, nor was there a significant interaction between grasp and task length. No significant differences were found between word legibility scores. The results indicate that although the students in this study wrote more legibly on the short task than on the long task, the type of grasp they used did not affect their legibility. Because of the limited sample size, the results of this study should be interpreted cautiously. More research in handwriting performance and pencil grasp is needed to provide clear expectations and treatment options for students.

Motor Behavior Reflects Reduced Hemispheric Asymmetry in the Psychosis Risk Period

PubMed Central

Dean, Derek J.; Orr, Joseph M.; Newberry, Raeana E.; Mittal, Vijay A.

2015-01-01

Background A body of work focusing on brain connectivity, language dominance, and motor laterality research suggests reduced hemispheric asymmetry is a core feature in schizophrenia. However, there is little consensus about whether reduced dominance is present in those at ultrahigh risk (UHR) for psychosis. Methods A total of 94 demonstrated right-handed neuroleptic free participants (38 UHR and 56 matched healthy controls) were assessed with structured clinical interviews and completed an innovative handwriting task using a digital tablet computer. A laterality quotient (LQ) was calculated using kinematic variables from the participant’s left and right hands. A subset of the sample (26 UHR and 29 controls) returned after 12-months to complete clinical interviews in order to examine relationships between handwriting laterality and progression of psychosis risk symptoms. Results The UHR group showed decreased dextrality compared to healthy controls. At the 12-month follow-up, decreased dextrality accounted for 8% of the variance in worsened positive symptoms within the UHR group. Conclusion The current results suggest that disrupted cerebral dominance is also present in the ultrahigh risk period and that decreased dextrality may serve as a novel biomarker for the progression of psychosis risk. PMID:26492987

Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Mathematics Education (CAME) over Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demir, Seda; Basol, Gülsah

2014-01-01

The aim of the current study is to determine the overall effects of Computer-Assisted Mathematics Education (CAME) on academic achievement. After an extensive review of the literature, studies using Turkish samples and observing the effects of Computer-Assisted Education (CAE) on mathematics achievement were examined. As a result of this…

Phonological Effects in Handwriting Production : Evidence from the Implicit Priming Paradigm

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afonso, Olivia; Alvarez, Carlos J.

2011-01-01

In the present article, we report 3 experiments using the odd-man-out variant of the implicit priming paradigm, aimed at determining the role played by phonological information during the handwriting process. Participants were asked to write a small set of words learned in response to prompts. Within each block, response words could share initial…

Examining the Contribution of Handwriting and Spelling to Written Expression in Kindergarten Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Puranik, Cynthia S.; AlOtaiba, Stephanie

2012-01-01

In this study, we examined the development of beginning writing skills in kindergarten children and the contribution of spelling and handwriting to these writing skills after accounting for early language, literacy, cognitive skills, and student characteristics. Two hundred and forty two children were given a battery of cognitive, oral language,…

Students' Choices between Typing and Handwriting in Examinations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mogey, Nora; Cowan, John; Paterson, Jessie; Purcell, Mike

2012-01-01

Keyboarding (typing) is a ubiquitous skill for most UK students, and most coursework essays must be word processed. However, few examinations, other than for students with disabilities, permit the use of a word processor. It is not known how students would respond given a free choice between handwriting and word processing in an essay examination.…

The Handwriting Performance of Children with NF1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilboa, Yafit; Josman, Naomi; Fattal-Valevski, Aviva; Toledano-Alhadef, Hagit; Rosenblum, Sara

2010-01-01

The objective of this study was to analyze the process and product of handwriting among children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) in comparison to those of Typically Developing (TD) children. Children with NF1 are at risk for some cognitive deficits, a wide range of deficits in perceptual skills and, motor and visual-motor integration skills…

Project Ideals: Communication Skills, Part III: "Handwriting--Spelling" and "Composition."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahrens, Maurice R.; Crews, Ruthellen

This study does not provide evidence that the handwriting of students has a legibility quality which is adequate, but only that there has been little or no deterioration in a period of 47 years. With improvement in teaching methods there should have been considerable growth in legibility. The importance of improvement of the teaching of…

Handwriting in Early Childhood Education: Current Research and Future Implications

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinehart, Laura H.

2015-01-01

Early fine motor writing skills are quickly becoming recognized as an important school readiness skill associated with later academic success (Dinehart and Manfra, 2013; Grissmer et al., 2010; Son and Meisels, 2006). Yet, little is known about the development of handwriting, the extent to which it is of value in the early childhood classroom and…

A Comparison of the Handwriting Abilities of Secondary Students with Visual Impairments and Those of Sighted Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris-Brown, Talitha; Richmond, Janet; Maddalena, Sebastian Della; Jaworski, Alinta

2015-01-01

Despite the large number of people with visual impairments in Australia, all Western Australian secondary students are required to complete their secondary exams using handwriting, unless they qualify for special provisions. Students with visual impairments do not necessarily qualify for special provisions on the basis of their visual impairment…

The Effect of a Sport Stacking Intervention on Handwriting with Second Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Yuhua; Coleman, Diane; Ransdell, Mary; Coleman, Lyndsie; Irwin, Carol

2014-01-01

The present study examined the impact a 14-week sport stacking (cup stacking) exercise intervention would have on children's handwriting quality and speed. Eighty-three second graders were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group (n = 42) participated in a 15-min session of sport stacking activities…

Teaching, Learning, and Evaluating: Handwriting in Uruguayan Public Elementary Schools in the 1830s

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Viacava, Juan

2017-01-01

This article examines the Uruguayan state approach to the teaching of writing in public elementary education during the 1830s, and is an attempt to explain why state officials advanced new pedagogical methods aimed at increasing rationalisation and standardisation. While many different handwriting styles existed in the past, the school system…

The Relationship of Pencil Grasp on College Students' Handwriting Speed and Legibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shah, Lalit J.; Gladson, Beth L.

2015-01-01

To be successful in school, it is important for students to be able to communicate to teachers what they know and have learned through exams, papers, daily assignments, and projects. The primary way students display this knowledge during these tasks is in written form, and thus, the skill of handwriting is essential. School-based occupational…

Should Cursive Handwriting Still Be Taught in Schools? Information Capsule. Volume 0916

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blazer, Christie

2010-01-01

Elementary school students spend less time learning cursive handwriting than they did in years past. The declining emphasis on cursive writing has been attributed to the increasing use of technology, the growing proportion of class time spent preparing for standardized tests, and the perception that the time students spend learning to write in…

Relationships between Fine-Motor, Visual-Motor, and Visual Perception Scores and Handwriting Legibility and Speed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Sheryl; Guiltner, Val; Sollereder, Patti; Cui, Ying

2011-01-01

Occupational therapists assess fine motor, visual motor, visual perception, and visual skill development, but knowledge of the relationships between scores on sensorimotor performance measures and handwriting legibility and speed is limited. Ninety-nine students in grades three to six with learning and/or behavior problems completed the Upper-Limb…

Examining Teachers' Trait, State and Cursive Handwriting Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karatas, Zeynep; Arslan, Derya; Karatas, Mustafa Erdal

2014-01-01

This study examines whether the trait and state anxiety and cursive handwriting anxiety of teachers differs according to assorted variables. The study group for this research project is composed of 381 teachers from the city of Burdur and the district centre of Bucak, Turkey. Of these participants, 44% were female and 56% were male. As for the…

The Effect of Variations in Handwriting and Print on Evaluation of Student Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Joseph; Taub, David

2005-01-01

The variety of factors contributing to the quality of handwriting or print provides an opportunity to determine the extent to which teachers are influenced by the interaction between different bias elements during evaluation of examinations. Fifty-three teachers evaluated compositions that had been awarded grades of 80% by impartial experts. A…

Handwriting Development in Spanish Children with and without Learning Disabilities: A Graphonomic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrientos, Pablo

2017-01-01

The central purpose of this study was to analyze the dynamics of handwriting movements in real time for Spanish students in early grades with and without learning disabilities. The sample consisted of 120 children from Grades 1 through 3 (primary education), classified into two groups: with learning disabilities and without learning disabilities.…

The Effect of the Number of Syllables on Handwriting Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Eric; Kandel, Sonia; Fayol, Michel; Esperet, Eric

2008-01-01

Four experiments examined whether motor programming in handwriting production can be modulated by the syllable structure of the word to be written. This study manipulated the number of syllables. The items, words and pseudo-words, had 2, 3 or 4 syllables. French adults copied them three times. We measured the latencies between the visual…

Offline Arabic handwriting recognition: a survey.

PubMed

Lorigo, Liana M; Govindaraju, Venu

2006-05-01

The automatic recognition of text on scanned images has enabled many applications such as searching for words in large volumes of documents, automatic sorting of postal mail, and convenient editing of previously printed documents. The domain of handwriting in the Arabic script presents unique technical challenges and has been addressed more recently than other domains. Many different methods have been proposed and applied to various types of images. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these methods. It is the first survey to focus on Arabic handwriting recognition and the first Arabic character recognition survey to provide recognition rates and descriptions of test data for the approaches discussed. It includes background on the field, discussion of the methods, and future research directions.

Effective Instruction for Persisting Dyslexia in Upper Grades: Adding Hope Stories and Computer Coding to Explicit Literacy Instruction.

PubMed

Thompson, Robert; Tanimoto, Steve; Lyman, Ruby Dawn; Geselowitz, Kira; Begay, Kristin Kawena; Nielsen, Kathleen; Nagy, William; Abbott, Robert; Raskind, Marshall; Berninger, Virginia

2018-05-01

Children in grades 4 to 6 ( N =14) who despite early intervention had persisting dyslexia (impaired word reading and spelling) were assessed before and after computerized reading and writing instruction aimed at subword, word, and syntax skills shown in four prior studies to be effective for treating dyslexia. During the 12 two-hour sessions once a week after school they first completed HAWK Letters in Motion© for manuscript and cursive handwriting, HAWK Words in Motion© for phonological, orthographic, and morphological coding for word reading and spelling, and HAWK Minds in Motion© for sentence reading comprehension and written sentence composing. A reading comprehension activity in which sentences were presented one word at a time or one added word at a time was introduced. Next, to instill hope they could overcome their struggles with reading and spelling, they read and discussed stories about struggles of Buckminister Fuller who overcame early disabilities to make important contributions to society. Finally, they engaged in the new Kokopelli's World (KW)©, blocks-based online lessons, to learn computer coding in introductory programming by creating stories in sentence blocks (Tanimoto and Thompson 2016). Participants improved significantly in hallmark word decoding and spelling deficits of dyslexia, three syntax skills (oral construction, listening comprehension, and written composing), reading comprehension (with decoding as covariate), handwriting, orthographic and morphological coding, orthographic loop, and inhibition (focused attention). They answered more reading comprehension questions correctly when they had read sentences presented one word at a time (eliminating both regressions out and regressions in during saccades) than when presented one added word at a time (eliminating only regressions out during saccades). Indicators of improved self-efficacy that they could learn to read and write were observed. Reminders to pay attention and stay on task needed before adding computer coding were not needed after computer coding was added.

Handwriting: Feature Correlation Analysis for Biometric Hashes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vielhauer, Claus; Steinmetz, Ralf

2004-12-01

In the application domain of electronic commerce, biometric authentication can provide one possible solution for the key management problem. Besides server-based approaches, methods of deriving digital keys directly from biometric measures appear to be advantageous. In this paper, we analyze one of our recently published specific algorithms of this category based on behavioral biometrics of handwriting, the biometric hash. Our interest is to investigate to which degree each of the underlying feature parameters contributes to the overall intrapersonal stability and interpersonal value space. We will briefly discuss related work in feature evaluation and introduce a new methodology based on three components: the intrapersonal scatter (deviation), the interpersonal entropy, and the correlation between both measures. Evaluation of the technique is presented based on two data sets of different size. The method presented will allow determination of effects of parameterization of the biometric system, estimation of value space boundaries, and comparison with other feature selection approaches.

Unsupervised categorization method of graphemes on handwritten manuscripts: application to style recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daher, H.; Gaceb, D.; Eglin, V.; Bres, S.; Vincent, N.

2012-01-01

We present in this paper a feature selection and weighting method for medieval handwriting images that relies on codebooks of shapes of small strokes of characters (graphemes that are issued from the decomposition of manuscripts). These codebooks are important to simplify the automation of the analysis, the manuscripts transcription and the recognition of styles or writers. Our approach provides a precise features weighting by genetic algorithms and a highperformance methodology for the categorization of the shapes of graphemes by using graph coloring into codebooks which are applied in turn on CBIR (Content Based Image Retrieval) in a mixed handwriting database containing different pages from different writers, periods of the history and quality. We show how the coupling of these two mechanisms 'features weighting - graphemes classification' can offer a better separation of the forms to be categorized by exploiting their grapho-morphological, their density and their significant orientations particularities.

Computer Assisted Thermography And Its Application In Ovulation Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, K. H.; Shah, A. V.

1984-08-01

Hardware and software of a computer-assisted image analyzing system used for infrared images in medical applications are discussed. The application of computer-assisted thermography (CAT) as a complementary diagnostic tool in centralized diagnostic management is proposed. The authors adopted 'Computer Assisted Thermography' to study physiological changes in the breasts related to the hormones characterizing the menstrual cycle of a woman. Based on clinical experi-ments followed by thermal image analysis, they suggest that 'differential skin temperature (DST)1 be measured to detect the fertility interval in the menstrual cycle of a woman.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED MOTION ANALYSIS OF SPERM FROM THE COMMON CARP

EPA Science Inventory

Computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) technology was applied to the measurement of sperm motility parameters in the common carp Cyprinus carpio. Activated sperm were videotaped at 200 frames s-1 and analysed with the CellTrak/S CASA research system. The percentage of motile cel...

Effect of ram semen extenders and supplements on computer assisted sperm analysis parameters

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A study evaluated the effects of ram semen extender and extender supplementation on computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) parameters positively correlated with progressive motility. Semen collected from 5 rams was distributed across treatment combinations consisting of either TRIS citrate (T) or ...

Impact of distal median neuropathy on handwriting performance for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome in office and administrative support occupations.

PubMed

Kuo, Li-Chieh; Hsu, Hsiao-Man; Wu, Po-Ting; Lin, Sheng-Che; Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Jou, I-Ming

2014-06-01

This study investigates the handwriting performance of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and healthy controls in office and administrative support occupations, adopting both biomechanical and functional perspectives. This work also explores how surgical intervention altered the performance of the CTS patients. Fourteen CTS patients and 14 control subjects were recruited to complete a self-reported survey and participate in sensory tests, hand strength, dexterity and handwriting tasks using a custom force acquisition pen along with motion capture technology. Based on the results of these, the sensory measurements, along with functional and biomechanical parameters, were used to determine the differences between the groups and also reveal any improvements that occurred in the CTS group after surgical intervention. The CTS patients showed significantly poorer hand sensibility and dexterity than the controls, as well as excessive force exertion of the digits and pen tip, and less efficient force adjustment ability during handwriting. After surgery and sensory recovery, the hand dexterity and pen tip force of the CTS patients improved significantly. The force adjustment abilities of the digits also increased, but these changes were not statistically significant. This study provides the objective measurements and novel apparatus that can be used to determine impairments in the handwriting abilities of office or administrative workers with CTS. The results can also help clinicians or patients to better understand the sensory-related deficits in sensorimotor control of the hand related to CTS, and thus develop and implement more suitable training or adaptive protocols.

Towards a better understanding of the legibility bias in performance assessments: the case of gender-based inferences.

PubMed

Greifeneder, Rainer; Zelt, Sarah; Seele, Tim; Bottenberg, Konstantin; Alt, Alexander

2012-09-01

Handwriting legibility systematically biases evaluations in that highly legible handwriting results in more positive evaluations than less legible handwriting. Because performance assessments in educational contexts are not only based on computerized or multiple choice tests but often include the evaluation of handwritten work samples, understanding the causes of this bias is critical. This research was designed to replicate and extend the legibility bias in two tightly controlled experiments and to explore whether gender-based inferences contribute to its occurrence. A total of 132 students from a German university participated in one pre-test and two independent experiments. Participants were asked to read and evaluate several handwritten essays varying in content quality. Each essay was presented to some participants in highly legible handwriting and to other participants in less legible handwriting. In addition, the assignment of legibility to participant group was reversed from essay to essay, resulting in a mixed-factor design. The legibility bias was replicated in both experiments. Results suggest that gender-based inferences do not account for its occurrence. Rather it appears that fluency from legibility exerts a biasing impact on evaluations of content and author abilities. The legibility bias was shown to be genuine and strong. By refuting a series of alternative explanations, this research contributes to a better understanding of what underlies the legibility bias. The present research may inform those who grade on what to focus and thus help to better allocate cognitive resources when trying to reduce this important source of error. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Climate Change Discourse in Mass Media: Application of Computer-Assisted Content Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirilenko, Andrei P.; Stepchenkova, Svetlana O.

2012-01-01

Content analysis of mass media publications has become a major scientific method used to analyze public discourse on climate change. We propose a computer-assisted content analysis method to extract prevalent themes and analyze discourse changes over an extended period in an objective and quantifiable manner. The method includes the following: (1)…

Electrooculography-based continuous eye-writing recognition system for efficient assistive communication systems

PubMed Central

Shinozaki, Takahiro

2018-01-01

Human-computer interface systems whose input is based on eye movements can serve as a means of communication for patients with locked-in syndrome. Eye-writing is one such system; users can input characters by moving their eyes to follow the lines of the strokes corresponding to characters. Although this input method makes it easy for patients to get started because of their familiarity with handwriting, existing eye-writing systems suffer from slow input rates because they require a pause between input characters to simplify the automatic recognition process. In this paper, we propose a continuous eye-writing recognition system that achieves a rapid input rate because it accepts characters eye-written continuously, with no pauses. For recognition purposes, the proposed system first detects eye movements using electrooculography (EOG), and then a hidden Markov model (HMM) is applied to model the EOG signals and recognize the eye-written characters. Additionally, this paper investigates an EOG adaptation that uses a deep neural network (DNN)-based HMM. Experiments with six participants showed an average input speed of 27.9 character/min using Japanese Katakana as the input target characters. A Katakana character-recognition error rate of only 5.0% was achieved using 13.8 minutes of adaptation data. PMID:29425248

Health-Related Quality of Life for Pediatric NF-1 Patients

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

Developmental Disorders, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders Specific learning/cognitive problems and/or classroom difficulties √ √ √ √ Reading...preferring solitary activities; teasing Fine and/or gross motor coordination √ √ √ √ Handwriting , running, walking, clumsiness Concerns about...as poor fine and gross motor coordination; these were evidenced by clumsiness and handwriting problems, for example. A number of children and

Development of Chinese Handwriting Skills among Kindergarten Children: Copying of the Composition in Chinese Characters and Name Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tse, Linda F. L.; Siu, Andrew M. H.; Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.

2017-01-01

Although copying and name writing skills are regarded as the indicators of handwriting development in alphabetic writing systems, there is limited information on logographs such as Chinese. Chinese characters are not only simply a combination of strokes as letters in English, but also place a great demand on visuospatial ability to maintain good…

Handwriting and Gender: A Multi-Use Data Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bradley, Sean

2015-01-01

Can individuals guess the gender of a writer based on a sample of his or her handwriting? We administer an electronic survey twice to the same individuals to find out. The resulting data set is interesting to students, rich enough to be amenable to a wide array of activities, and open to a variety of exploratory tacks for statistics students and…

The Effects of Handwriting Instruction on Reading for Students in Grades 1 and 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stroik, Linda R.

2016-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental group comparison study using a repeated measures comparison group design with random assignment of subjects to groups was to investigate the effects of handwriting instruction on reading progress for learners in grade 1 and grade 2. At three points in time, the number of words each student read…

Catalog of Instructional Materials in Spelling and Handwriting, 1983-1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

Listed in this catalog of instructional materials in spelling and handwriting are those materials adopted by the California State Board of Education for use in public schools from 1983 to 1985. Programs listed include those published by W. S. Benson; Bowmar/Noble; Globe Book; Harper and Row; D. C. Heath; Laidlaw Brothers; McGraw-Hill; A. N.…

A Longitudinal Study of Handwriting Skills in Pre-Schoolers: The Acquisition of Syllable Oriented Programming Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soler Vilageliu, Olga; Kandel, Sonia

2012-01-01

Previous studies have shown the relevance of the syllable as a programming unit in handwriting production, both in adults and elementary school children. This longitudinal study focuses on the acquisition of writing skills in a group of preschoolers. It examines how and when the syllable structure of the word starts regulating motor programming in…

A System for Reflective Learning Using Handwriting Tablet Devices for Real-Time Event Bookmarking into Simultaneously Recorded Videos

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakajima, Taira

2012-01-01

The author demonstrates a new system useful for reflective learning. Our new system offers an environment that one can use handwriting tablet devices to bookmark symbolic and descriptive feedbacks into simultaneously recorded videos in the environment. If one uses video recording and feedback check sheets in reflective learning sessions, one can…

A Quantitative Measure of Handwriting Dysfluency for Assessing Tardive Dyskinesia

PubMed Central

Caligiuri, Michael P.; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E.; Lohr, James B.

2015-01-01

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is movement disorder commonly associated with chronic exposure to antidopaminergic medications which may be in some cases disfiguring and socially disabling. The consensus from a growing body of research on the incidence and prevalence of TD in the modern era of antipsychotics indicates that this disorder has not disappeared continues to challenge the effective management of psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. A fundamental component in an effective strategy for managing TD is its reliable and accurate assessment. In the present study, we examined the clinical utility of a brief handwriting dysfluency measure for quantifying TD. Digitized samples of handwritten circles and loops were obtained from 62 psychosis patients with or without TD and from 50 healthy subjects. Two measures of dysfluent pen movements were extracted from each vertical pen stroke, including normalized jerk and the number of acceleration peaks. TD patients exhibited significantly higher dysfluency scores than non-TD patients and controls. Severity of handwriting movement dysfluency was correlated with AIMS severity ratings for some tasks. The procedure yielded high degrees of test-retest reliability. These results suggest that measures of handwriting movement dysfluency may be particularly useful for objectively evaluating the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutic strategies for treating TD. PMID:25679121

A Novel Handwritten Letter Recognizer Using Enhanced Evolutionary Neural Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmoudi, Fariborz; Mirzashaeri, Mohsen; Shahamatnia, Ehsan; Faridnia, Saed

This paper introduces a novel design for handwritten letter recognition by employing a hybrid back-propagation neural network with an enhanced evolutionary algorithm. Feeding the neural network consists of a new approach which is invariant to translation, rotation, and scaling of input letters. Evolutionary algorithm is used for the global search of the search space and the back-propagation algorithm is used for the local search. The results have been computed by implementing this approach for recognizing 26 English capital letters in the handwritings of different people. The computational results show that the neural network reaches very satisfying results with relatively scarce input data and a promising performance improvement in convergence of the hybrid evolutionary back-propagation algorithms is exhibited.

Experimental Realization of a Quantum Support Vector Machine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhaokai; Liu, Xiaomei; Xu, Nanyang; Du, Jiangfeng

2015-04-01

The fundamental principle of artificial intelligence is the ability of machines to learn from previous experience and do future work accordingly. In the age of big data, classical learning machines often require huge computational resources in many practical cases. Quantum machine learning algorithms, on the other hand, could be exponentially faster than their classical counterparts by utilizing quantum parallelism. Here, we demonstrate a quantum machine learning algorithm to implement handwriting recognition on a four-qubit NMR test bench. The quantum machine learns standard character fonts and then recognizes handwritten characters from a set with two candidates. Because of the wide spread importance of artificial intelligence and its tremendous consumption of computational resources, quantum speedup would be extremely attractive against the challenges of big data.

Conversation Analysis in Computer-Assisted Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González-Lloret, Marta

2015-01-01

The use of Conversation Analysis (CA) in the study of technology-mediated interactions is a recent methodological addition to qualitative research in the field of Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL). The expansion of CA in Second Language Acquisition research, coupled with the need for qualitative techniques to explore how people interact…

MONTHLY VARIATION IN SPERM MOTILITY IN COMMON CARP ASSESSED USING COMPUTER-ASSISTED SPERM ANALYSIS (CASA)

EPA Science Inventory

Sperm motility variables from the milt of the common carp Cyprinus carpio were assessed using a computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system across several months (March-August 1992) known to encompass the natural spawning period. Two-year-old pond-raised males obtained each mo...

Computer-Assisted Analysis of Qualitative Gerontological Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hiemstra, Roger; And Others

1987-01-01

Asserts that qualitative research has great potential for use in gerontological research. Describes QUALOG, a computer-assisted, qualitative data analysis scheme using logic programming developed at Syracuse University. Reviews development of QUALOG and discusses how QUALOG was used to analyze data from a qualitative study of older adult learners.…

OBJECTIVE EVALUATION OF HYPERACTIVATED MOTILITY IN RAT SPERMATOZA USING COMPUTER-ASSISTED SPERM ANALYSIS (CASA)

EPA Science Inventory

Objective evaluation of hyperactivated motility in rat spermatozoa using computer-assisted sperm analysis.

Cancel AM, Lobdell D, Mendola P, Perreault SD.

Toxicology Program, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.

The aim of this study was t...

A Methodological Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials of Computer-Assisted Therapies for Psychiatric Disorders: Toward Improved Standards for an Emerging Field

PubMed Central

Kiluk, Brian D.; Sugarman, Dawn E.; Nich, Charla; Gibbons, Carly J.; Martino, Steve; Rounsaville, Bruce J.; Carroll, Kathleen M.

2013-01-01

Objective Computer-assisted therapies offer a novel, cost-effective strategy for providing evidence-based therapies to a broad range of individuals with psychiatric disorders. However, the extent to which the growing body of randomized trials evaluating computer-assisted therapies meets current standards of methodological rigor for evidence-based interventions is not clear. Method A methodological analysis of randomized clinical trials of computer-assisted therapies for adult psychiatric disorders, published between January 1990 and January 2010, was conducted. Seventy-five studies that examined computer-assisted therapies for a range of axis I disorders were evaluated using a 14-item methodological quality index. Results Results indicated marked heterogeneity in study quality. No study met all 14 basic quality standards, and three met 13 criteria. Consistent weaknesses were noted in evaluation of treatment exposure and adherence, rates of follow-up assessment, and conformity to intention-to-treat principles. Studies utilizing weaker comparison conditions (e.g., wait-list controls) had poorer methodological quality scores and were more likely to report effects favoring the computer-assisted condition. Conclusions While several well-conducted studies have indicated promising results for computer-assisted therapies, this emerging field has not yet achieved a level of methodological quality equivalent to those required for other evidence-based behavioral therapies or pharmacotherapies. Adoption of more consistent standards for methodological quality in this field, with greater attention to potential adverse events, is needed before computer-assisted therapies are widely disseminated or marketed as evidence based. PMID:21536689

BanglaLekha-Isolated: A multi-purpose comprehensive dataset of Handwritten Bangla Isolated characters.

PubMed

Biswas, Mithun; Islam, Rafiqul; Shom, Gautam Kumar; Shopon, Md; Mohammed, Nabeel; Momen, Sifat; Abedin, Anowarul

2017-06-01

BanglaLekha-Isolated, a Bangla handwritten isolated character dataset is presented in this article. This dataset contains 84 different characters comprising of 50 Bangla basic characters, 10 Bangla numerals and 24 selected compound characters. 2000 handwriting samples for each of the 84 characters were collected, digitized and pre-processed. After discarding mistakes and scribbles, 1,66,105 handwritten character images were included in the final dataset. The dataset also includes labels indicating the age and the gender of the subjects from whom the samples were collected. This dataset could be used not only for optical handwriting recognition research but also to explore the influence of gender and age on handwriting. The dataset is publicly available at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/hf6sf8zrkc/2.

Retrieving handwriting by combining word spotting and manifold ranking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peña Saldarriaga, Sebastián; Morin, Emmanuel; Viard-Gaudin, Christian

2012-01-01

Online handwritten data, produced with Tablet PCs or digital pens, consists in a sequence of points (x, y). As the amount of data available in this form increases, algorithms for retrieval of online data are needed. Word spotting is a common approach used for the retrieval of handwriting. However, from an information retrieval (IR) perspective, word spotting is a primitive keyword based matching and retrieval strategy. We propose a framework for handwriting retrieval where an arbitrary word spotting method is used, and then a manifold ranking algorithm is applied on the initial retrieval scores. Experimental results on a database of more than 2,000 handwritten newswires show that our method can improve the performances of a state-of-the-art word spotting system by more than 10%.

[APPLICATION OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED TECHNOLOGY IN ANALYSIS OF REVISION REASON OF UNICOMPARTMENTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY].

PubMed

Jia, Di; Li, Yanlin; Wang, Guoliang; Gao, Huanyu; Yu, Yang

2016-01-01

To conclude the revision reason of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) using computer-assisted technology so as to provide reference for reducing the revision incidence and improving the level of surgical technique and rehabilitation. The relevant literature on analyzing revision reason of UKA using computer-assisted technology in recent years was extensively reviewed. The revision reasons by computer-assisted technology are fracture of the medial tibial plateau, progressive osteoarthritis of reserved compartment, dislocation of mobile bearing, prosthesis loosening, polyethylene wear, and unexplained persistent pain. Computer-assisted technology can be used to analyze the revision reason of UKA and guide the best operating method and rehabilitation scheme by simulating the operative process and knee joint activities.

Computer printing and filing of microbiology reports. 2. Evaluation and comparison with a manual system, and comparison of two manual systems.

PubMed Central

Goodwin, C S

1976-01-01

A manual system of microbiology reporting with a National Cash Register (NCR) form with printed names of bacteria and antiboitics required less time to compose reports than a previous manual system that involved rubber stamps and handwriting on plain report sheets. The NCR report cost 10-28 pence and, compared with a computer system, it had the advantages of simplicity and familarity, and reports were not delayed by machine breakdown, operator error, or data being incorrectly submitted. A computer reporting system for microbiology resulted in more accurate reports costing 17-97 pence each, faster and more accurate filing and recall of reports, and a greater range of analyses of reports that was valued particularly by the control-of-infection staff. Composition of computer-readable reports by technicians on Port-a-punch cards took longer than composing NCR reports. Enquiries for past results were more quickly answered from computer printouts of reports and a day book in alphabetical order. PMID:939810

Analogy of Lower and Capital Letters of Vertical and Italic Handwriting in First Grade Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turan, Mehmet

2010-01-01

This study has been carried out in order to determine the status of the analogy drawn with the capital and lower letters in vertical and italic handwriting by teachers working in the first grade classes of primary schools. The research has been conducted on 151 first grade teachers working in Turkey. The data was acquired by means of a…

The Effects of Environmental Factors on Worker Productivity in the Construction Industry.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-07-01

Decreased attention to direction * Deterioration of handwriting * Mental and physical fatique * Decreased hand steadiness in manual tasks * Mood ...decreased with hypoxia development (102) (134), there is a deterioration in handwriting (101) (134), mental fatique was noted (3) (134), and hand...steadiness occurred in manual tasks (116) (134). Mood changes were also observed under these condi- tions. Shephard (102) (134) relates the following: Two

To Write or to Type? The Effects of Handwriting and Word-Processing on the Written Style of Examination Essays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mogey, Nora; Hartley, James

2013-01-01

There is much debate about whether or not these days students should be able to word-process essay-type examinations as opposed to handwriting them, particularly when they are asked to word-process everything else. This study used word-processing software to examine the stylistic features of 13 examination essays written by hand and 24 by…

Effective Beginning Handwriting Instruction: Multi-Modal, Consistent Format for 2 Years, and Linked to Spelling and Composing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, Beverly; Abbott, Robert D.; Berninger, Virginia W.

2017-01-01

In Study 1, the treatment group (N = 33 first graders, M = 6 years 10 months, 16 girls) received Slingerland multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor through hand, and motor through mouth) manuscript (unjoined) handwriting instruction embedded in systematic spelling, reading, and composing lessons; and the control group (N = 16 first graders,…

Perception of the Cursive Handwriting Movement in Writers and Pre-Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonneton-Botté, Nathalie; Bara, Florence; Marec-Breton, Nathalie; De La Haye-Nicolas, Fanny; Gonthier, Corentin

2018-01-01

The objective of this study was to confirm the existence of knowledge relating to the cursive writing movement for French pupils in 3rd year of kindergarten, 2nd grade and 5th grade of elementary school. 141 pupils were asked to watch a visual presentation of cursive handwriting to determine whether they were able to detect violations of two rules…

Your Criminal Fico Score

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

about people, especially information collected from documents like case notes (not all law enforcement officers have easy-to-read handwriting ). As...the precision of say , the supercomputer in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which could tell the exact location of the golden tickets.93 Rather...various documents, including any bad handwriting , in order to convert the data into the standardized numerical codes needed for the analytic process to

Manual vs. computer-assisted sperm analysis: can CASA replace manual assessment of human semen in clinical practice?

PubMed

Talarczyk-Desole, Joanna; Berger, Anna; Taszarek-Hauke, Grażyna; Hauke, Jan; Pawelczyk, Leszek; Jedrzejczak, Piotr

2017-01-01

The aim of the study was to check the quality of computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system in comparison to the reference manual method as well as standardization of the computer-assisted semen assessment. The study was conducted between January and June 2015 at the Andrology Laboratory of the Division of Infertility and Reproductive Endocrinology, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poland. The study group consisted of 230 men who gave sperm samples for the first time in our center as part of an infertility investigation. The samples underwent manual and computer-assisted assessment of concentration, motility and morphology. A total of 184 samples were examined twice: manually, according to the 2010 WHO recommendations, and with CASA, using the program set-tings provided by the manufacturer. Additionally, 46 samples underwent two manual analyses and two computer-assisted analyses. The p-value of p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Statistically significant differences were found between all of the investigated sperm parameters, except for non-progressive motility, measured with CASA and manually. In the group of patients where all analyses with each method were performed twice on the same sample we found no significant differences between both assessments of the same probe, neither in the samples analyzed manually nor with CASA, although standard deviation was higher in the CASA group. Our results suggest that computer-assisted sperm analysis requires further improvement for a wider application in clinical practice.

Computer-assisted adjuncts for aneurysmal morphologic assessment: toward more precise and accurate approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rajabzadeh-Oghaz, Hamidreza; Varble, Nicole; Davies, Jason M.; Mowla, Ashkan; Shakir, Hakeem J.; Sonig, Ashish; Shallwani, Hussain; Snyder, Kenneth V.; Levy, Elad I.; Siddiqui, Adnan H.; Meng, Hui

2017-03-01

Neurosurgeons currently base most of their treatment decisions for intracranial aneurysms (IAs) on morphological measurements made manually from 2D angiographic images. These measurements tend to be inaccurate because 2D measurements cannot capture the complex geometry of IAs and because manual measurements are variable depending on the clinician's experience and opinion. Incorrect morphological measurements may lead to inappropriate treatment strategies. In order to improve the accuracy and consistency of morphological analysis of IAs, we have developed an image-based computational tool, AView. In this study, we quantified the accuracy of computer-assisted adjuncts of AView for aneurysmal morphologic assessment by performing measurement on spheres of known size and anatomical IA models. AView has an average morphological error of 0.56% in size and 2.1% in volume measurement. We also investigate the clinical utility of this tool on a retrospective clinical dataset and compare size and neck diameter measurement between 2D manual and 3D computer-assisted measurement. The average error was 22% and 30% in the manual measurement of size and aneurysm neck diameter, respectively. Inaccuracies due to manual measurements could therefore lead to wrong treatment decisions in 44% and inappropriate treatment strategies in 33% of the IAs. Furthermore, computer-assisted analysis of IAs improves the consistency in measurement among clinicians by 62% in size and 82% in neck diameter measurement. We conclude that AView dramatically improves accuracy for morphological analysis. These results illustrate the necessity of a computer-assisted approach for the morphological analysis of IAs.

Musician's dystonia is highly task specific: no strong evidence for everyday fine motor deficits in patients.

PubMed

Hofmann, Aurélie; Grossbach, Michael; Baur, Volker; Hermsdörfer, Joachim; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-03-01

1) To examine the fine motor skills used everyday by patients suffering from musician's dystonia (MD) in the upper limb in order to verify whether MD is task-specific; and 2) to compare the affected and non-affected hands of MD musicians vs healthy musicians in performance of these tasks in order to clarify whether dystonic symptoms can be found in the non-affected side of MD patients. MD is typically considered to be focal and task specific, but patients often report impairment in everyday life activities. Furthermore, in the course of MD, about 15% of patients complain of dystonic symptoms in other parts of the body. Twenty-seven musicians affected by MD and 27 healthy musicians were studied using 1) the Motor Performance Test Series, 2) a kinematic analysis of handwriting, and 3) an assessment of the grip force regulation while lifting and moving a manipulandum. Patients performed most fine motor tasks without any evidence of a deficit. Exclusively in the handwriting tasks (2), they exhibited fewer frequencies of the written trace and a prolonged overall writing time. MD is highly task specific and does not strongly affect other motor skills. The subtle deficits in handwriting may be explained as a consequence of a general psychological disposition rather than as compensatory mechanisms to avoid the appearance of dystonic symptoms. Furthermore, we did not find signs of multifocal motor deficits in the unaffected hands of MD patients.

A PERT/CPM of the Computer Assisted Completion of The Ministry September Report. Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feeney, J. D.

Using two statistical analysis techniques (the Program Evaluation and Review Technique and the Critical Path Method), this study analyzed procedures for compiling the required yearly report of the Metropolitan Separate School Board (Catholic) of Toronto, Canada. The computer-assisted analysis organized the process of completing the report more…

A Computer Assisted Language Analysis System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rush, J. E.; And Others

A description is presented of a computer-assisted language analysis system (CALAS) which can serve as a method for isolating and displaying language utterances found in conversation. The purpose of CALAS is stated as being to deal with the question of whether it is possible to detect, isolate, and display information indicative of what is…

Do motor ability and handwriting kinematic measures predict organizational ability among children with Developmental Coordination Disorders?

PubMed

Rosenblum, Sara

2015-10-01

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) exhibit deficient daily performance concealed in their perception-action mechanism. The aim of this study was to analyze behavior organization of children with DCD, in varied tasks that require generating and monitoring mental representations related to space and time inputs/requirements, for achieving better insight about their perception-action mechanism. Participants included 42 children aged 7-10, half of whom were defined with DCD and half were typically developing (TD). The children were matched for age, gender and school. They were evaluated using the Movement-ABC and performed three handwriting tasks on an electronic tablet that is part of a computerized system (ComPET - Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool). In addition, their teachers completed the Questionnaire for Assessing Students' Organizational Abilities-Teachers (QASOA-T) to assess the children's daily organizational ability. Significant group differences (DCD versus controls) were found for all handwriting kinematic measures across the three handwriting tasks and for the children's organizational abilities. Motor ability predicted a considerable percentage of the variance of the kinematic handwriting measures (30-37%), as well as a high percentage of the variance of their organizational abilities (67%). The coefficient of variance of the pen tilt added an additional 3% to the prediction of their organizational abilities. The results of this study exhibited deficient ability among children with DCD in organizing their behavior in varied real-world tasks requiring generation and monitoring representation related to space and time. The significance of the results to understanding the performance mechanism and implication to the clinical field are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in focal hand dystonia.

PubMed

Bradnam, Lynley V; Graetz, Lynton J; McDonnell, Michelle N; Ridding, Michael C

2015-01-01

There is increasing evidence that the cerebellum has a role in the pathophysiology of primary focal hand dystonia and might provide an intervention target for non-invasive brain stimulation to improve function of the affected hand. The primary objective of this study was to determine if cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in people with hand dystonia, by reducing cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Eight people with dystonia (5 writer's dystonia, 3 musician's dystonia) and eight age-matched controls completed the study and underwent cerebellar anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS in separate sessions. Dystonia severity was assessed using the Writer's Cramp Rating Scale (WRCS) and the Arm Dystonia Disability Scale (ADDS). The kinematic measures that differentiated the groups were; mean stroke frequency during handwriting and fast cyclic drawing and average pen pressure during light cyclic drawing. TMS measures of cortical excitability were no different between people with FHD and controls. There was a moderate, negative relationship between TMS-evoked CBI at baseline and the WRCS in dystonia. Anodal cerebellar tDCS reduced handwriting mean stroke frequency and average pen pressure, and increased speed and reduced pen pressure during fast cyclic drawing. Kinematic measures were not associated with a decrease in CBI within an individual. In conclusion, cerebellar anodal tDCS appeared to improve kinematics of handwriting and circle drawing tasks; but the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains uncertain. A study in a larger homogeneous population is needed to further investigate the possible therapeutic benefit of cerebellar tDCS in dystonia.

Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to the cerebellum improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in focal hand dystonia

PubMed Central

Bradnam, Lynley V.; Graetz, Lynton J.; McDonnell, Michelle N.; Ridding, Michael C.

2015-01-01

There is increasing evidence that the cerebellum has a role in the pathophysiology of primary focal hand dystonia and might provide an intervention target for non-invasive brain stimulation to improve function of the affected hand. The primary objective of this study was to determine if cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) improves handwriting and cyclic drawing kinematics in people with hand dystonia, by reducing cerebellar-brain inhibition (CBI) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Eight people with dystonia (5 writer’s dystonia, 3 musician’s dystonia) and eight age-matched controls completed the study and underwent cerebellar anodal, cathodal and sham tDCS in separate sessions. Dystonia severity was assessed using the Writer’s Cramp Rating Scale (WRCS) and the Arm Dystonia Disability Scale (ADDS). The kinematic measures that differentiated the groups were; mean stroke frequency during handwriting and fast cyclic drawing and average pen pressure during light cyclic drawing. TMS measures of cortical excitability were no different between people with FHD and controls. There was a moderate, negative relationship between TMS-evoked CBI at baseline and the WRCS in dystonia. Anodal cerebellar tDCS reduced handwriting mean stroke frequency and average pen pressure, and increased speed and reduced pen pressure during fast cyclic drawing. Kinematic measures were not associated with a decrease in CBI within an individual. In conclusion, cerebellar anodal tDCS appeared to improve kinematics of handwriting and circle drawing tasks; but the underlying neurophysiological mechanism remains uncertain. A study in a larger homogeneous population is needed to further investigate the possible therapeutic benefit of cerebellar tDCS in dystonia. PMID:26042019

Handwriting Development in Spanish Children With and Without Learning Disabilities: A Graphonomic Approach.

PubMed

Barrientos, Pablo

The central purpose of this study was to analyze the dynamics of handwriting movements in real time for Spanish students in early grades with and without learning disabilities. The sample consisted of 120 children from Grades 1 through 3 (primary education), classified into two groups: with learning disabilities and without learning disabilities. The Early Grade Writing Assessment tasks selected for this purpose were writing the alphabet in order from memory, alphabet copying in cursive and manuscript, and allograph selection. The dynamics of these four handwriting tasks were recorded using graphonomic tablets (type Wacom Intuos-4), Intuos Inking pens, and Eye and Pen 2 software. Several events were recorded across four different tasks: velocity, pressure, time invested in pauses, and automaticity. The results demonstrated significant graphonomic variations between groups across grades, depending on the type of task.

The Differential Effects of the Use of Handwriting without Tears® Modified Gray Block Paper to Teach Two Preschool Students with Developmental Delays Capital Letter Writing Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffith, Jessica; McLaughlin, T. F.; Neyman, Jen; Donica, Denise K.; Robison, Milena

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) modified gray block paper with letter writing on two preschool students diagnosed with developmental delays in pre-academics. Two students were selected from a self-contained special education preschool classroom in the Pacific Northwest. All…

Joint Measurement Operations Controller (JMOC)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

This work included evaluation of electronic paper and handwriting recognition software. Neither of these technologies was sufficiently robust to...is header information saying this is the Dynamic Targeting Cell set of questions. <Module webEnabled="false" appName="DTC" displayGlobalPre="true...translation of their handwriting captures. The one exception is Logitech, which provides its own software but is also compatible with MyScript Notes

Fluency and Accuracy in Alphabet Writing by Keyboarding: A Cross-Sectional Study in Spanish-Speaking Children with and without Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bisschop, Elaine; Morales, Celia; Gil, Verónica; Jiménez-Suárez, Elizabeth

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to analyze whether children with and without difficulties in handwriting, spelling, or both differed in alphabet writing when using a keyboard. The total sample consisted of 1,333 children from Grades 1 through 3. Scores on the spelling and handwriting factors from the "Early Grade Writing Assessment" (Jiménez,…

Pencil grips, legibility, and speed of fourth-graders' writing in cursive.

PubMed

Koziatek, Susan M; Powell, Nancy J

2003-01-01

The purpose of this research was to study how the speed and legibility of fourth-graders handwriting was affected by type of pencil grip on the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Cursive. Ninety-five typically developing students and 6 students receiving special education services completed the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Cursive (ETCH-C). Photographs were taken of their pencil grips while they wrote the alphabet. One-way ANOVAs were calculated to compare legibility rates and writing speeds by type of pencil grip. Ninety-nine of the students used one of four pencil grips including the dynamic tripod (38 students), the dynamic quadrupod (18), the lateral tripod (22), and the lateral quadrupod (21). One student used the four-finger pencil grip and one used the interdigital pencil grip. Mean cursive writing speeds were similar for all pencil grips except for the interdigital grasp. Speeds obtained were slower than recently published fourth-grade speeds ranging from a mean of 29.45 to 34.75 letters per minute. CONCLUSION. This study found the lateral quadrupod and four-finger pencil grips to be as functional as the dynamic tripod, lateral tripod, and dynamic quadrupod pencil grips. This study provides average handwriting speeds for fourth-grade students on the ETCH-C.

A quantitative measure of handwriting dysfluency for assessing tardive dyskinesia.

PubMed

Caligiuri, Michael P; Teulings, Hans-Leo; Dean, Charles E; Lohr, James B

2015-04-01

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder commonly associated with chronic exposure to antidopaminergic medications, which may be in some cases disfiguring and socially disabling. The consensus from a growing body of research on the incidence and prevalence of TD in the modern era of antipsychotics indicates that this disorder has not disappeared continues to challenge the effective management of psychotic symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. A fundamental component in an effective strategy for managing TD is its reliable and accurate assessment. In the present study, we examined the clinical utility of a brief handwriting dysfluency measure for quantifying TD. Digitized samples of handwritten circles and loops were obtained from 62 psychosis patients with or without TD and from 50 healthy subjects. Two measures of dysfluent pen movements were extracted from each vertical pen stroke, including normalized jerk and the number of acceleration peaks. Tardive dyskinesia patients exhibited significantly higher dysfluency scores than non-TD patients and controls. Severity of handwriting movement dysfluency was correlated with Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale severity ratings for some tasks. The procedure yielded high degrees of test-retest reliability. These results suggest that measures of handwriting movement dysfluency may be particularly useful for objectively evaluating the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutic strategies for treating TD.

Impairment of a parieto-premotor network specialized for handwriting in writer's cramp

PubMed Central

Najee-ullah, Muslimah 'Ali; Hallett, Mark

2016-01-01

Handwriting with the dominant hand is a highly skilled task singularly acquired in humans. This skill is the isolated deficit in patients with writer's cramp (WC), a form of dystonia with maladaptive plasticity, acquired through intensive and repetitive motor practice. When a skill is highly trained, a motor program is created in the brain to execute the same movement kinematics regardless of the effector used for the task. The task- and effector-specific symptoms in WC suggest that a problem particularly occurs in the brain when the writing motor program is carried out by the dominant hand. In the present MRI study involving 12 WC patients (with symptoms only affecting the right dominant hand during writing) and 15 age matched unaffected controls we showed that: (1) the writing program recruited the same network regardless of the effector used to write in both groups; (2) dominant handwriting recruited a segregated parieto-premotor network only in the control group; (3) local structural alteration of the premotor area, the motor component of this network, predicted functional connectivity deficits during dominant handwriting and symptom duration in the patient group. Dysfunctions and structural abnormalities of a segregated parieto-premotor network in WC patients suggest that network specialization in focal brain areas is crucial for well-learned motor skill. PMID:27466043

Development of early handwriting: Visual-motor control during letter copying.

PubMed

Maldarelli, Jennifer E; Kahrs, Björn A; Hunt, Sarah C; Lockman, Jeffrey J

2015-07-01

Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor, and cognitive abilities, which must work in unison if children are to write letters efficiently. To study such coordination, head-mounted eye-tracking technology was used to investigate the process of visual-motor coordination while kindergarten children (N = 23) and adults (N = 11) copied individual letters and strings of letters that differed in terms of their phonemic properties. Results indicated that kindergarten children were able to copy single letters efficiently, as did adults. When the cognitive demands of the task increased and children were presented with strings of letters, however, their ability to copy letters efficiently was compromised: Children frequently interrupted their writing midletter, whereas they did not do so on single letter trials. Yet, with increasing age, children became more efficient in copying letter strings, in part by using vision more prospectively when writing. Taken together, the results illustrate how the coordination of perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes contributes to advances in the development of letter writing skill. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Development of Early Handwriting: Visual-Motor Control During Letter Copying

PubMed Central

Maldarelli, Jennifer E.; Kahrs, Björn A.; Hunt, Sarah C.; Lockman, Jeffrey J.

2015-01-01

Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities, which must work in unison if children are to write letters efficiently. To study such coordination, head-mounted eye-tracking technology was used to investigate the process of visual-motor coordination while kindergarten children (N=23) and adults (N=11) copied individual letters and strings of letters that differed in terms of their phonemic properties. Results indicated that kindergarten children were able to copy single letters efficiently, as did adults. When the cognitive demands of the task increased and children were presented with strings of letters, however, their ability to copy letters efficiently was compromised: children frequently interrupted their writing mid-letter, whereas they did not do so on single letter trials. Yet, with increasing age, children became more efficient in copying letter strings, in part by using vision more prospectively when writing. Taken together, the results illustrate how the coordination of perceptual, motor and cognitive processes contributes to advances in the development of letter writing skill. PMID:26029821

Medical education as a science: the quality of evidence for computer-assisted instruction.

PubMed

Letterie, Gerard S

2003-03-01

A marked increase in the number of computer programs for computer-assisted instruction in the medical sciences has occurred over the past 10 years. The quality of both the programs and the literature that describe these programs has varied considerably. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the published literature that described computer-assisted instruction in medical education and to assess the quality of evidence for its implementation, with particular emphasis on obstetrics and gynecology. Reports published between 1988 and 2000 on computer-assisted instruction in medical education were identified through a search of MEDLINE and Educational Resource Identification Center and a review of the bibliographies of the articles that were identified. Studies were selected if they included a description of computer-assisted instruction in medical education, regardless of the type of computer program. Data were extracted with a content analysis of 210 reports. The reports were categorized according to study design (comparative, prospective, descriptive, review, or editorial), type of computer-assisted instruction, medical specialty, and measures of effectiveness. Computer-assisted instruction programs included online technologies, CD-ROMs, video laser disks, multimedia work stations, virtual reality, and simulation testing. Studies were identified in all medical specialties, with a preponderance in internal medicine, general surgery, radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and pathology. Ninety-six percent of the articles described a favorable impact of computer-assisted instruction in medical education, regardless of the quality of the evidence. Of the 210 reports that were identified, 60% were noncomparative, descriptive reports of new techniques in computer-assisted instruction, and 15% and 14% were reviews and editorials, respectively, of existing technology. Eleven percent of studies were comparative and included some form of assessment of the effectiveness of the computer program. These assessments included pre- and posttesting and questionnaires to score program quality, perceptions of the medical students and/or residents regarding the program, and impact on learning. In one half of these comparative studies, computer-assisted instruction was compared with traditional modes of teaching, such as text and lectures. Six studies compared performance before and after the computer-assisted instruction. Improvements were shown in 5 of the studies. In the remainder of the studies, computer-assisted instruction appeared to result in similar test performance. Despite study design or outcome, most articles described enthusiastic endorsement of the programs by the participants, including medical students, residents, and practicing physicians. Only 1 study included cost analysis. Thirteen of the articles were in obstetrics and gynecology. Computer-assisted instruction has assumed to have an increasing role in medical education. In spite of enthusiastic endorsement and continued improvements in software, few studies of good design clearly demonstrate improvement in medical education over traditional modalities. There are no comparative studies in obstetrics and gynecology that demonstrate a clear-cut advantage. Future studies of computer-assisted instruction that include comparisons and cost assessments to gauge their effectiveness over traditional methods may better define their precise role.

Technography and Design-Actuality Gap-Analysis of Internet Computer Technologies-Assisted Education: Western Expectations and Global Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenhalgh-Spencer, Heather; Jerbi, Moja

2017-01-01

In this paper, we provide a design-actuality gap-analysis of the internet infrastructure that exists in developing nations and nations in the global South with the deployed internet computer technologies (ICT)-assisted programs that are designed to use internet infrastructure to provide educational opportunities. Programs that specifically…

Designing an Assistive Learning Aid for Writing Acquisition: A Challenge for Children with Dyslexia.

PubMed

Latif, Seemab; Tariq, Rabbia; Tariq, Shehla; Latif, Rabia

2015-01-01

In Pakistan, the biggest challenge is to provide high quality education to the individuals with learning disabilities. Besides the well known affordance issue, there is a lack of awareness regarding the term dyslexia and remedial teaching training that causes the identification as well as remediation of the dyslexic individuals at early stages in Pakistan. The research was focused to exploit the benefits of using the modern mobile technology features in providing a learning platform for young dyslexic writers. Based on potential usability requirements of young dyslexic writers stated by remedial teachers of dyslexics, an android based application is designed and implemented using the usability engineering process model to encourage the learning process and help dyslexic children improve their fundamental handwriting skill. In addition, a handwriting learning algorithm based on concepts of machine learning is designed and implemented to decide the learning content, evaluate the learning performance, display the performance results and record the learning growth to show the strengths and weaknesses of a dyslexic child. The research was also aimed to assess the usability of the learner-centered application by the targeted population by conducting a user acceptance test to evaluate their learning experience and benefits of the developed application to dyslexic users. The results of the evaluation provided by the participants revealed that application has potential benefits to foster the learning process and help children with dyslexia by improving their foundational writing skills.

The Effects of Gender on the Attitudes towards the Computer Assisted Instruction: A Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cam, Sefika Sumeyye; Yarar, Gokhan; Toraman, Cetin; Erdamar, Gurcu Koc

2016-01-01

The idea that gender factor creates a difference on computer usage and computer-assisted instruction is based upon previous years. At that time, it was thought that some areas like engineering, science and mathematics were for males so it created a difference on the computer usage. Nevertheless, developing technology and females becoming more…

A computer-based therapy for the treatment of aphasic subjects with writing disorders.

PubMed

Seron, X; Deloche, G; Moulard, G; Rousselle, M

1980-02-01

A computer-controlled rehabilitation for aphasics with writing impairments is presented. Subjects were asked to type words under dictation. Each time a letter was typed in its correct position, it was displayed on a screen. If the contrary, the error was not displayed, thus avoiding visual reinforcement of false choices. This method of rehabilitation has proved efficient as concerns typewriting. More importantly, some learning transfer to handwriting was observed at the completion of experimental training. The results showed a significant reduction in the number of misspelled words as well as in the erroneous choice and serial ordering of letters. The stability of the observed improvement is discussed in relationship to variables such as the time elapsed since brain damage and the type of writing difficulty.

An Information and Technical Manual for the Computer-Assisted Teacher Training System (CATTS).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Semmel, Melvyn I.; And Others

The manual presents technical information on the computer assisted teacher training system (CATTS) which aims at developing a versatile and economical computer based teacher training system with the capability of providing immediate analysis and feedback of data relevant to teacher pupil transactions in a classroom setting. The physical…

Internal Structure and Development of Keyboard Skills in Spanish-Speaking Primary-School Children With and Without LD in Writing.

PubMed

Jiménez, Juan E; Marco, Isaac; Suárez, Natalia; González, Desirée

This study had two purposes: examining the internal structure of the Test Estandarizado para la Evaluación Inicial de la Escritura con Teclado (TEVET; Spanish Keyboarding Writing Test), and analyzing the development of keyboarding skills in Spanish elementary school children with and without learning disabilities (LD) in writing. A group of 1,168 elementary school children carried out the following writing tasks: writing the alphabet in order from memory, allograph selection, word copying, writing dictated words with inconsistent spelling, writing pseudowords from dictation, and independent composition of sentence. For this purpose, exploratory factor analysis for the TEVET was conducted. Principal component analysis with a varimax rotation identified three factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Based on factorial analysis, we analyzed the keyboarding skills across grades in Spanish elementary school children with and without LD (i.e., poor handwriters compared with poor spellers, who in turn were compared with mixed compared with typically achieving writers). The results indicated that poor handwriters did not differ from typically achieving writers in phonological processing, visual-orthographic processing, and sentence production components by keyboarding. The educational implications of the findings are analyzed with regard to acquisition of keyboarding skills in children with and without LD in transcription.

Computer-Assisted Traffic Engineering Using Assignment, Optimal Signal Setting, and Modal Split

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-05-01

Methods of traffic assignment, traffic signal setting, and modal split analysis are combined in a set of computer-assisted traffic engineering programs. The system optimization and user optimization traffic assignments are described. Travel time func...

Three-dimensional movement analysis of handwriting in subjects with mild hemiparesis.

PubMed

Harada, Takako; Okajima, Yasutomo; Takahashi, Hidetoshi

2010-08-01

To investigate the effects of hemiparesis on handwriting using a 3-dimensional movement analyzer. Comparative case study. Ambulatory care clinic. Right-handed patients (n=25; mean age +/- SD, 62.3+/-10y) with mild right hemiparesis secondary to subcortical stroke, and age-matched (n=10; 65.6+/-13y) and age-unmatched (n=15; 32.4+/-10y) control subjects. Not applicable. Time required to write a Japanese character of 2 different sizes and average speed of handwriting at the pen tip. Average radii of tracks of the moving pen tip, metacarpal head of the index finger, and distal end of the forearm during writing. Correlation coefficients of the instantaneous speed-time graph of the pen tip with that of the index finger and with that of the distal forearm during writing. Time for writing with the hemiparetic right hand was longer than that with the unaffected left hand (P=.05 approximately .03), while it was shorter in healthy control subjects (P=.07 approximately .05). In contrast with the left-hand writing, the track radius of the pen tip of the right-hand writing in patients with hemiparesis with normal joint position sense was significantly larger than that of the finger or distal forearm (P=.01). The finding was the same as in the young and elderly control subjects. This right-left difference disappeared in the patients with hemiparesis with position sense impairment. The correlation coefficient of speed between the pen tip and the finger was larger in right-hand than left-hand writing in the control and sensory-normative patients with hemiparesis even though the difference was significant only in the healthy elderly subjects (P=.03). Irrespective of the right or left hand use, the correlation coefficient between the pen tip and the finger or distal forearm significantly increased as the character size increased (P=.03 approximately 6 x10(-6)) in all subjects and patients. However, this size-related difference was less significant in the patients with sensory impairment. The characteristics of handwriting movement by the dominant hand were preserved in patients with mild dominant-hand hemiparesis when joint position sense was normative but were lost in those with position sense impairment.

Children of Military Service Members Resource Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

follows 9-year-old lizzie as she writes to her mother, who is deployed overseas. child-like handwriting and colorful illustrations are used as lizzie...978-1615467242 Pages: 32 My Daddy is a Soldier uses simple words and images to help young children understand what it means when parents say ...Military Mom follows 9-year-old lizzie as she writes to her mother, who is deployed overseas. child-like handwriting and colorful illustrations are used as

Cognitive and artificial representations in handwriting recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lenaghan, Andrew P.; Malyan, Ron

1996-03-01

Both cognitive processes and artificial recognition systems may be characterized by the forms of representation they build and manipulate. This paper looks at how handwriting is represented in current recognition systems and the psychological evidence for its representation in the cognitive processes responsible for reading. Empirical psychological work on feature extraction in early visual processing is surveyed to show that a sound psychological basis for feature extraction exists and to describe the features this approach leads to. The first stage of the development of an architecture for a handwriting recognition system which has been strongly influenced by the psychological evidence for the cognitive processes and representations used in early visual processing, is reported. This architecture builds a number of parallel low level feature maps from raw data. These feature maps are thresholded and a region labeling algorithm is used to generate sets of features. Fuzzy logic is used to quantify the uncertainty in the presence of individual features.

Motor control of handwriting in the developing brain: A review.

PubMed

Palmis, Sarah; Danna, Jeremy; Velay, Jean-Luc; Longcamp, Marieke

This review focuses on the acquisition of writing motor aspects in adults, and in 5-to 12-year-old children without learning disabilities. We first describe the behavioural aspects of adult writing and dominant models based on the notion of motor programs. We show that handwriting acquisition is characterized by the transition from reactive movements programmed stroke-by-stroke in younger children, to an automatic control of the whole trajectory when the motor programs are memorized at about 10 years old. Then, we describe the neural correlates of adult writing, and the changes that could occur with learning during childhood. The acquisition of a new skill is characterized by the involvement of a network more restricted in space and where neural specificity is increased in key regions. The cerebellum and the left dorsal premotor cortex are of fundamental importance in motor learning, and could be at the core of the acquisition of handwriting.

Writing Forces Associated With Four Pencil Grasp Patterns in Grade 4 Children

PubMed Central

Schwellnus, Heidi; Carnahan, Heather; Kushki, Azadeh; Polatajko, Helene; Missiuna, Cheryl

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE. We investigated differences in handwriting kinetics, speed, and legibility among four pencil grasps after a 10-min copy task. METHOD. Seventy-four Grade 4 students completed a handwriting assessment before and after a copy task. Grip and axial forces were measured with an instrumented stylus and force-sensitive tablet. We used multiple linear regression to analyze the relationship between grasp pattern and grip and axial forces. RESULTS. We found no kinetic differences among grasps, whether considered individually or grouped by the number of fingers on the barrel. However, when grasps were grouped according to the thumb position, the adducted grasps exhibited higher mean grip and axial forces. CONCLUSION. Grip forces were generally similar across the different grasps. Kinetic differences resulting from thumb position seemed to have no bearing on speed and legibility. Interventions for handwriting difficulties should focus more on speed and letter formation than on grasp pattern. PMID:23433277

Quantitative morphometrical characterization of human pronuclear zygotes.

PubMed

Beuchat, A; Thévenaz, P; Unser, M; Ebner, T; Senn, A; Urner, F; Germond, M; Sorzano, C O S

2008-09-01

Identification of embryos with high implantation potential remains a challenge in in vitro fertilization (IVF). Subjective pronuclear (PN) zygote scoring systems have been developed for that purpose. The aim of this work was to provide a software tool that enables objective measuring of morphological characteristics of the human PN zygote. A computer program was created to analyse zygote images semi-automatically, providing precise morphological measurements. The accuracy of this approach was first validated by comparing zygotes from two different IVF centres with computer-assisted measurements or subjective scoring. Computer-assisted measurement and subjective scoring were then compared for their ability to classify zygotes with high and low implantation probability by using a linear discriminant analysis. Zygote images coming from the two IVF centres were analysed with the software, resulting in a series of precise measurements of 24 variables. Using subjective scoring, the cytoplasmic halo was the only feature which was significantly different between the two IVF centres. Computer-assisted measurements revealed significant differences between centres in PN centring, PN proximity, cytoplasmic halo and features related to nucleolar precursor bodies distribution. The zygote classification error achieved with the computer-assisted measurements (0.363) was slightly inferior to that of the subjective ones (0.393). A precise and objective characterization of the morphology of human PN zygotes can be achieved by the use of an advanced image analysis tool. This computer-assisted analysis allows for a better morphological characterization of human zygotes and can be used for classification.

The Role of Computer-Assisted Technology in Post-Traumatic Orbital Reconstruction: A PRISMA-driven Systematic Review.

PubMed

Wan, Kelvin H; Chong, Kelvin K L; Young, Alvin L

2015-12-08

Post-traumatic orbital reconstruction remains a surgical challenge and requires careful preoperative planning, sound anatomical knowledge and good intraoperative judgment. Computer-assisted technology has the potential to reduce error and subjectivity in the management of these complex injuries. A systematic review of the literature was conducted to explore the emerging role of computer-assisted technologies in post-traumatic orbital reconstruction, in terms of functional and safety outcomes. We searched for articles comparing computer-assisted procedures with conventional surgery and studied outcomes on diplopia, enophthalmos, or procedure-related complications. Six observational studies with 273 orbits at a mean follow-up of 13 months were included. Three out of 4 studies reported significantly fewer patients with residual diplopia in the computer-assisted group, while only 1 of the 5 studies reported better improvement in enophthalmos in the assisted group. Types and incidence of complications were comparable. Study heterogeneities limiting statistical comparison by meta-analysis will be discussed. This review highlights the scarcity of data on computer-assisted technology in orbital reconstruction. The result suggests that computer-assisted technology may offer potential advantage in treating diplopia while its role remains to be confirmed in enophthalmos. Additional well-designed and powered randomized controlled trials are much needed.

A Computer-Assisted Test Design and Diagnosis System for Use by Classroom Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

He, Q.; Tymms, P.

2005-01-01

Computer-assisted assessment (CAA) has become increasingly important in education in recent years. A variety of computer software systems have been developed to help assess the performance of students at various levels. However, such systems are primarily designed to provide objective assessment of students and analysis of test items, and focus…