The Dynamics of Programming, Control and the Movement Sequential Organization Skills as the Basic Components of Writing

Abstract

We present the results of a longitudinal study of the formation of graphomotor skills in elementary school children between the ages of seven and nine (students in the first and second grades). Patterns in how the skills under investigation develop in normal children and those with learning disabilities were revealed using a computerized survey of sequential movement organization and writing functions in combination with a general neuropsychological study. It is shown that graphomotor skills develop unevenly between the first and second grades in children, successful and unsuccessful in academic achievement: second-graders perform assignments faster and with fewer regulatory errors, but the spatial characteristics of their writing become worse. It was also found that children with learning disabilities lag behind in their development and automation of graphomotor and writing skills. This problem may be associated with this group's identified lack of programming and control functions as well as movement sequential organization skills. In addition, a comparative analysis of connections between age, social factors (grade level) and the formation of the functions under investigation was conducted. This analysis has shown that grade level has a greater influence on this process than was previously thought.

Notes

English translation © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, from the Russian text © 2015 “Psikhologicheskaia nauka i obrazovanie.” “Dinamika programirovaniia i kontrolia i seriinoi organizatsii dvizhenii kak bazovykh komponentov pis'ma,” Psikhologicheskaia nauka i obrazovanie, 2015, no. 1, pp. 85–101. Olga V. Kuzeva is a teacher and psychologist and a graduate student at Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. E-mail: [email protected]. Antonina A. Romanova, candidate of psychological sciences, is head of the Consultative and Diagnostic Department, “Iugo-Zapad” Psychological and Educational Support Center, Moscow. E-mail: [email protected]. Aleksey A. Korneev, candidate of psychological sciences, is a senior fellow at the Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Moscow State University. E-mail: [email protected]. Tatyiana V. Akhutina, doctor of psychological sciences, is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Moscow State University, Moscow. E-mail: [email protected]. Translated by Kenneth Cargill.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was supported by the Russian Humanitarian Science Foundation (Project No. 13-36-01050 “Analysis of the Development of Regulatory Functions in Elementary School Children who are Successful and Unsuccessful in their Studies”).