Contributions of Haptic and Kinesthetic Perceptions on Handwriting Speed and Legibility for First and Second Grade Children

Abstract

The contributions of haptic and kinesthetic perceptions to handwriting legibility and speed were examined in 177 typically developing first and second grade children in Taiwan. Five standardized assessments were used to assess handwriting legibility and speed, haptic perception, kinesthetic perception, fine-motor coordination, and mental processing speed. Results demonstrate that haptic perception has a greater influence on handwriting speed than kinesthetic perception for children in both first and second grade. When examining handwriting legibility, kinesthetic perception accounted for a greater variance than haptic perception for children in the first grade but not in the second grade. Assessing first and second grade students' haptic and kinesthetic perception as part of a handwriting evaluation is supported by the correlation results of this study. Further, the results support that when therapists are working with younger children who are learning to write, they may need to develop the children's kinesthetic perception.

Keywords:

• Kinesthesis
• child development
• touch
• writing
• proprioception
• psychomotor performance
• stereognosis

Acknowledgments

This article is based on research conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctorate of philosophy in occupational therapy in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. We thank all of the children for their participation in the study.