Defining Occupational Therapy Interventions for Children with Fine Motor and Handwriting Difficulties

ABSTRACT

Fine motor deficits are often correlated with poor handwriting which can impact a variety of academic-related tasks. Occupational therapists (OTs) frequently provide interventions for the remediation of handwriting difficulties. Evidence exists to provide information as to the most effective forms of interventions used by occupational therapists. However, what OTs do within a treatment session has yet to be defined and studied for effectiveness. This study provides an initial feasibility study to examine the method of text mining to explore and define the interventions used by occupational therapists in the treatment of fine motor skills as related to handwriting difficulties. Researchers performed a retrospective review of 157 participants’ narrative treatment notes using text mining. Data were categorized into treatment interventions based on five previously identified treatment categories. Pre and posttest fine motor scores were examined to determine change. Specific handwriting outcomes were not gathered at this time. Results revealed three primary treatment interventions for the treatment of handwriting difficulties multisensory and motor approaches. A significant change in pretest and posttest scores was indicated. Overall, therapists in this setting utilized evidence-based interventions that demonstrated significant changes in fine motor skills. The study exhibited limitations in the single site sample and size of the sample and no direct assessment of handwriting outcomes. Future research would expand the study to additional sites and further explore relationships between interventions and outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Handwriting
• fine motor
• evidence-based practice