Dr Karen Ray

The ultimate goal of reading is to comprehend written text, and this goal can only be attained if the reader can decode written words and understand their meanings. The science of reading has provided compelling evidence for the subskills that form the foundation of decoding. Decoding words requires understanding of the alphabetic principle and letter¿sound, or grapheme¿phoneme, correspondence. In the first year of formal schooling (kindergarten), this same understanding is also required for young learners who are learning to write the letters of the alphabet. In this article, we examine the effectiveness of a handwriting intervention, Write Start¿K, that emphasizes the recall, retrieval, reproduction, and repetition (the 4Rs model) of grapheme¿phoneme relations. We conducted a two-group, pre/posttest study at two Australian schools across four kindergarten classes (n = 77 students). One school received the intervention, and the other continued with standard teaching. Participants (mean age¿= 5 years 8.45 months, standard deviation = 4.18 months) at both schools were assessed at baseline, immediately after the eight-week intervention period, and at 12 weeks following the end of the intervention (follow-up). We used linear mixed models to determine the statistical significance of effects over three time intervals. We identified statistically significant Group × Time effects for letter name knowledge and word reading, whereas changes in letter sound knowledge and nonsense word¿reading fluency approached statistical significance. These results indicate that a handwriting intervention, incorporating repeated practice in recalling and reproducing letter forms, had a statistically significant impact on early reading skills.

Aims: Handwriting is an essential life skill, impacted by proficiency in visual-motor integration and fine motor control. The increase in the use of digital technology has changed the way children interact with their environments, and potentially, the development of the important requisite skills for handwriting. This study examined the ¿handwriting readiness¿ skills of children born in the digital age. Methods: 219 children in their first year of formal schooling (mean age = 5 years, 10 months), completed the Beery Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (Beery-VMI) and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2) Short Form to assess visual motor integration, overall motor proficiency, and fine motor proficiency. Pencil grasp was also observed. Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and comparison to established normative data using summary t-tests. Results: Participants met the expected performance level on the Beery-VMI and the manual dexterity subtest of the BOT-2. However, overall motor proficiency on the BOT-2 for our sample was lower than published normative data. Further, 60.3% of participants used static pencil grasps. Conclusions: The findings prompt us to question the potential contribution of digital technology to changes in motor performance among children in the digital age.