Motor functions of higher education students with dysgraphia.
Quick motor tests predict handwriting pain in university students with dysgraphia—swap to typing or other supports early.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Tal-Saban et al. (2019) looked at college students with dysgraphia. They gave each student two quick motor tests. One test checked how well they copied shapes and lined things up. The other test asked about everyday fine-motor tasks like buttoning a shirt. Then they watched the students write a short paragraph.
The team wanted to see if low motor scores could predict messy or slow handwriting.
What they found
Students with dysgraphia scored low on both motor tests. Their handwriting was also slow and hard to read. The lower the motor score, the worse the writing looked. Daily fine-motor problems were the strongest warning sign.
How this fits with other research
Sawyer et al. (2014) saw the same link in younger kids. Chinese children with handwriting trouble also had weak visual-motor scores. Miri’s study shows the pattern still holds at university age.
Lemons et al. (2015) proved that kindergarten motor tests can flag future writing problems. Miri’s work keeps the timeline going: motor tests keep predicting handwriting even after high school.
Doughty et al. (2015) tried a fix. They taught college students with learning disabilities to touch-type. Speed went up and stayed up. Miri’s paper says screen for motor issues first, then offer typing or other accommodations.
Why it matters
If a student’s writing looks sloppy or painfully slow, run a quick motor check. Ask them to copy a star, draw a path through a maze, and tell you how hard buttons or zippers feel. Low scores mean handwriting will stay tough, so give them note-taking help, typed exams, or speech-to-text now. Early swaps save hours of frustration later.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study examines the motor skills and motor-related daily functions of higher education students with and without dysgraphia, and their contribution in predicting handwriting performance. The sample included 82 higher education students aged 20-35 years old. Thirty-four were students without any known developmental disorder (NDD) and 48 students had dysgraphia. We individually administered a test battery evaluating handwriting performance, fine-motor skills, and visual-motor spatial-organization skills. Students also filled out a questionnaire relating to their fine- and gross-motor-related daily functions. Overall, the NDD students had significantly better motor skills and motor-related daily functions. Additionally, the motor skills and daily functions explained 62.9% of the variance in handwriting performance, and they correctly classified 90% of the students into the handwriting performance groups. Yet only visual-motor spatial organization and fine-motor-related daily functions significantly contributed to the fit of the model. These findings suggest that students with dysgraphia continue to encounter handwriting difficulties in higher education. These difficulties are linked to poor motor skills and motor-related daily functions. Therefore, higher education students with dysgraphia may require assistance and accommodations throughout their studies, not only with regard to their academic performance, but also in their motor-related daily functions.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2019 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103479