The handwriting performance of children with NF1.
Children with NF1 write more slowly, press harder, and produce less legible text than peers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gilboa et al. (2010) compared handwriting in children with NF1 to matched peers. They used timed copy tasks and standard scoring for speed, legibility, and pencil pressure.
What they found
Kids with NF1 wrote more slowly and pressed the pencil harder. Their letters were less legible and the overall quality was lower than peers.
How this fits with other research
M-Symons et al. (2005) first showed that many NF1 children with normal IQ still struggle with spelling. Yafit’s team moved the lens from spelling to the act of writing itself.
Kushki et al. (2011) found that every child—dysgraphic or not—grips harder and slows down when a writing task drags on. Yafit’s NF1 group already started at that fatigued level, suggesting their motor system is taxed from the first word.
Boudreau et al. (2015) later tested a 10-week arm-strengthening program. Hand strength improved short-term, but handwriting participation stayed flat. Together the three papers hint that strength alone won’t fix the fine-motor planning issues NF1 kids face.
Why it matters
If you work with NF1 learners, expect the page to look worse than their ideas warrant. Build in short writing bursts, alternate pencil and keyboard work, and teach explicit letter-formation routines. Track legibility weekly; small gains matter for classroom marks and self-esteem.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The objective of this study was to analyze the process and product of handwriting among children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) in comparison to those of Typically Developing (TD) children. Children with NF1 are at risk for some cognitive deficits, a wide range of deficits in perceptual skills and, motor and visual-motor integration skills which may interfere with handwriting competency, which is an essential ingredient for success at school. Participants were 30 NF1 children and 30 age and gender matched TD children, between the ages 8 and 16.08. The handwriting performance of children with NF1 was evaluated with the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), for copying text and free style writing tasks, using: (1) Computerized Penmanship Evaluation Tool (ComPET) to assess mechanical aspects of the writing process. (2) The Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation (HHE) to examine product legibility. (3) The Six-Trait Writing Model to judge the quality of the written product. Significant differences between the NF1 children and the control group were found in the process and product measures. Significant correlations were found between the VMI, the ComPET, the HHE and the Six-Trait Writing Model variables for both groups. We suggest a possible relationship between executive dysfunction and poor performance in handwriting.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.03.005