Strategies for Teaching Handwriting to Children with Writing Disabilities

Abstract

Handwriting abilities have been shown to play an important role in the academic performance of children, especially children who have disorders of written language. Dysgraphia is the most commonly identified neurodevelopmental grapho-motor disorder of handwriting and it often co-occurs with dyslexia. Even in an age where much print is accomplished by keyboarding, legible handwriting continues to be an indispensable skill for a range of academic, vocational, social, and professional activities. In keeping with research that supports the importance of cursive writing, this paper focuses on guidelines for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who evaluate, diagnose, and treat children with disorders of written language accompanied by marked deficits in handwriting.