Prevalence of Handwriting Difficulty among Second Grade School Students in North Chennai: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Abstract Background: Handwriting is one of the important skills, i.e., a child needs to meet the needs of the elementary school classroom. Handwriting difficulties affect children’s school performance. The prevalence of handwriting difficulties among the school children was 34%. Handwriting, a complicated perceptual-motor skill, requires a variety of talents, including visual-motor coordination, motor planning, cognitive and perceptual skills, as well as tactile and kinesthetic sensitivity. A child spends 30%–60% of their school day performing fine motor activities, mainly handwriting activities. Occupational therapy services are often recommended for children with handwriting problems. Handwriting interventions commonly focus on learning, acquisition, and maintaining a new skill. Thus, this study interprets the handwriting difficulties among school-going children. Objective: The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence of handwriting difficulty among second grade school students in North Chennai. Study Design: The study design was a cross-sectional study. Methods: The students were selected based on the selection criteria. Multistage sampling method was used. The North Chennai wards were chosen first, and then, the areas within them, using the table of random numbers. The lottery method was used to choose a total of 9 schools and a total of 821 students were included. Prior to the child’s participation in the study, the parent’s consent was obtained. Then, the Screener of Handwriting Proficiency and student assessment were administered to all the participants. The collected data were analyzed and results were inferred. Results: Handwriting difficulty was prevalent among 240 students which accounted to be 29.2% of second grade students, while 581 students with 70.8% were found to have without handwriting difficulty. Out of 459 male students, 172 students (37.5%) and a total of 363 female students, 68 students (18.8%) have handwriting difficulty. Comparatively, male students were found to have more difficulty than female students. This difference of observation was identified statistically significant which denotes gender contributing factor with respect to handwriting difficulty. Conclusion: This study concludes that handwriting difficulties were more prevalent in boys than in girls. Errors in memory were more remarked when compared to other components and placement component was found to have least errors.