Abstract
This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the predictive power of graphomotor measures of handwriting taken in Grade 1 of Primary School. The study was developed in two phases. In the first phase, 17 first graders (8 boys, 9 girls, right-handed) copied a list words on a piece of paper attached to a digitiser, in order to collect graphomotor information during handwriting execution. We collected data in three different moments throughout the academic course. We measured Time (Execution time, Writing time, InAir time, in seconds); Trajectory (cm); Disfluency (number of velocity peaks per word); Pressure; and Gazelifts (number of gazes to the stimuli).
We ran the second phase when participants were at 5th Grade of Primary School. Firstly, we clustered participants according to the results obtained in Grade 1 on Writing time and Disfluency. Cluster 1 grouped the participants that wrote faster and fluently; Cluster 2 grouped those that were slower and disfluent. Secondly, we collected data about participant’s writing skills and reading comprehension, in order to compare the performance of each group. Results showed that children with a better graphomotor execution in 1st Grade presented better Writing Skills (Orthography) and better Reading Comprehension than children grouped in Cluster 2.
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Acknowledgements
Phase 1 of this study was supported by a grant of Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (SEJ2007-64918). The authors wish to thank the staff and students of CEIP Pau Vila for their collaboration.
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Vilageliu, O.S., Lasheras, C.S., Ramis, Y., Castellà, J. (2016). Development of Literacy and Notational Knowledge. Prediction of Literacy Development Difficulties Through Graphomotor Measures in Grade 1. In: Perera, J., Aparici, M., Rosado, E., Salas, N. (eds) Written and Spoken Language Development across the Lifespan. Literacy Studies, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21136-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21136-7_6
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