Examining the Effectiveness of My Scrivener on Handwriting Legibility

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in handwriting performance in elementary aged children who received handwriting training which included use of the My Scrivener stylus. Training on the My Scrivener stylus provided additional feedback to the children which is hypothesized to produce significant improvement.

Detailed Description
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Once parental consent was given, students met individually with the PI or a trained occupational therapy graduate student in a private space at the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Shenandoah Valley for a pre-test evaluation session. The evaluation consisted of the following: Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH; Amundson, 1995). This is a criterion-referenced tool measuring a child's legibility and speed in grades one through six. This measure is able to evaluate both manuscript and cursive handwriting; however, only the manuscript portion will be used as that will be the focus of the club's training. The ETCH asks the child to write letters and words in lower-case and upper-case, write numerals, perform near point and far point copying, write to dictation, and compose original sentences. Total time for the evaluation is 15-20 minutes. Brief Assessment of Motor Function (BAMF: Parks, Cintas, Chaffin, & Gerber, 2007). This is a criterion referenced tool that can identify gross, fine, and oral motor performance in as little as 10 minutes. For this particular study, only the Fine Motor Scale of the BAMF will be used. Data from this tool will be used to categorize subjects for between group comparisons. The Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI: Beery, 1998). This gold-standard tool measures a child's visual motor performance by asking them to copy geometric shapes ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Data from this tool will be used to categorize subjects for between group comparisons. Once all children were evaluated, twice weekly Handwriting Camp sessions were held. During these small group sessions lasting approximately 30 minutes each, 4 children at a time received instruction from the Handwriting Without Tears Curriculum from either the PI or trained OT graduate students and 20 minutes of supervised practice time on the My Scrivener equipment to reinforce the letter writing instruction for that day. The Handwriting Camp sessions lasted for approximately 8 weeks. At the conclusion of the camp, the pre-tests were re-administered as well as an open-ended question interview was conducted on how well the child enjoyed using the device.

Official Title
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Examining the Effectiveness of My Scrivener on Handwriting Legibility

Conditions
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Healthy Children

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Handwriting Training using My Scrivener


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: The subjects were any child enrolled in the summer program at the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Shenandoah Valley entering grades 1 to 6 in Fall 2008 whose parents give consent. Exclusion Criteria: None

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 5 Years
Maximum Age: 13 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Handwriting Training using My Scrivener<br>Subjects received 20 minutes of training per week which included writing letters and words with the My Scivener device. | Behavioral: Handwriting Training using My Scrivener<br>* Subjects received 20 minutes of training per week which included writing letters and words with the My Scivener device.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting | This criterion-referenced tool measures a child's legibility and speed in grades one through six. The child writes letters and words, numerals, performs near point and far point copying, writes to dictation, and composes a sentence. | 8 weeks from start of training | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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single subject, quantitative