Study Results
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Basic Information
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COMPLETED
NA
35 participants
INTERVENTIONAL
2014-09-30
2015-05-31
Brief Summary
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Detailed Description
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This study examined the effectiveness of an occupational therapy led handwriting intervention for special education and at-risk kindergarten students. There is a tremendous need for studies examining the outcomes of handwriting instruction provided to the at-risk population, in order to determine whether outcomes are similar to those seen in the typically developing population. There is also a need for studies that examine outcomes in "real world" settings, in addition to those settings manipulated for experimental research. Such studies may not be as "clean" as those in classic experimental research, however it is imperative to examine outcomes in the settings that are occurring in today's schools. At-risk children are increasingly being provided intensive interventions under an RtI model, and children receiving special education services are increasingly being integrated into less restrictive settings, thus creating classroom environments with a wide variety of students needs.
The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of a handwriting intervention, the Size Matters Handwriting Program (SMHP), provided to kindergarten children currently receiving IEP or RtI interventions. This study attempted to answer the following research questions:
1. Will at-risk kindergarteners (those children receiving IEP or RtI support) participating in a 16 week, occupational therapy led handwriting SMHP intervention group demonstrate significantly greater improvements in handwriting legibility than children who do not receive the intervention?
2. Will at-risk kindergarteners, participating in a SMHP handwriting intervention, make significantly greater gains in the pre-reading skills of letter-name recognition and letter-sound recall, than students who do not receive the intervention?
The study incorporated a two group pre and post-test design. Both groups consisted of kindergarten students receiving IEP and/or RtI support. An occupational therapist provided biweekly group handwriting instruction using the Size Matters Handwriting Program to students in the intervention group (n = 23), while the control group (n=12) received the standard handwriting instruction.
Conditions
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Study Design
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NON_RANDOMIZED
PARALLEL
TREATMENT
NONE
Study Groups
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Size Matters Handwriting Program
All participants were receiving educational support in the form of IEP and/or RtI tier 2 interventions, and were participating in a support classroom where those services where being delivered. The intervention group consisted of 23 kindergarten students comprising all students in two kindergarten support classrooms, one in each of two neighboring schools. All students in the group received the Size Matters Handwriting Program.
Size Matters Handwriting Program
The Size Matters Handwriting Program (Moskowitz, 2009) (SMHP) program incorporates principles grounded in motor learning theory, cognitive theory, and motivation theory. Children learn the importance of letter size by learning size 1 (capital and tall letters), size 2 (small letters) and size 3 letters (those that dive below the baseline) at different stages (Moskowitz, 2009). The intervention group received a total of 30 sessions of the SMHP, completed twice weekly over a 16 week period. Sessions lasted 30 minutes, and were led by an occupational therapist with training in the Size Matters Handwriting Program. All interventions were provided within the existing support classrooms. Each child had their own SMHP workbook.
Control
All participants were receiving educational support in the form of IEP and/or RtI tier 2 interventions, and were participating in a support classroom where those services where being delivered. The control group consisted of 12 kindergarteners comprising all students in a kindergarten support classroom at a third school. They received no additional interventions.
No interventions assigned to this group
Interventions
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Size Matters Handwriting Program
The Size Matters Handwriting Program (Moskowitz, 2009) (SMHP) program incorporates principles grounded in motor learning theory, cognitive theory, and motivation theory. Children learn the importance of letter size by learning size 1 (capital and tall letters), size 2 (small letters) and size 3 letters (those that dive below the baseline) at different stages (Moskowitz, 2009). The intervention group received a total of 30 sessions of the SMHP, completed twice weekly over a 16 week period. Sessions lasted 30 minutes, and were led by an occupational therapist with training in the Size Matters Handwriting Program. All interventions were provided within the existing support classrooms. Each child had their own SMHP workbook.
Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria
* Must be in a support classroom where services are delivered
Exclusion Criteria
* Children not receiving IEP or Rtl tier 2 interventions
5 Years
7 Years
ALL
Yes
Sponsors
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Temple University
OTHER
Responsible Party
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Beth Pfeiffer
Associate Professor
Principal Investigators
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Beth Pfeiffer, PhD
Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
Temple University
References
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Bradley R, Danielson L, Doolittle J. Response to intervention. J Learn Disabil. 2005 Nov-Dec;38(6):485-6. doi: 10.1177/00222194050380060201.
Case-Smith J, Holland T, Bishop B. Effectiveness of an integrated handwriting program for first-grade students: a pilot study. Am J Occup Ther. 2011 Nov-Dec;65(6):670-8. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2011.000984.
Case-Smith J, Holland T, Lane A, White S. Effect of a coteaching handwriting program for first graders: one-group pretest-posttest design. Am J Occup Ther. 2012 Jul-Aug;66(4):396-405. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2012.004333.
Case-Smith J, Weaver L, Holland T. Effects of a classroom-embedded occupational therapist-teacher handwriting program for first-grade students. Am J Occup Ther. 2014 Nov-Dec;68(6):690-8. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2014.011585.
Dunsmuir S, Blatchford P. Predictors of writing competence in 4- to 7-year-old children. Br J Educ Psychol. 2004 Sep;74(Pt 3):461-83. doi: 10.1348/0007099041552323.
Feder KP, Majnemer A. Handwriting development, competency, and intervention. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2007 Apr;49(4):312-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2007.00312.x.
Howe TH, Roston KL, Sheu CF, Hinojosa J. Assessing handwriting intervention effectiveness in elementary school students: a two-group controlled study. Am J Occup Ther. 2013 Jan-Feb;67(1):19-26. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2013.005470.
James KH, Engelhardt L. The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in pre-literate children. Trends Neurosci Educ. 2012 Dec;1(1):32-42. doi: 10.1016/j.tine.2012.08.001.
Ohl AM, Graze H, Weber K, Kenny S, Salvatore C, Wagreich S. Effectiveness of a 10-week tier-1 response to intervention program in improving fine motor and visual-motor skills in general education kindergarten students. Am J Occup Ther. 2013 Sep-Oct;67(5):507-14. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2013.008110.
Pfeiffer B, Rai G, Murray T, Brusilovskiy E. Effectiveness of the Size Matters Handwriting Program. OTJR (Thorofare N J). 2015 Apr;35(2):110-9. doi: 10.1177/1539449215573004.
Other Identifiers
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Hand01
Identifier Type: -
Identifier Source: org_study_id