Investigating how children produce rotation and pointing movements when they learn to write letters

Abstract

How do children learn to write letters? During writing acquisition, some letters may be more difficult to produce than others because certain movement sequences require more precise motor control (e.g., the rotation that produces curved lines like in letter O or the pointing movement to trace the horizontal bar of a T). Children of ages 6-10 (N = 108) wrote sequences of upper-case letters on a digitizer. They varied in the number of pointing and rotation movements. The data revealed that these movements required compensatory strategies in specific kinematic variables. For pointing movements there was a duration decrease that was compensated by an increase in in-air movement time. Rotation movements were produced with low maximal velocity but high minimal velocity. At all ages there was a global tendency to keep stability in the tempo of writing: pointing movements exhibited a duration trade-off whereas rotation movements required a trade-off on maximal and minimal velocity. The acquisition of letter writing took place between ages 6 and 7. At age 8 the children shifted focus to improving movement control. Writing automation was achieved around age 10 when the children controlled movement duration and fluency. This led to a significant increase in writing speed.

Keywords: Children; Handwriting; Letters; Pointing movements; Rotation movements.