Two experiments were performed regarding the effect of conscious control on handwriting fluency in healthy adults and ADHD children. First, 26 healthy students were asked to write a sentence under different conditions. The results indicate that automated handwriting movements are independent from visual feedback. Second, the writing performance of 12 children with ADHD was examined on their usual medication with methylphenidate and under placebo. In comparison to placebo, medication with methylphenidate resulted in a reduced fluency of handwriting. Automated handwriting movements could be elicited in children with ADHD on medication. The results suggest that both visual and mental control of handwriting movements affect the automation of handwriting movements. Furthermore, a simple training procedure was designed and performed in a case study of a boy with ADHD.
Ackerman, P. T., Anhalt, J. M., Holcomb, P. J., & Dykman, R. A. (1986). Presumably innate and acquired automatic processes in children with attention and/or reading disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 27, 513-529.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
Barkley, R. A. (1998). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.
4.
Berninger, V. W. (1994). Reading and writing acquisition: A developmental neuropsychological perspective. Madison, WI: Brown and Benchmark.
5.
Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R., Whitaker, D., Sylvester, L., & Nolen, S. (1995). Integrating low-level skills and high-level skills in treatment protocol for writing disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 18, 293-309.
6.
Berninger, V. W., & Swanson, H. L. (1994). Modifying Hayes and Flowers’ model of skilled writing to explain beginning and developing writing. In E. Butterfield (Ed.), Children’s writing: Toward a process theory of development of skilled writing (pp. 57-81). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
7.
Berninger, V. W., Yates, C., Cartwright, A., Rutberg, J., Remy, E., & Abbott, R. (1992). Lower-level developmental skills in beginning writing. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 4, 257-280.
8.
Cornhill, H., & Case-Smith, J. (1996). Factors that relate to good and poor handwriting. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 50, 732-739.
9.
Cunningham Amundson, S. (1992). Handwriting: Evaluation and intervention in school settings. In J. Case-Smith & C. Pehoski (Eds.), Development of hand skills in the child (pp. 63-78). Rockville, MD: American Occupational Therapy Association.
10.
Eichhorn, T. E., Gasser, T., Mai, N., Marquardt, C., Arnold, G., Schwarz, J., et al. (1996). Computational analysis of open loop handwriting movements in Parkinson’s disease: A rapid method to detect dopaminetic effects. Movement Disorders, 11, 289-297.
11.
Goyette, C. H., Conners, C. K., & Ulrich, R. F. (1978). Normative data on revised Conners Parent and Teacher Rating Scales. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 6, 221-236.
12.
Hoza, B., & Pelham, W. (1993). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. In R. T. Ammerman & C. G. Last (Eds.), Handbook of prescriptive treatments for children and adolescents (pp. 64-84). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
13.
Kaminsky, S., & Powers, R. (1981). Remediation of handwriting difficulties: A practical approach. Academic Therapy, 17, 19-25.
14.
Lehrl, S., Triebig, G., & Fischer, B. (1995). Multiple choice vocabulary test MWT as a valid and short test to estimate premorbid intelligence. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 91, 335-345.
15.
Lerer, R. J., Artner, J., & Lerer, M. P. (1979). Handwriting deficits in children with minimal brain dysfunction: Effects of methylphenidate (Ritalin) and placebo. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 12, 450-455.
16.
Longstaff, M. G., & Heath, R. A. (1997). Space-time invariance in adult handwriting. Acta Psychologica, 97, 201-214.
17.
Mai, N., & Marquardt, C. (1992). CS—Computer-assisted movement analysis in handwriting: Operational manual. Munich, Germany: MedCom Verlag.
18.
Mai, N., & Marquardt, C. (1994). Treatment of writer’s cramp: Kinematic measures as an assessment tool for planning and evaluating training procedures. In C. Faure, P. Keuss, G. Lorette, & A. Vinter (Eds.), Advances in handwriting and drawing: A multidisciplinary approach (pp. 445-461). Paris: Télécom.
19.
Marquardt, C., Gentz, W., & Mai, N. (1996). On the role of vision in skilled handwriting. In M. L. Simner, C. G. Leedham, & A. J. W. M. Thomassen (Eds.), Handwriting and drawing research: Basic and applied issues (pp. 87-97). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
20.
Marquardt, C., & Mai, N. (1994). A computational procedure for movement analysis in handwriting. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 52, 39-45.
21.
Meulenbroek, R. G. J., & Van Galen, G. P. (1986). Movement analysis of repetitive writing behaviour of first, second and third grade primary school children. In H. S. R. Kao, G. P. Van Galen, & R. Hoosain (Eds.), Graphonomics: Contemporary research in handwriting (pp. 71-92). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.
22.
Meulenbroek, R. G. J., & Van Galen, G. P. (1988). The acquisition of skilled handwriting: discontinuous trends in kinematic variables. In A. M. Colley & J. R. Beech (Eds.), Cognition and action in skilled behaviour (pp. 273-281). Oxford, UK: North-Holland.
23.
Meulenbroek, R. G. J., & Van Galen, G. P. (1989). The production of connecting strokes in cursive writing: Developing co-articulation in 8 to 12 year-old children. In R. Plamondon, C. Y. Suen, & M. L. Simner (Eds.), Computer recognition and human production of handwriting (pp. 273-286). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
24.
Näätänen, R. (1992). Attention and brain function. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
25.
Peeples, E. E., Searls, D. T., & Wellingham, J. P. (1995). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A longitudinal case study of handwriting characteristics. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 81, 1243-1252.
26.
Schenk, T., Walther, E. U., & Mai, N. (2000). Closed- and open-loop handwriting performance in patients with multiple sclerosis. European Journal of Neurology, 7, 269-279.
27.
Seidman, L. J., Benedict, K. B., Biederman, J., Bernstein, J. H., Seiverd, K., Milberger, S., et al. (1995). Performance of children with ADHD on the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure: A pilot neuropsychological study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 1459-1473.
28.
Slavin, M. J., Phillips, J. G., Bradshaw, J. L., Hall, K. A., & Presnell, I. (1999). Consistency of handwriting movements in dementia of the Alzheimer’s type: A comparison with Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 5, 20-25.
29.
Sovik, N. (1981). An experimental study of individualized learning/instruction in copying, tracking and handwriting, based on feedback principles. Perceptual and Motor Skill, 53, 195-215.
30.
Thomassen, A. J. W. M., & Van Galen, G. P. (1992). Handwriting as a motor task: Experimentation, modelling, and simulation. In J. J. Summers (Ed.), Approaches to the study of motor control and learning (pp. 113-144). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
31.
Tseng, M., & Murray, E. (1994). Differences in perceptual-motor measures in children with good and poor handwriting. Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, 14, 19-36.
32.
Tucha, O., Aschenbrenner, S., & Lange, K. W. (2000). Mirror writing and handedness. Brain and Language, 73, 432-441.
33.
Tucha, O., & Lange, K. W. (2001). Effects of methylphenidate on kinematic aspects of handwriting in hyperactive boys. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 351-356.
34.
Van Doorn, R. R., & Keuss, P. J. (1992). The role of vision in the temporal and spatial control of handwriting. Acta Psychologica, 81, 269-286.
35.
Van Doorn, R. R., & Keuss, P. J. (1993). Does the production of letter strokes in handwriting benefit from vision?Acta Psychologica, 82, 275-290.
36.
Van Galen, G. P., Smyth, M. M., Meulenbroek, R. G. J., & Hylkema, H. (1989). The role of the short-term memory and the motor buffer in handwriting under visual and non-visual guidance. In R. Plamondon, C. Y. Suen, & M. L. Simner (Eds.), Computer recognition and human production of handwriting (pp. 253-271). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.
37.
Van Zomeren, A. H., & Brouwer, W. H. (1994). Clinical neuropsychology of attention. New York: Oxford University Press.
38.
Whalen, C. K., Henker, B., & Finck, D. (1981). Medication effects in the classroom: Three naturalistic indicators. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 9, 419-433.
