title: Relationship of finger function to beginning writing: application to diagnosis of writing disabilities.
abstract: Finger function tasks designed to elicit soft neurological signs or to measure sensory-motor integration were administered to 100 first-, 100 second- and 100 third-grade children as part of a multivariate study of normal writing acquisition in an unreferred sample. The finger-succession task--a measure of motor planning and programming of complex, sequential movements--had the best reliability and validity for assessing handwriting and composition. However, of the developmental measures, the alphabet task--requiring the child to retrieve and produce alphabet letters in sequence, thereby integrating orthographic symbols and motor output--had the best concurrent validity for assessing handwriting, spelling and composition. The authors recommend that clinicians use the finger-succession and alphabet tasks for early identification of 'at-risk' children in order to prevent severe writing disabilities later in development.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington College of Education, Seattle 98195.
authors.forename: V W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Berninger
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rutberg
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011930:Reaction Time; D012737:Sex Factors; D014110:Touch; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014956:Writing