Computer-assisted handwriting instruction and visual/kinaesthetic feedback processes.
An evaluation of computer-assisted handwriting exercises which offer significant advantages over more conventional teaching techniques is described. Handwriting is considered as a skill that must be regulated by processes which at first are externally controlled but which become internalized as the learner becomes more proficient at the skill. Handwriting samples of lower-case alphanumeric characters were obtained from nine mentally retarded school children. After a training program spread over a period of four weeks (approximately 5 hours in total), the greatest improvement in handwriting ability occurred where the constraints of the computer-assisted handwriting exercises encouraged students to gradually transfer control of letter formation from computer-mediated cues to more internal ones. These results are discussed in terms of control functions and the acquisition of skilled behavior.
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004495:Education of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; D005246:Feedback; D006236:Handwriting; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance