Performance of school‐aged children on a Chinese handwriting speed test

Abstract

AbstractSlow handwriting speed is one of the major problems encountered by school‐aged children having handwriting difficulties. These children are often referred to occupational therapists for assessment and intervention. However, to date, no norms of handwriting speed have been published for the Chinese writing system for school‐aged children. The purpose of this study was to document handwriting speed performance of Chinese children from Grades 2 to 6. The results of this study will provide occupational therapists with an objective guideline when screening children who have handwriting speed problems. Participants were 1525 children from Grades 2 to 6 from three elementary schools in the Taipei area. Participants were asked to copy texts from a Chinese textbook that they had studied in the second semester of the first grade. The test lasted for five minutes. Results showed that handwriting speed increased with age; and the rate of increase was found to be greatest among Grades 2, 3, and 4. Furthermore, girls wrote faster than boys in Grades 3, 4, and 5. This study's baseline data on handwriting speed for the Chinese writing system provide further substantial information for future research and clinical practice. Copyright © 1997 Whurr Publishers Ltd.