The Influence of the Spatio-Temporal Terzi Treatment on the Kinematics of Cursive Writing of Dysgraphic Subjects

Abstract

Many different treatment approaches have been applied for handwriting remediation in school-aged children. The effects of these treatments are usually evaluated by using ad-hoc checklists as well as some standard test protocols like Movement ABC tests, Visual-Motor Integration (V.M.I.) tests, etc. Recently, digitizing tablets have allowed the study of kinematic characteristics of handwriting and a series of parameters were estimated on cursive writing of Italian children. In this paper, the influence of a new rehabilitation protocol (Terzi's method) on kinematics of cursive writing was evaluated. The analysis was carried out on 22 nonproficient handwriting children, attending primary or secondary school, which undertook a series of three exercises, with and without linguistic concerns. A set of kinematic parameters was calculated before and after the rehabilitation process. The results showed that Terzi's rehabilitation program is capable of producing a significant velocity increase in the test without linguistic involvement, whereas a significant slowdown in the stroke realization was present in the other tasks. The effectiveness of Terzi's rehabilitation program was proved by significant improvements in the V.M.I. test, in the Movement ABC test as well as in writing legibility (evaluated by checklist).