Article

In this study we sought to validate the discriminant ability of the Evaluation
Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript in identifying children in Grades 2-3
with handwriting difficulties and to determine the percentage of change in
handwriting scores that is consistently detected by occupational therapists.
Thirty-four therapists judged and compared 35 pairs of handwriting samples.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to determine (1)
the optimal cutoff values for word and letter legibility scores that identify
children with handwriting difficulties who should be seen in rehabilitation and
(2) the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in handwriting scores.
Cutoff scores of 75.0% for total word legibility and 76.0% for total letter
legibility were found to provide excellent levels of accuracy. A difference of
10.0%-12.5% for total word legibility and 6.0%-7.0% for total letter legibility
were found as the MCID. Study findings enable therapists to quantitatively
support clinical judgment when evaluating handwriting.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Langue : ANGLAIS