Affiliations: [a]
Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| [b]
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Lihi Liberman, Department of Occupational Therapy, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Professions, Tel Aviv University, P.O.B. 39040, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. Tel.: +972 50 6664784; Fax: +972 3 5344570; E-mail: lihi.liberman@gmail.com.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Postures while sitting are believed to have an important influence on the process of writing and quality of handwriting, but data in this field are sparse. OBJECTIVES: The current study was undertaken to investigate correlations between ‘ordinary’ children’s handwriting skills and their posture and stability while sitting. METHODS: Twenty-nine children with typical development (age 9.2±0.8 years) underwent the Hebrew Handwriting Evaluation, while the pressure distributions on their seats and backrests were recorded using a pressure mapping system. RESULTS: There was an increase in the odds of erasing and overwriting letters in dictation tasks when body displacements of the buttocks increased [Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.01, 95% CI 1.000–1.02, p = 0.050]. Children who did not lean on the backrest were more likely to have legible handwriting in copying tasks (OR = 0.136, 95% CI 0.026–0.723, p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: The awareness and involvement of health practitioners in sitting postures of children at school might promote activities such as writing. Further investigation of movement patterns while writing and of the correlations of these patterns with handwriting outcomes is recommended. More research regarding adjustments at the school environment for children with developmental disorders is also warranted.
