Motor Behavior

The Effect of Combining a Selected Movement Program Course with Fernald's Multisensory Training Method on the Handwriting Status of Elementary School Students with Dysgraphia

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Alireza Bahrami 1
Akram Rafeinisiyani 2
Aliakbar Malekirad 3
Mohammad Soleimani Rad 4

1 Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Arak, Arak, Iran.

2 Master of Psychology, Arak Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran.

3 Associate professor of physiology and Phd of cognitive neuroscience Payame Nour University Tehran Iran

4 PhD in Motor Behavior, Department of Motor Behavior and Sport Psychology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University, of Arak, Arak, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22089/mbj.2025.15248.2113
Abstract
Writing disorder is one of the most important learning disabilities that may affect students' academic performance. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of adding a selected movement program to Fernald's multisensory training method on the handwriting status of elementary students with dysgraphia. The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The statistical population included all students with dysgraphia and normal intelligence in the elementary level of district 15 of Tehran city. A number of 45 students with an average age of 8.4 years were selected by available sampling method and were randomly selected into two groups of Fernald and combined method and a control group. Interventions were implemented in each of the experimental groups for 5 weeks with 3 sessions and each session was 45 minutes. A check list of dysgraphia and Kettle's Intelligence Test were used. In order to analyze the data, mixed analysis of variance test was used. The results showed that in each of the experimental groups, dysgraphia scores in the post-test were significantly lower than the pre-test. After the intervention, the dysgraphia scores of the experimental groups decreased significantly compared to the control group. Also, the combined educational method led to a greater decrease in dysgraphia scores than Fernald's educational method. The results showed that enriching the educational environment with movement activities can affect the way students write, so these methods can be used in schools to improve the handwriting of poor students

Keywords

Dysgraphia
Fernald
Mixed approach
Motor skills

Subjects

  1. Shaywitz SE, Shaywitz BA. Paying attention to reading: the neurobiology of reading and dyslexia. Development and Psychopathology. 2008;20(4):1329-49.

    2.McBride C. Coping with dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD: A global perspective. 1sted. London. Routledge; 2019.

    3.Seif Naraghi M, Naderi E. Education of exceptional children. 12th ed. Tehran. Arasbaran Publicaion. (Persian)

    4.Narimani M, Sharbati A. Comparison of anxiety sensitivity and cognitive function in students with and without dysgraphia. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2015;4(4):85-100. (Persian)

    5.Martins MR, Bastos JA, Cecato AT, Araujo MD, Magro RR, Alaminos V. Screening for motor dysgraphia in public schools. Jornal de Pediatria. 2013;89:70-4.

    6.Alizadeh MH, Rajabi R, Gheitasi M and Minonejad H. Movement therapy (exercise therapy). 4th ed. Tehran. Tehran University Publication; 2019. (Persian)

    7.Tabrizi M, Tabrizi A and Tabrizi N. Treatment of Spelling Disability. 31th ed. Tehran: Fararavan Publication. 2022. (Persian)

    8.Cornhill H, Case-Smith J. Factors that relate to good and poor handwriting. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 1996;50(9):732-9.

    9.Havaei N, Rezaei M, Azad A, Rafie S. The relatioship between hand sensory-motor function and handwriting skill in school students with  developmental dysgrphia. Studies in Medical Sciences. 2010;21(2):254-9.

    10.Smits-Engelsman BC, Westenberg Y, Duysens J. Children with developmental coordination disorder are equally able to generate force but show more variability than typically developing children. Human Movement Science. 2008;27(2):296-309.

    11.Smits-Engelsman BC, Wilson PH, Westenberg Y, Duysens J. Fine motor deficiencies in children with developmental coordination disorder and learning disabilities: an underlying open-loop control deficit. Human Movement Science. 2003;22(4-5):495-513.

    12.Ahadi H, Kakavand A. Learning disorders from theory to practice. 14th ed. Tehran: Arasbaran Publications; 2022. (Persian)

    13.Tseng MH, Murray EA. Differences in perceptual-motor measures in children with good and poor handwriting. The Occupational Therapy Journal of Research. 1994;14(1):19-36.

    14.Cahill SM. Where does handwriting fit in? Strategies to support academic achievement. Intervention in School and Clinic. 2009;44(4):223-8.

    15.Havaei N, Azad A, Rezaei M, Hassani Mehraban A, Alizadeh Zarei M. An overview of developmental dysgraphia. Journal Rehabilition Medicine. 2016;5(1):224-34. (Persian)

    16.Nicolson RI, Fawcett AJ. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, procedural learning and the cerebellum. Cortex. 2011;47(1):117-27.

    17.Olad Ghobad T, Abbaspoor Azar Z, Khalatbari J, Afkari F. Comparing the effectiveness of Fernald’s and Rossner's multisensory teaching methods in reducing the spelling disorder of elementary students. International Journal of Pediatrics. 2022;10(10):16825-36.

    18.Mansurnejad Z., Kajbaf MB., Molavi H. The effect of Fernald's multi-sensory training on poor writing and spelling in second grade students of elementary school. Journal of Social Psychology. 2012;7(24):99-111. (Persian)

    19.Berninger VW, Rutberg JE, Abbott RD, Garcia N, Anderson-Youngstrom M, Brooks A, Fulton C. Tier 1 and Tier 2 early intervention for handwriting and composing. Journal of School Psychology. 2006;44(1):3-0.

    20.Hoy MM, Egan MY, Feder KP. A systematic review of interventions to improve handwriting. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2011;78(1):13-25.

    21.Volman MJ, van Schendel BM, Jongmans MJ. Handwriting difficulties in primary school children: A search for underlying mechanisms. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2006;60(4):451-60.

    22.Capellini SA, Coppede AC, Valle TR. Fine motor function of school-aged children with dyslexia, learning disability and learning difficulties. Prò-Fono Revista de Atualizacao Cientìfica. 2010;22:201-8.

    23.Aghdaei M, Ahmadi N, Lashgari M. The effect of a perceptual-motor training program on the fine motor development and writing score of children with motor dysgraphia. Journal of Exceptional Children. 2019;19(1):71-80 . (Persian)

    24.Amirkhani M, Movahedi A. The effect of Delacato sensorimotor training on dysgraphia of 9 to 11-year-old female students. Motor Behavior. 2016;8(26):89-104. (Persian)

    25.Bahrami R, Alizade H, Kazemi F. The Effect of Psycho-motor exercises on the Improving Handwriting Legibility of Elementary Students. Psychology of Exceptional Individuals. 2018;8(30):1-8. (Persian)

    26. Arsham S, Ghadiri F, Babak M. Comparison of the effectiveness of two intervention methods of neurofeedback training (NFT) and the movement program on the handwriting performance of 9-11 years old children with dysgraphia. Journal of Arak University of Medical Sciences. 2017;20(9):1-11. (Persian)

    27.Shekarian Yazd F, Baghestani A, Fazli Ghafouri M, Khanbabai Ghaleie P. The effect of perceptual-motor skills training to handwriting in children preschool. Medical Journal of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. 2019;61(supplment1):354-7. (Persian)

    28.Hooman HA, Kooshki SH, Bahari P. Cattell's culture fair intelligence test II psychometric properties and its relationship with Raven's progressive matrices. Journla of Psychological Researches. 2013:5(18): 99-116. (Persian)

    29. Fukuda, Keisuke., Vogel, Edward. Mayr, Ulrich. Awh, Edward. Quantity, not quality: the relationship between fluid intelligence and working memory capacity. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2010:17(5):673-9.

    30.Hadavandkhani F, Bahrami H, Behnia F, Farahbod M, Salehi M. The association of visual-motor integration with handwriting in students with mentally retardation. Journal of Exceptional Children. 2007;6(4):839-54.

    31.Heydari AR, Hafezi F, Tahankar Dezfuli M. Comparison of therapeutic effects of Fernald's multi-sensory and Kparts perceptual-motion in decreasing of writing disabilities of children. New Funding in Psychology. 2009;4(12):65-78. (Persian)

    32.Pourkamali A, Mohammadi A, Haghighat S. The effectiveness of Fernald's multi-sensory approach on improving dictation disorder and reading problems in students with learning disabilities. Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies. 2022;12:52. (Persian)

    33. Fathollapour L, Babapour KJ, Mahdavian H, Bafandeh GH. A comparison of neurofeedback and Fernald’s method effectiveness in improving the intelligence of children with dyslexia (case study). Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2013;2(4):103-23. (Persian)

    34.Sadati Firoozabadi S, Abaci SH. The effectiveness of sensory-motor integration on reading problems in students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2019;8(2):26-37. (Persian)

    35.Pakufteh N, Karimi P, Faramarzi F. The effectiveness of fernald multisensory method training on improving spelling learning disabilities. In: 3rd International Conference on Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Community Cultural and Social Skills Empowerment Center; 2017. (Persian)

    36.Thani PK, Koohzad N, Ahmadi F. Comparison of the effectiveness of Fernald’s sensory method and educational games on writing disorder in elementary school students. Advances in Bioscience and Clinical Medicine. 2022;31;10(1):1-6.

    37.Kakavand A, Demarcheli N, Shir Mohammadi F. Comparison of the effect of Fernald and Everton-Gillingham multisensory methods on improving reading skills of dyslexic students. Journal of Learning Disabilities. 2017;7(1):100-18. (Persian)

    38.Moslemi B, Chalabianloo G, Tabatabaei M. The effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on visual-auditory working memory and attention in students with dysgraphia. Journal of Exceptional Children. 2022;22(3):99-110.

    39.Newman I. When saying ‘go read it again’won't work: Multisensory ideas for more inclusive teaching & learning. Nurse Education in Practice. 2019;34:12-6.

    40.Azad A, Havayee N, Rafie SH, Keyhani MR. Comparison of hand sensory-motor skills between normal and dysgraphia children in 9-11 ages. Journal of Modern Rehabilitation. 2008;1(4):5-12. (Persian)

    41.Siegel LS, Feldman W. Nondyslexic children with combined writing and arithmetic learning disabilities. Clinical Pediatrics. 1983;22(4):241-4.

    42. Benbow M. Principles and practice of teaching handwriting. In: Henderson A, Pehoski C, editors. Hand function in the child. St. Louis: Mosby, 2006; 255-81.

    43.Chung PJ, Patel DR, Nizami I. Disorder of written expression and dysgraphia: definition, diagnosis, and management. Translational Pediatrics. 2020;9(Suppl 1):S46.

  • Receive Date 12 July 2023
  • Revise Date 10 November 2024
  • Accept Date 22 January 2025

Home

Reviewers

Submit Manuscript

Publication Ethics

news

Journal Metrics

Contact Us