Knowledge Check 4/5

For this blog post, I have selected the Frame of Reference for Development of Handwriting. As you can tell by the title, it is a frame of reference theory. The client population for this theory would be children that need help with their handwriting. It looks at five areas of handwriting, which are proximal posture, components, use of writing tools, grasp, and handwriting. At the end of the theory, they classify the child as functional if their writing is readable and complete with an appropriate time interval. The interventions include working in the classroom with the child or working with the teacher to adapt the environment and curriculum to benefit the child. The goal is to allow the child to develop fine motor skills through this intervention, which will then allow them to participate in age-appropriate occupations. Different aspects that an OT might measure during this assessment are legibility, spacing, and size of the handwriting. One key term associated with this theory is visual perception skills, and in this context, it is talking about the ability to perceive letters as a set of distinct features. This is important for good handwriting because they need to know the difference between the letters they are writing. Functional grasp is another concept used in this theory, and it means that they are able to hold the writing utensil correctly and comfortably to write more legibly. A curriculum adaptation for this theory could be to ask the teacher to make assignments that are handwritten a little shorter so that the student can focus harder on making the handwriting legible, without falling behind.