Impact of A Co-taught Handwriting Intervention for Kindergarten Children in A School Setting: A Pilot, Single Cohort Study

ABSTRACT Write Start is a co-taught, whole of class approach to handwriting instruction developed for students in grade one and delivered collaboratively by teachers and occupational therapists. Write Start emphasizes the development of handwriting fluency utilizing evidence-based cognitive and perceptual motor strategies within a station-based teaching approach. This pilot study assessed the impact of a modified Write Start on handwriting fluency in Australian kindergarten students (first year of formal schooling), and investigated the effects of early literacy on intervention outcomes using a retrospective analysis of existing clinical data. Participants were kindergarten students (n = 81; mean age = 65.9 months) attending a large independent primary school in a regional metropolitan center. Participants received the modified Write Start, over one school term, in two x 45 minute sessions per week for 8 weeks. Handwriting fluency was measured pre- and post-intervention using a researcher-designed tool, the Letter Form Assessment (LFA), based on and extending commonly used measures. LFA scores for the whole cohort were significantly higher post-intervention, indicating improved handwriting after the intervention (Z = −4.457, p < .0001). In order to determine if school entry ability impacted responsiveness to the intervention, students were assigned to a high or low performing tier based on scores from three early literacy skills measured by teachers as part of routine assessment at school entry (n = 70). There was no effect of Low or High Tier literacy skills groupings on change to LFA score for phonics (f (19, 50) = 1.11, p = .36), phonemic awareness (f (19,50) = 1.32, p = .21) or writing (f (19,50) = 0.59, p = .89). The modified Write Start shows promise as an effective intervention for kindergarten handwriting, however further revisions and testing should address the potential impact of literacy and the interrelationship of perceptual motor and cognitive skills on outcomes.