Handwriting in Children and Adults With Down Syndrome: Developmental Delay or Specific Features?

Abstract

While there is a long history and tradition of behavioral research on basic motor skills in Down syndrome (DS), there has been only limited research on handwriting ability. We analyzed the spatiotemporal features of handwriting produced by children and adults with DS (n = 24), and compared their productions with those of comparison groups matched for developmental (n = 24) or chronological (n = 24) age. Results indicated that the participants with DS performed an alphabet letter-writing task just as efficiently as the children of the same developmental age, in terms of the length, duration and speed of their handwriting, and the number and duration of their pauses. Our study highlights a substantial delay in the stages of writing acquisition.

Keywords: Down syndrome; controlled movement; copying task; intra-individual variability; temporal analysis of handwriting.