Comparing Sentence Observation Ratios During Reading and Writing in Japanese Students with Handwriting Difficulties

Summary

This article presents a protocol to identify the risk of handwriting difficulties (HD) in Japanese students using eye-tracking methods. Students at risk for HD in school settings can be identified by assessing the proportion of meaningless sentences in their stimulus observations, their writing fluency, and their motor coordination skills.

Abstract

Students with handwriting difficulties (HD) often show visual-motor challenges that affect sentence writing. However, few studies have compared the eye movements of HD and typically developing (TD) children when reading and writing. Recent studies have suggested that the proportion of time spent observing stimuli can help identify behavioral problems in children with developmental disabilities. This study compared the stimulus observation proportions between students with HD and TD peers. Japanese HD (n = 12) and TD participants (n = 15) were examined for differences in eye movement patterns when reading and writing Japanese sentences and compared reading and writing performance for meaningful and meaningless sentences. Eye movements were recorded while participants wrote several Japanese sentences. The results indicated that TD participants read and wrote sentences more fluently than HD peers, although no group differences were found for meaningful writing tasks. HD participants observed sentences more frequently in both reading and writing tasks than their TD peers and showed shorter observation spans and lower observation ratios during handwriting; however, their observation proportions during reading were comparable. Binary logistic regression revealed that letters per minute, the proportion of time spent on meaningless handwriting observations, and motor coordination scores were key indicators for identifying students with HD. These findings suggest that shorter observation spans and lower proportions of stimulus observation when writing reflect an HD student's tendency to merely glance at sentences rather than read them thoroughly.

Introduction

Handwriting is a complex behavior that requires the integration of visual, motor, and cognitive skills^1,2,3,4,5. Recent studies have shown that handwriting difficulties (HD) can be detected by having participants write cycloid loops on paper from left to right^2,3.In these studies, typically developing (TD) participants demonstrated similar visuomotor integration (VMI) skills for spatial and temporal arrangements regardless of whether their eyes were....

Protocol

Written informed consent was obtained from participants and their parents or guardians before participation. The Institutional Review Board of Waseda University (No. 2020-176) approved this study.

1. Participants

1. Install the software on a computer from the website (see Table of Materials) to determine the sample size by power analysis.
   1. Click on the software to open it.
   2. In the Test family tab, select F test, and in the Statistical test tab, select ANOVA: Repeated measures, within-between interactions. Under Type of ....

Results

Participant's profile analysis
Table 1 shows the participants' verbal abilities and visuo-motor integration skills. The mean chronological age of HD participants was 11.11 years (range: 8.33-14.83 years) and 11.97 years for TD participants (range: 7.67 - 17.50 years). The PVT-R [18] indicated that HD participants had lower standardized scores than TD participants (8.92 vs. 12.75 [t (18) = 2.25, p = 0.03, Cohen's d = 5.00]). VP and MC scores [8] of the two g.......

Discussion

This study examined differential eye-movement patterns in 12 HD and 15 TD participants when reading and writing meaningful and meaningless Japanese sentences. As shown in Figure 3A, HD participants had slower LPM scores for reading and writing compared to TD participants, suggesting that HD participants experience greater difficulty in these tasks. HD participants often also have reading difficulties²¹. Therefore, future studies should use reading materials matched to.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Beery VMI-6	Pearson	https://www.pearsonassessments. com/en-us/Store/Professional- Assessments/Motor-Sensory /Beery-Buktenica-Developmental -Test-of-Visual-Motor-Integration -%7C-Sixth-Edition/p/100000663 ?srsltid=AfmBOooTl4STWGQhq ArZwKdX_mSiV0nHgJWPfjddJ 9z0erbWm7Qq6H9v	Standardized test to assess visuo-motor integration skills
Computer display	Dell	P2419H	resolution 1920×1080
Eye tracker	Tobii Technology Japan	X3-120	Portable eye tracker
G*Power	Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf	https://www.psychologie.hhu.de /arbeitsgruppen/allgemeine- psychologie-und-arbeitspsychologie/gpower	G*Power analysis software
IBM SPSS statistics	IBM	IBM SPSS statistics	version 29.0.2.0
Laptop computer	Dell	Precision 5540	Windows 11
PVT-R	Nihon Bunkakagakusya	https://www.nichibun.co.jp/seek/kensa/pvt_r.html	Standardized test to assess verbal age
Tobii Pro Lab	Tobii Technology Japan	Tobii Pro Lab	Eye movement analysis software