The cognitive profiles of children with different handwriting abilities in Hong Kong

Abstract

While legible handwriting is essential for children’s learning, some children continue to face difficulties with it. The present study explored the roles of visual attention, visual attention span, visual perceptual ability, visual fine motor ability, and pure copying skills (copying of unfamiliar scripts in Korean and Thai) in predicting handwriting performances in Chinese and English among 81 first-grade children (mean age = 7.08) in Hong Kong. Results showed that visual perceptual ability emerged as a significant correlate of children's handwriting performances in both languages. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that Korean copying, as part of pure copying skills, mediated the relationship between visual perceptual ability and Chinese handwriting performance but not English handwriting performance. Visual perceptual ability and pure copying skills were found to differentiate between good and poor handwriters of Chinese and English. The findings underscore the crucial role of copying in identifying children with handwriting difficulties and improving their handwriting performance.