Students with neurodevelopmental disorders are an underserved group in handwriting research. However, the prevalence rate for dysgraphia (a learning disability in written expression) among this population is much higher than for typically developing students. Assistive technology is available for students struggling with handwriting in 21st-century classrooms, though there are still many times during a school day when handwriting is required. As part of a program development capstone project, the Dysgraphia Intervention and Testing for Target Outcomes (DITTO) program was created to investigate the effects of sensorimotor interventions that were added to standard handwriting instruction for study participants already identified with an educational disability, receiving special education services for written expression, and participating in school-based occupational therapy. The DITTO program explored the following research question: In elementary-age students with suspected dysgraphia in public schools, will sensorimotor treatment strategies added to standard handwriting instruction change handwriting legibility? The study occurred in public school buildings, with the intervention addressing underlying sensorimotor skills needed for effective handwriting through individualized treatment sessions based on deficits identified in testing. Parent education about therapy topics and ideas for carryover at home were also provided. The differences in the scores between the pre-test/post-test outcome measures were not statistically significant. However, a high level of program satisfaction reported by caregivers and qualitative data shared by parents and teachers were positive outcomes from the study. More work is needed to determine the long-term practicality of using sensorimotor interventions in handwriting remediation for students with suspected dysgraphia.
