The effect of fine motor skills, handwriting, and typing on reading development

Sebastian P Suggate; Viktoria L Karle; Tanja Kipfelsberger; Heidrun Stoeger

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105674

The effect of fine motor skills, handwriting, and typing on reading development

Sebastian P Suggate, Viktoria L Karle, Tanja Kipfelsberger, Heidrun Stoeger

Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Discussions on the contribution of motor skills and processes to
learning to read has a long history. Previous work is essentially
divided into two separate strands, namely the contributions of fine
motor skills (FMS) to reading and the influence of writing versus
typing. In the current 2 2 3 mixed, single-blind, and randomly
assigned experiment, we tested both strands together. A total of 87
children learned to decode pseudowords in either typing or writing
conditions in which their FMS were either impaired or not.
Decoding gains were measured at pretest, posttest, and followup,
with FMS and working memory included as participant variable
predictors. Findings indicated that FMS and working memory predicted
decoding gains. Importantly, children performed best when
typing if in the impaired FMS condition. Results have implications
for motor representation theories of writing and for instruction of
children with FMS impairments.

Original language	English
Article number	105674
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume	232
Early online date	30 Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105674
Publication status	Published - 1 Aug 2023

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Cite this

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