Beverly Wolf|Robert D. Abbott|Virginia W. Berninger
Effective beginning handwriting instruction: multi-modal, consistent format for 2 years, and linked to spelling and composing
University of Washington|University of Washington
study 1 treatment group n 33 first graders 6 years 10 months 16 girls received slingerland multimodal auditory visual tactile motor hand motor mouth manuscript unjoined handwriting instruction embedded systematic spelling reading composing lessons control group n 16 first graders 7 years 1 month 7 girls received manuscript handwriting instruction systematically related literacy activities anova showed groups improved automatic alphabet writing memory ancova automatic alphabet writing task covariate showed treatment group improved significantly control group second ninth month first grade dictated spelling recognition wordspecific spellings among phonological foils study 2 new groups received either second year manuscript n 29 7 years 8 months 16 girls introduction cursive joined instruction second grade n 24 8 years 0 months 11 girls embedded slingerland literacy program ancova automatic alphabet writing covariate showed received second year manuscript handwriting instruction improved sustained handwriting 30 60 90 1 year manuscript instruction groups improved spelling composing second ninth month second grade results discussed reference mastering one handwriting format introducing another format higher grade level always embedding handwriting instruction writing reading instruction aimed levels language