Handwriting

Brain lateralization is a common term used to describe dominance of one brain hemisphere over another for a specific function. The right hand dominance in writing, controlled by the left hemisphere, is preceded by development of communicative gesticulation and followed by development of speech in the same hemisphere. We assumed that some people are not aware of their own capability of using the other hand for tasks involving fine motor sequential movements. To prove this hypothesis, the participants were asked to perform one trained task (writing) and one less-trained task (drawing) with a dominant and a non-dominant hand. The final sample was comprised of 1189 children from 14 elementary schools and 8 high schools in the Osijek area, of which 685 elementary school children were attending 1st to 4th grade and 504 high school children were attending 3rd and 4th grade. The participants were asked to write two words, draw a specific object (a vase with flowers) and fill out a questionn...

The aim of this study was to investigate the completeness and legibility of prescriptions dispensed in community pharmacies located at Sana'a, Yemen. A cross-sectional study was conducted at 23 randomly selected community pharmacies throughout the capital city of Sana'a, Yemen from May 2015 to January 2016. A total of 2178 prescriptions were analyzed for the essential elements of a complete prescription using a validated checklist. Of the 2178 prescriptions, 19 (0.87%) were considered as of good quality prescription. The remaining 2159 (99.12%) prescriptions were considered as being of very poor quality. Errors related to patients and prescribed medications were the most common prescription writing errors. In this study, the quality of prescription writing was found to be very poor. Hence, continuous professional development programs are recommended to improve the quality of prescription writing among physicians. Future studies in other cities and investigation of the impact...

The article by Denis Tsypkin is an editorial foreword for the current collection of articles and it provides brief overview of the five annual conferences “Expert Examination and Photography,” which were held from 2010 to 2014. The paper covers the reports and presentations, which were dedicated to the following subjects: development of the expert examination of documents and texts in Russia; general expert theory and methodology, as well as to the theory, methodology and history of studying of historical and modern paper and its identifying marks; methodology and hardware and software for studying handwritten manuscripts (in forensic and historical handwriting examination); modern methods, procedures and means of technical examination of documents; technical and technological expert examination of monuments; questions relating to the expert, restoration and resource studying of photo documents.

OBJECTIVE. Children with fine-motor problems and handwriting difficulties often are referred for occupational therapy. The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of a short-term treatment on the fine-motor and graphomotor skills of first-grade students. METHOD. We recruited 52 first-grade students who had scored below the 21st percentile on the Visual–Motor Integration test from schools in a city with a low socioeconomic, mixed (Arab and Jewish) population. The children were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group. Before and after the intervention, we administered two tests to both groups. RESULTS. Students in the intervention group made significant gains both in the total score on the graphomotor test (Developmental Test of Visual Perception) and on the fine-motor test (Bruininks–Oseretsky Motor Development Scale). CONCLUSION. This study provided preliminary evidence of the efficacy of a short-term graphomotor intervention. The results increased t...

We set out to assess the extent to which writing modality affects recollection in children and adolescents. We examined 10- to 11-year-old children’s (N = 63) and 16-year-old adolescents’ (N = 43) handwriting, keyboarding with a laptop computer and keyboarding with a touchscreen tablet computer or mobile phone in a within-subjects experimental design. Participants were instructed to write down stories dictated to them in the three writing modalities. Recollection of the stories was assessed using free recall of details in the stories. The results indicate that the writing modality affects recollection, handwriting leading to better recollection. However, currently, digital writing tools are inundating classrooms and workplaces around the globe, making their competent use a necessity in today’s world. For example, in Finland, students are obligated to use a laptop in upper secondary education and in the national final examination. In light of the results, we highlight the importance ...

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder demonstrate a lack of automaticity in handwriting as measured by pauses during writing. Deficits in visual perception have been proposed in the literature as underlying mechanisms of handwriting difficulties in children with DCD. The aim of this study was to examine whether correlations exist between measures of visual perception and visual motor integration with measures of the handwriting product and process in children with DCD. The performance of twenty-eight 8-14year-old children who met the DSM-5 criteria for DCD was compared with 28 typically developing (TD) age and gender-matched controls. The children completed the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS). Group comparisons were made, correlations were conducted between the visual perceptual measures and handwriting measures and the sensitivity and specificity examined. The DCD group performed below the TD group on ...

The purpose of this study was to study the Gender difference in Kannada Handwriting of Post
Graduate students. This study was descriptive in nature and 400 Post Graduate students from different
faculties  of  Kuvempu  University,  Karnataka  state;  India  was  selected  using  random  and  purposive
sampling technique. Investigators’ collected the Kannada Handwriting script of Post Graduate students
used for analysis and interpretation the date. Present study was used Kannada Handwriting Analysis
scale for the analysis of Kannada Handwriting. The chi square statistical technique was used for Analysis
and interpretation of the data. Findings revealed that, there is a significant difference between Male
and female Post Graduate Students with their spacing of Handwriting. The majority of the female
students  write  in  a  stable  baseline,  Medium  size,  vertical  writing  and  stable  spacing  handwriting
manner. Hence this research revealed that handwriting analysis is a tool for identification of Gender.

This article compares the skill with which a large sample of Arabic writers was able to simulate different handwriting elements in two Arabic signatures. The data agree with the consensus of experts about Roman script: Form is significantly better simulated than Proportion, and Proportion is significantly better simulated than Line Quality. The fact that patterns long observed in Roman script

In the last few decades, so-called ‘new’ media has enabled a proliferation of writing platforms from e-books, blogging to online self-publishing. In response to the established ‘norm’ of digital writing, numerous writers have returned to basic, ‘anachronistic’ writing tools such as the typewriter, while others have never even relinquished these tools. Nietzsche famously claimed that our writing instruments are changing the way we think, and there is the somewhat Romantic belief that more archaic writing methods are linked to greater creativity and intellect, as opposed to newer technologies which are said to undermine critical thinking.
Writers including Don DeLillo, Will Self, and Cormac McCarthy are among those that still use manual typewriters to create their work, with Self espousing the benefits of the enforced discipline of typewriters. In the contemporary digital climate, this is not only considered strange and anachronistic, but also pretentious. Widespread reactions to the continued use of typewriters illustrates the extent to which contemporary culture abides by quite a rigid form of technological determinism; newer technologies are deemed superior, while old technologies are dismissed as trivial and obsolete. 
In light of the continued use of typewriters in the digital age, this paper explores the highly-maintained value in ‘old’ methods of writing, discussing the supposed link between the machine and an author’s creative and intellectual output. In so doing, this paper investigates claims relating to the strength of literature in accordance with particular writing technologies, highlighting recent commentary on the virtues of ‘slower’ technologies in the digital age.

The past few decades have witnessed an aesthetic trend in the Arabic Writing System and its well-known
calligraphic arts, which have exploited features of other writing systems, including Latin and Chinese scripts.
Although there are great differences between almost every aspect of the Arabic and Latin scripts, this trend has
blended certain characteristics of Arabic script with some features of Latin script.
This study examines this trend and its experiments and transitions, from the moment it first emerged until the
present day. It investigates the motivations underpinning the trend and analyzes its artistic and linguistic
characteristics, in which the researcher visually analyzes all possible details and disassembles both orthographic
items and calligraphic features into their basic essential scripts. The findings reveal an aesthetic and linguistic
trend that is substantial and significant, based on linguistic, cultural, and sociocultural factors, including
increased levels of communication, culturalism, advances in technology, transportation, migration, and
globalization. Script tools and features are used to divide the main trend into three sub-trends: 1) Script
switching, where scripts are interchanged at word-level; 2) Script fusion, where scripts are altered at letter-level;
and 3) Faux fonts, which dissolve certain features of Arabic script to mirror Latin script. All of the techniques
used to make Arabic script match Latin script have been shown to be culturally-induced and linguistically
informative, rather than merely aesthetic. The findings of this study also indicate that this new phenomenon is
likely to be in the early stages, with further developments expected to unfold in future.