An Investigation of Handwriting Correlates in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Handwriting deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders have been increasingly recognized in the literature. This study sought to compare handwriting legibility in children with ASD to a control group of typically developing, age and gender matched peers. Twenty-two children (11 per group) participated in this study. Statistically significant differences in letter and word legibility were found between groups. Children with ASD demonstrated poorer performances on letter and word legibility. Graphomotor control was correlated with word and letter legibility in children with ASD. A sensory processing measure of proprioception was also found to be a predictor of letter legibility in children with ASD.