DEVELOPMENT OF OBJECTIVE HANDWRITING MEASUREMENT TOOLS

THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE CHANGE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF HANDWRITING SINCE A SCORING SYSTEM WAS DEVISED BY FREEMAN IN 1914. AS A RESULT, LITTLE IS KNOWN REGARDING THE RELATIONSHIP OF HANDWRITING TO OTHER COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A SERIES OF COMPUTERIZED TOOLBOX FUNCTIONS THAT WILL ALLOW THE OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENT OF HANDWRITING. A COMPUTER GRAPHICS TABLET ATTACHED TO A PERSONAL COMPUTER WILL SERVE AS THE DATA COLLECTION DEVICE. THE TOOLBOX WILL BE TESTED WITH NORMAL CHILDREN AND LEARNING-DISABLED CHILDREN TO CORRELATE THE OBJECTIVE RESULTS OF THE COMPUTER WITH PREVIOUS SUBJECTIVE RESULTS OBTAINED THROUGH VISUAL SCORING. WITH ACCURATE COMPUTERIZED SCORING, FUTURE RESEARCH WILL BE ABLE TO USE HANDWRITING AS A VARIABLE IN COLLECTING DATA ABOUT A SUBJECT. COMMERCIALLY, HANDWRITING TESTING CANBE USED AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL BY EDUCATORS AND PHYSICIANS TO HELP DETERMINE POSSIBLE COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTIONS.