The Interactive World

Techniques for helping your autistic child and the latest news about autism.

Jonathan Levy has worked one-on-one with over 800 children with autism, ranging from the severely autistic to the mildest forms of Asperger's syndrome. See full bio

A Study to Avoid

Pay no attention to this handwriting study!

Published on November 18, 2009

A new study by an M.D. from John Hopkins School of Medicine was on the newswire, reporting that "Children with autism lag behind their classmates in the area of handwriting and can benefit from targeted therapies to improve those skills."

When I came across this article I blinked several times, wondering if I was seeing things that simply were not there.

Surely no one actually put time into a handwriting study for autistic children. (Actually, almost no time was put in: only 14 children with autism were observed!)

Surely, even if someone did, they wouldn't think that autistic children having handwriting issues is notable. The main characteristic of autism is that kids do not pay attention to other people, so learning complex skills (like handwriting) is often an issue. Many autistic children have fine motor difficulties which would also lead to poor handwriting.

But most of all, that anyone could think to suggest handwriting therapy for autistic children is just plain shocking. There are several significantly bigger issues to deal with.

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(Certainly there may be the rare occasion where working on handwriting with an autistic child is a good idea, but the vast majority of kids need help on the big stuff... you know, the autism).

Eye contact, attention span, clarity of speech, vocabulary, fine and gross motor skills, self help skills (such as toileting and dressing oneself) are usually the issues that should be the focus of therapy, not handwriting.

In my book I have a section which talks about why eye contact and attention span are so much more important than academic skills like reading and writing. Imagine how much further down the list handwriting would be.

A study with a small sample size that tells us something unsurprising (autistic kids struggle with handwriting) and makes recommendations that takes the focus away from the therapies kids really need. Parents, professionals... please disregard this news and help your child to look, talk and interact more.

You know... the things that matter.

(image: marind is waiting for les tambors de la pluie'@flickr)