An Examination of the Long Writing Pauses in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder using Eye and Pen Movements

Abstract

Difficulties with handwriting are reported as one of the main reasons for the referral of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) to healthcare professionals. Previous research has found that children with DCD produce less text than their typically developing (TD) peers as a result of long pauses during writing. However the nature of these long pauses (>10 seconds) are poorly understood. It is not known for example whether the long pauses occur due to cognitive processes such as planning and revision, or physical reasons such as fatigue. The aim of this exploratory study was to characterise the long pauses observed in the handwriting of English children with DCD using eye and pen movements.