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Effectiveness of the Occupational Therapy Handwriting Intervention Guideline on Children

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Difficulty Writing
Interventions
Other: OTHIG
Registration Number
NCT05217394
Lead Sponsor
National University of Malaysia
Brief Summary

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the Occupational Therapy Handwriting Interventions Guidelines (OTHIG) in enhancing handwriting performance among children.

Method:

Forty-two children recruited from private centers with occupational therapy indications and with handwriting issues, aged five to nine years, will be assigned to the experimental and control groups.

Participants will receive a total of 10-week sessions, including training, intervention, and outcome measures.

The experimental group will receive the developed OTHIG during handwriting skills intervention. Meanwhile, the control group will receive conventional interventions which not exposed to the OTHIG.

This study is expected to provide evidence for the effectiveness of using the developed OTHIG to OTs in delivering their services, targeting children struggling with handwriting skills.

Detailed Description

The study is a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (C-RCT) that systematically clusters the centers into the treatment and control groups.

A total of 10 centers will be involved in this study.

The clustering of all ten centers will allocate randomly into the treatment and control groups based on submitting the consent letter to the researcher and after an assessment of TPT and TVPS-4 are conducted.

Ten early interventions have similar characteristics such as (1) hiring graduated occupational therapists from recognized universities in Malaysia, (2) having occupational therapists working daily at the centre, (3) having children aged five to nine years who receive OTs intervention.

This randomization will be allocated based on the list of the centers that give an early submission of a signed consent form. The randomization will be carried out with a mechanism that neither the researcher nor children or center owners will know which group of intervention they will be assigned.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
42
Inclusion Criteria
  • age between five and nine years
  • engaged in OTs intervention either in an individual or group session.
Exclusion Criteria
  • refuse to participate in the study
  • fail to comply with the whole intervention process during the study
  • present severe sensory problems
  • present poor behavior during intervention

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
OTHIGOTHIGOccupational Therapy Handwriting Intervention Guideline - this is the experimental guideline to be tested in this study. Section C: Intervention for Handwriting Readiness Skills * Handwriting development * Pre-writing skills * Gross motor skills activities * Fine motor skills activities * Motor visual skills activities Section D: Intervention for Handwriting Skills * Handwriting tools * Pencil grasp * Posture and position * Hand dominance * Writing capitals, lowercase, and numbers * Handwriting speed Section E: Handwriting Intervention Module * Session 1: Development of Handwriting Skills Activities * Session 2: Pre-writing Skills Activities * Session 3: Gross and Fine Motor Skills Activities * Session 4: Writing Capital Letters * Session 5: Writing Lowercase Letters * Session 6: Writing Numbers
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
The Print Tool2 weeks

Handwriting assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-42 weeks

Visual perceptual skills assessment

Trial Locations

Locations (4)

Kiddie Care Centre

🇲🇾

Jitra, Kedah, Malaysia

Excel Qhalif Playgroup Centre

🇲🇾

Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Ryan Special Needs Rehabilitation Centre

🇲🇾

Putrajaya, PU, Malaysia

Kizzu Kids Centre

🇲🇾

Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

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