Improving autistic students' visual–motor skills through handwriting intervention

Abstract

Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects sensory, cognitive, and motor systems (Mosconi et al., 2011). Although most autistic students with handwriting difficulties have been given intervention at the primary school level, their handwriting problems have not yet been resolved. This case study aimed to identify the effect of “Cekap Menulis” on autistic students’ visual-motor skills. As the sample for this study, three autistic students aged 12 with handwriting difficulties were chosen from an intervention center. They were given around 20 minutes of visual-motor skills training after around 5 minutes of Brain Gym warming up exercise before handwriting practice. “Cekap Menulis” is a combination of the Brain Gym concept and The Size Matters Handwriting Program supported by Vygotsky's Theory. Data was collected by repeated measurement of respondents' visual-motor skills using a visual motor assessment instrument followed by a semi-structured interview. The result showed that all the respondents had significantly improved their visual-motor skills. Their visual motor skills were developed through purposeful learning activities that included Brain Gym, visual motor activities, motivation, and continuous guidance from teacher and parents through visual cues, verbal feedback, and hand-on-hand handwriting practice.