David Catela

Effect of spatial constraints in cursive writing of first grade lefthanded children: a qualitative analysis (Efeito de Constrangimentos Espaciais na Escrita Cursiva de Crianças Sinistrómanas do 1.º Ciclo: Uma Análise Qualitativa)

In cursive writing the child has to produce small and continuous distal movements (Thomassen & Teulings 1983), through an instrument, the pen, requiring visual monitoring and ballistic control (Wann 1986). Young children tend to realize different writing sizes (Meulenbroek et al. 1985), while they explore postural positions in frequent discontinuous movements (Wann & Jones 1986); and, in complex graphemic tasks children require significantly longer writing times (e.g., Meulenbrock et al. 1985). Righthanders do not write more rapidly or legibly than lefthanders, however, lefthanders reveal techniques of adjusting positions for handwriting, with left-handed children that use the non-inverted