Mahad Mirza

Psych 1100
3/3/17
Psychology Journal Article
1. Handwriting Legibility in Healthy Older Adults.
2. Michelle Dettrick-Janes, Annie McCluskey, Natasha A. Lannin, & Justin
Newton Scanlan
3. Handwriting processes deteriorate with age due to neurological
conditions. Improving handwriting is a main focus of rehabilitation, yet
the knowledge on this subject is fairly limited. This study describes the
distribution of handwriting legibility scores in healthy older adults,
relationships between handwriting legibility, age and writing task, and
reliability of rating procedures.
4. A cross-sectional study design was used involving 120 healthy older
Australians. Tasks included writing sentences, like a shopping list or a
telephone transcription. Legibility was scored using the modified Four
Point Scale version.
5. Legibility differed between tasks but was not related to increasing age.
6. There was not any comment from the authors themselves.
7. Impaired handwriting legibility in the elderly is less likely due to the
effects of aging than the required task or medical conditions.
8. I believe that the findings from this study may help therapists set
intervention goals and have a better understanding in measuring
legibility changes during handwriting tasks.