Research reveals autistic teens may not grow out of handwriting difficulties

By Staff Writer

According to new research from the Kennedy Krieger Institute, children who have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may not grow out of their struggles with handwriting. Psych Central reports that researchers studied 24 children between the ages of 12 and 16, half of which had an ASD.

For the study, participants took the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment Test. Students were asked to write down the words in the sentence using the best of their handwriting skills, and keeping all of the letters around the same size and shape, according to the news source.

The samples were then rated based on legibility, form, alignment, size and spacing. The results show that the children with an ASD scored an average of 167 out of 204 points, while their peers had an average of 183.

The study is published in the latest issue of Neurology.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that ASDs are reported to occur in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, yet are on average four to five times more likely to occur in boys than in girls.