Handwriting Challenges in Autistic Children: A Comparative Study of Legibility and Character Processing in Logographic Chinese Writing.

purposeHandwriting is a crucial skill for school-age children, significantly impacting their academic performance. For autistic children, handwriting can be particularly challenging due to differences in how they process visual information. These children often focus on smaller details rather than seeing the overall shape of letters or characters, a cognitive trait known as Weak Central Coherence (WCC). Despite these challenges, there is still limited research on handwriting legibility and character processing in autistic children within the context of logographic languages.

methodsThis study conducted comparative analyses between 30 autistic children and 30 age-matched peers. The Chinese Handwriting Legibility Assessment for Children was administered to evaluate legibility, while character processing tasks were conducted to assess the impact of WCC on character recognition.

resultsResults indicated that autistic children exhibit poorer legibility in Chinese handwriting, particularly in radical proportion and spacing arrangement. In terms of character processing, both groups performed similarly with familiar characters, but autistic children were influenced by WCC when processing unfamiliar characters. No clear correlation between legibility and WCC was found, potentially due to handwriting legibility being assessed only with familiar characters, but not unfamiliar characters.

conclusionThis study highlights the challenges faced by autistic children in handwriting legibility, particularly in the radical arrangement. While the impact of WCC significantly impacts the processing of unfamiliar characters, it does not notably affect familiar characters, suggesting that familiarity helps mitigate WCC’s influence. Understanding these challenges can inform the development of targeted interventions to support handwriting skills in autistic children.