MSc, Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / The effect of assistive devices on the speed and legibility of a child’s writing is not fully understood in the literature. This study therefore investigated the effects of Stetro pencil grips, soft splints and inclined surfaces on handwriting speed and legibility in order to better guide occupational therapists with regard to handwriting intervention. A writing legibility score sheet was developed to measure the factors of handwriting requiring assessment in this study namely: letter formation, spacing between words, letter spacing between lines, accuracy and general appearance. The study also compared the handwriting speed and legibility of grade two learning disabled learners with grade two mainstream learners. In analysing the results, letter formation and general appearance were the two areas where the learning disabled sample scored significantly worse than the mainstream sample. The various assistive devices were shown to have different impacts on writing speed and the five areas of legibility.

書寫行為與書寫者的人格特質關係密切。書寫筆跡並非僅是單純的手部活動的結果， 且係書寫者人格（Personality ）的表現，書寫者的人格各有不同，則筆跡必因之而 異；從書寫行為中，我們可以推知書寫者的人格特質，而在書寫行為中，筆壓（Pen pressure）和書寫速度（Writing speed ）是較不可能被學習、模仿的，因此，在書 寫過程中，具有高度的自然性（Naturalness ）和即興、自發性（Spontaneity ）。 基於上述假設，在本論文中，我們選擇書寫行為中筆壓與時間變項來探討其與書寫者 在內－外向（Extroversion -Introversion）勇猛性（Psychoticism）、神經質（ Neuroticism ）及場地獨立－依賴性（Field independent v.s. depedent ）等四項 人格特質的關係。 本研究收集26名男女大學生及13名精神病人在書寫行為中之筆壓變項，與人格特質變 項一分別以艾氏人格問卷（Eysenck Personality Questionnarire）、藏圖測驗二種 人格測驗測量之一間的關係。所得之主要結論如下： 1.性格愈內向的，筆壓愈重。 2.性格愈外向的，筆壓愈輕。 3.場地獨立性傾向愈高的，筆壓愈輕。 4.場地依賴性傾向愈高的，筆壓愈重。 5.精神病人之筆壓平均高於正常人組。 6.筆壓愈重者，書寫速度愈慢。 7.筆壓愈輕者，書寫速度愈快。