Exploring the Contribution of Isochrony-based Features to Computerized Assessment of Handwriting Disabilities

Approximately 30–60 % of the time children spend in school is associated with handwriting. However, up to 30 % of them experience handwriting disabilities (HD), which lead to a decrease in their academic performance. Current HD assessment methods are not unified and show signs of subjectivity which can lead to misdiagnosis. The aim of this paper is to propose a new approach to objective HD assessment based on the principle of movement isochrony. For this purpose, we used a database of 137 children attending a primary school, who performed a transcription and dictation task, and who were associated with a BHK (Concise Evaluation Scale for Children's Handwriting) score. Employing a machine learning model, we were able to estimate this score with 18 % error. An interpretation of the model suggests that the isochrony-based features could bring new benefits to the objective assessment of HD.