The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) has allotted a P3.2 million fund to iSULAT (intelligent stroke utilization, learning, assessment, and testing) project to address handwriting problems.
In a taped report, DOST Secretary Fortunato "Boy" de la Peña the project aims to create an iSULAT system which is an intelligent and unified handwriting tool to solve the problems of inter-tool scoring variations, inconsistency, incongruence, and assessment time.
"Handwriting is still the most immediate form of graphic communication, failure to attain handwriting competency during the school-age year results in far-reaching negative effects on both academic success and self-esteem," de la Pena said.
He noted that the prevalence of handwriting problems in developing children has been estimated to range from 5 percent to 25 percent.
"To address these writing difficulties, several curriculum-based handwriting programs have been developed, and which are taught within the classroom setting; however, these tools are often facilitated by occupational therapy practitioners and handwriting experts and each assessment tool has its own strengths and weaknesses," de la Peña added.
Moreover, the project aims to define a reference normative database of Filipino school-aged children's handwriting using the traditional tools: Test of Visual-Motor Skills (TVMS), Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA), and Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH) which can be used to assess and evaluated handwriting with or without impairment.
iSULAT also eyes to determine significant handwriting parameters for a quantitative assessment of children's handwriting, develop an intelligent pen equipped with a software-based handwriting assessment system, and compare the proposed iSULAT system from the conventional children's handwriting evaluation and assessment tools.
DOST said the project can also be used in assessing the handwriting of individuals with different medical, neurological, and psychological conditions, such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and even early onset of depression.
The project will be implemented from April 1, 2022 to June 31, 2024.