EFFICACY OF MODELLING TECHNIQUES ON HANDWRITING SKILLS OF PUPILS WITH DYSGRAPHIA IN DUTSIN-MA LGA, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA

Dysgraphia is a specific learning disability that significantly impairs the quality, speed, and legibility of handwriting among primary school pupils. Despite its adverse effects on academic performance, intervention studies addressing dysgraphia in Nigerian primary schools remain limited. This study examined whether a structured modelling intervention could improve the handwriting skills of pupils with dysgraphia in Dutsin-Ma Local Government Area, Katsina State. The study adopted a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design. Twenty pupils with dysgraphia were purposively selected from Darawa Primary School and participated in an eight-week modelling programme involving teacher demonstration, peer modelling, and guided practice. Handwriting was measured with the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH), covering letter formation, spacing, alignment, and legibility. The mean handwriting score increased from 7.44 at pre-test to 14.31 at post-test, and a paired-samples t-test showed that this improvement was statistically significant, t(19) = 32.47, p < .001. The findings suggest that modelling techniques may be an effective instructional strategy for improving handwriting skills among pupils with dysgraphia. The study recommends integrating modelling-based handwriting instruction into primary school classrooms while encouraging further studies using more rigorous experimental designs to validate these findings.