Effect of Multisensory Approach on Handwriting Skill of Pre-School Pupils in Uyo Education Zone, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The current study aimed at investigating the effect of the use of multisensory methods on the handwriting ability of the preschoolers in Uyo Educational Zone of Akwa Ibom State. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used in this research. The participants in the study included 346 nursery two children from twelve intact classes of six private pre-primary schools, with the experimental group receiving six weeks of instruction through the use of multisensory methods, and the control group receiving six weeks of teaching through the conventional approach. The Handwriting Achievement Test (HAT) was developed by the researcher as the instrument for data collection. The analysis of the data was done using mean, standard deviation, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. It was discovered that there was a significant difference between the left to right writing pattern and in number and letter formation of the preschoolers taught through the multisensory methods and those taught through the conventional method. The mean scores in the posttest were much higher among those who were exposed to the experimental method. There was no noticeable difference in the handwriting ability of the preschoolers in terms of gender. This shows that multisensory methods are an effective means of developing handwriting skills.