Writing errors by adults and by children

Writing errors are defined as occasional deviations from a person' s normal handwriting; thus they are different from spelling mistakes. The deviations are systematic in nature to a certain degree and can therefore be quantitatively classified in accordance with (1) type and (2) location in a word. Writing errors can be either collected from spontaneous handwriting or dictations, or elicited by having subjects write specific texts. Because of their systematic nature, writing errors provide a means of studying the programming of writing in the central nervous system. 40% of the spontaneous writing errors by adults consist of anticipations, i.e. the premature occurrence of a letter. Writing errors also occur among children and where they have writing problems, the errors are relatively numerous.