CheerBrush: A Novel Interactive Augmented Reality Coaching System for Toothbrushing Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts one in every 54 children in the United States. Some children with ASD have learning and fine motor skill challenges that contribute to difficulties completing daily living tasks such as toothbrushing. Lack of toothbrushing skills may cause increased need for dental care and negative social feedback from peers. Technology based intelligent support systems offer the advantages of being accessible, engaging, and cost-effective. In this work, we present a novel interactive augmented reality coaching system, CheerBrush, to improve the toothbrushing skills of children with ASD. CheerBrush allows children to manipulate virtual objects like a toothbrush and toothpaste with their actual hand motions to practice the steps of toothbrushing. The virtual tasks of CheerBrush demonstrate these steps using audio and visual cues, while also showing the brushing process through a virtual avatar. CheerBrush also assesses toothbrushing skills with a custom designed mechatronic toothbrush to evaluate the system's coaching effectiveness. A feasibility study with 12 children (six children with ASD and six typically developing children) was conducted to evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of CheerBrush. The data showed improvements in the toothbrushing motions and reduced stress for the children in the post-test. CheerBrush detects real-time movement of children and interacts with them by augmented reality, feedback and multimodal hints. We believe that CheerBrush has the potential to provide a low-cost, engaging and, beneficial intelligent support system to improve the toothbrushing skills of children with ASD.

A Programmatic Evaluation of School Preparedness for Latinx Children and Families: A Partnership Program

Introduction: Latinx children are the fastest-growing ethnic minority of children under the age of 5 years in a tri-county area in the Southeastern United States (US Census, 2018). There are limited culturally and linguistically appropriate school preparedness initiatives in this geographic region. Methods: A cultural and linguistic appropriate program was developed in coordination with the state's largest Latinx advocacy organization and two patient-centered pediatric medical homes (PCPMHs) after securing extramural grant funding for an evidenced-based home visitation program using skilled community health workers (CHWs) aimed at Latinx children at the age of 0–5 years and their caregivers. The program includes developmental screenings using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires®, Third Edition (ASQ®-3), CHW role modeling of developmentally appropriate play, early literacy, connection to resources, oral health, nutrition, and physical activity. Results: Of the 103 unique children represented in this programmatic evaluation that received an initial and follow-up ASQ®-3 developmental screening, paired t-tests indicate statistically significant improvement in mean scores from the first to second ASQ®-3 in all five major developmental domains with the largest gains represented in the communication and fine motor skill domains. Conclusion: This evaluation suggests that low-frequency home visits from skilled CHWs can have a beneficial effect on development in early childhood. PPCMHs can serve as a hub for these community-based programs.

Assessment of the Development of Fine Motor Skills, Balance Function and Static Kinetic Stability in Elementary Schoolchildren

Background: Assessment of the development of fine motor skills (FMS), static balance (SB), and static kinetic stability (SKS) in elementary schoolchildren reflects the extent of their school readiness. Objective: To evaluate the development of children at the initial stage of systematic learning. Materials and methods: Fine motor skill tests were conducted in 117 children using a modified “Little House” technique; static balance was tested in 150 children using the stork pose balance test, and static kinetic stability was tested in 147 children by analyzing stability of the body standing while rotating around the vertical axis. Results: We established that fine motor skills were age appropriate in only 19.0 % (95 % CI: 8.9–29.1 %) of first and 17.0 % (95 % CI: 7.4–26.5 %) of second-year pupils. Low static kinetic stability was observed in 37.5 % (95 % CI: 25.6–49.4 %) of first graders and 38.8 % (95 % CI: 30.9–46.7 %) of second graders. The level of static balance was below the average in 65.7 % (95 % CI: 54.3–77.0 %) of first graders and 37.3 % (95 % CI: 26.9–47.8 %) of second graders. Developmental delays in FMS, SB and SKS were 1.2–3.9 times more frequent in boys than in girls. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that the development of FMS, SKS and SB in contemporary elementary schoolchildren is below the average level. The results may become the basis for elaboration of appropriate preventive programs and technologies in order to improve school readiness in children.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STYLE AND CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT AGED PRE-SCHOOL

Background: Development is related to the increase in the structure of bodily functions which Include tge ability of gross and fine motor skill, languange, and socializationand independence. One of the factors that influence a child's development is parenting, which is the pattern of interaction between parents and children. Early detection of development needs to be done in order to know deviations in development. Method: This research method used an observational analytic cross-sectional study design. The number of samples was 69 toddlers with a sampling technique using purposive sampling. The independent variable is parenting and the dependent variable is child development. The instruments used were parenting questionnaire and child development questionnaire, namely KPSP. Data analysis technique used was the spearman with α = 0.05 and the analysis of the closeness of the two relationships using correlation coefficient. Results: The results showed that there were 33.3% of respondents with permissive parenting had developmental status in accordance with or normal with their age, parents with democratic parenting also had 53.7% of respondents whose development was in accordance with or normal with their age, while authoritarian parenting there are 40.0% of respondents who are appropriate or normal for their age. Spearmen test results are known for each parenting, namely permissive parenting with p value 0.928, democratic parenting with p value 0.023, and authoritarian parenting with p value 0.420. Conclusion: the data shows that there is a relationship between parenting and developmental patterns, those are democratic parenting and permissive parenting.Keywords: child development, parenting, toddlers

New Training Approach for Improving the Spatial Perception and Orientation Ability of Dentistry Students

Introduction: During a basic prosthetics course, dental students train on plastic teeth for fixed partial dentures (FPD). The complexity of manual skill acquisition and the need for extra training led us to develop a portable tool for home training (PhantHome). The aim of the current study was to assess whether training using the portable tool improves students fine motor skill, spatial perception, and orientation and may predict success in preclinical prosthetics courses. Material and Methods: A total of 42 third year dental students were included in this study. A valid dexterity test (Grooved Pegboard test) and a manual test using the portable tool (PhantHome) were conducted in direct and indirect visions using a mirror at two time points: T0: beginning of study, and T1: after training for one month with the portable tool at home. The students’ manual grades in the portable tool, Grooved test, and final prosthetics course grades were compared. Results: The results showed that indirect tasks were significantly more difficult to perform than direct tasks for PhantHome and Grooved tests at T0 and T1 (p < 0.0005). After practicing with the portable PhantHome tool (T1), the students’ scores of in PhantHome and Grooved tests improved significantly (p < 0.04). A regression analysis showed that students’ motor tasks scored at T0 predicted phantom course success in 86.8% of cases (p = 0.005). Conclusion: There was a positive transfer in learning: PhantHome training led to improved performance on the Grooved tests without further training on these tests. Therefore, training in the PhantHome tool can significantly improve performance in the prosthodontics phantom course. The prediction model predicted success in a prosthodontics course with 86% accuracy.

KEGIATAN MERONCE UNTUK PERKEMBANGAN MOTORIK HALUS ANAK USIA 5-6 TAHUN

Keterlambatan perkembangan motorik halus dapat berdampak pada menurunnya kekuatan otot dan jari-lengan. Bentuk kegiatan yang dapat mengembangkan motorik halus anak salah satunya kegiatan meronce. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui pengaruh kegiatan meronce terhadap perkembangan motorik halus anak usia 5-6 tahun. Metode penelitian adalah eksperimen dengan jenis design one group pre-test and post-test. Partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah anak usia 5-6 tahun, yaitu kelompok B2 sebagai eksperimen dengan berjumlah 15 anak yang dilakukan di RA Al-Ikhwan School selama Bulan Juni 2020. Uji hipotesis menggunakan uji-t dengan program SPSS v.24. Teknik pengumpulan data yang dipakai pada penelitian ini menggunakan observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi. Berdasarkan data hasil uji-t memperoleh nilai Sig (2-tailed ) sebesar 0,000 < 0,05, artinya diterima dan ditolak. Kesimpulan dari penelitian ini, ada pengaruh kegiatan meronce terhadap perkembangan motorik halus anak usia 5-6 tahun. Dengan demikian disarankan kegiatan meronce menjadi kegiatan yang dilakukan secara rutin yang diberikan pada anak usia 5-6 tahun, sehingga berkembangnya motorik halus. : Delay in fine motor skill development can lead to decrease strength in muscles and fingers. One form of activity that can help develop children's fine motor skills is arranging beads into trinkets such as necklaces. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of this activity on fine motor skill development of children aged 5-6 years. This study was conducted at RA Al-Ikhwan School in June 2020 with 15 children aged 5-6 years as participants.One group pre- and post-test design experiment is used in this study. Data was gathered through observation, interviews and documentation which then analysed using t-test of SPSS v.24. Based on the t-test results, the Sig (2-tailed) value is 0.000 <0.05, means that is accepted while H0 is rejected. The conclusion of this study, there is an effect of beads arranging activity on fine motor skill development of children aged 5-6 years. Thus it is recommended that beads arranging activity is needed to be carried out routinely for children aged 5-6 years in order to help develop motor skills.

CORRECTION OF LEARNING DISORDERS BY OPTIMIZING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ORIENTATION

Learning to read, write and calculate are proving to be some of the most significant cognitive processes in early education. The objective of this systematic review is to explore the associations between the psychomotor component and the academic achievement in writing, reading, and mathematics. An organized and methodical research of electronic databases was completed in order to determine significant studies. Twenty eligible articles were strictly evaluated, with extracted and summarized keywords. The two components of the psychomotor activity that influence reading were primarily the orientation ability and the fine motor skill, which is the one responsible for the correct spelling of “mirror-writing”. Differences in motor function were observed after intervention programmes. The results of all researchers have shown that there is a link between dysgraphia, dyslexia and the orientation ability or visual perception. Meanwhile, the role of cognitive and motor skills that underpinned mathematical performance was highlighted, and children who had a high capacity for spatial and visual orientation benefited from a better understanding and perception of geometric figures. However, the importance of students'''' spatial reasoning in relation to mathematics was identified, but only in terms of geometry. Poor quality of spatial notions has been found to be one of the causes of delay in the acquisition of reading, writing and mathematical calculation. The role of fine motor skills in the writing process was also noted, being of real importance in times when the child manipulates the writing tool and puts a word or a sentence on the page.

Oral Motor and Gesture Abilities Independently Associated With Preschool Language Skill: Longitudinal and Concurrent Relationships at 21 Months and 3–4 Years

Purpose Early motor abilities (gesture, oral motor, and gross/fine skills) are related to language abilities, and this is not due to an association with cognitive or symbolic abilities: Oral motor skills are uniquely associated with language abilities at 21 months of age. It is important to determine whether this motor–language relationship continues beyond the earliest stage of language development to understand language acquisition better and better predict which children may have lasting language difficulties. Method In this longitudinal study, we assessed language comprehension and production, oral motor skill, gross/fine motor skill, and meaningless manual gesture at ages 3 years ( N = 89) and 4 years ( N = 71), comparing the contribution of motor skill and earlier (at 21 months of age) language ability. We also examined covariates: nonverbal cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, and stimulation in the home as measured on the Home Screening Questionnaire. Results Motor abilities continue to have a significant relationship with language abilities independent of other factors in the preschool years. Meaningless manual gesture ability, gross/fine motor skill, and oral motor skill were still associated with language skill at 3 years of age; these relationships are not explained by the contribution of cognitive abilities or earlier language abilities. Conclusions Relationships between early motor skill and language development persist into preschool years and are not explained by other cognitive or home factors, nor by a relationship with earlier language ability. This finding should lead to a better understanding of the origins of language abilities.

Key kinematic features in early training predict performance of adult female mice in a single pellet reaching and grasping task

Detailed analyses of overly trained animal models have been long employed to decipher foundational features of skilled motor tasks and their underlying neurobiology. However, initial trial-and-error features that ultimately give rise to skilled, stereotypic movements, and the underlying neurobiological basis of flexibility in learning, to stereotypic movement in adult animals are still unclear. Knowledge obtained from addressing these questions is crucial to improve quality of life in patients affected by movement disorders. We sought to determine if known kinematic parameters of skilled movement in humans could predict learning of motor efficiency in mice during the single pellet reaching and grasping assay. Mice were food restricted to increase motivation to reach for a high reward food pellet. Their attempts to retrieve the pellet were recorded for 10 minutes a day for continuous 4 days. Individual successful and failed reaches for each mouse were manually tracked using Tracker Motion Analysis Software to extract time series data and kinematic features. We found the number of peaks and time to maximum velocity were strong predictors of individual variation in failure and success, respectively. Overall, our approach validates the use of select kinematic features to describe fine motor skill acquisition in mice and establishes peaks and time to maximum velocity as predictive measure of natural variation in motion efficiency in mice. This manually curated dataset, and kinematic parameters would be useful in comparing with pose estimation generated from deep learning approaches.