COMPARISON OF HANDWRITING LEGIBILITY FOR MANUAL HANDWRITING AMONG TYPICALLY DEVELOPING INDIAN CHILDREN

Handwriting involves the integration of many skills, including perceptual motor skills, motor planning and cognition visual motor skills, as well as control of kinesthetic and tactile abilities to grasp and maintain control of the writing tool, as well as motor control The aim of this study was to compare the handwriting skills of typically developing Indian children on ETCH-M (Evaluation Tool Of Children Handwriting – Manuscript). A sample of 200 typically developing Indian children were included in the study using convenience sampling method. The age ranged from 6 years to 9 years. It was found that ETCH-M is an assessment tool which can assess the Handwriting skills of Indian typically developing children in 6-9 years of age group. Independent sample t- test was done to compare the mean raw score of each group. There was a significant difference with statistical value of p< 0.001. The handwriting evaluation depends upon six characteristics of writing: Handwriting legibility, letter formation, uniformity of letter size, uniformity of letter slant, spacing between letters and words, alignment of lines of writing. KEYWORDS: Handwriting, legibility, occupational therapy, vernacular medium.

What Improves Handwriting: Occupation-Based or Handwriting Interventions?

Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. Aims: This quantitative study compared effects of occupation-based versus handwriting interventions on handwriting. Methods: Twenty-seven participants, mean age 6.3, participated in a 3-week study. Initially, there was no significant difference between groups on handwriting. Results: Occupation-based interventions were more effective on handwriting and visual–perceptual skills. Handwriting interventions lead to a greater gain in perceptual–motor skills. Conclusion: Both interventions are beneficial. Primary Author and Speaker: Camille Skubik-Peplaski Additional Authors and Speakers: Jennifer Hight, Laura Bray, and Carol Rushing-Carr

Perceptual-Motor Skills Reconstruction Program Improves Executive Functions in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Objective: Many children suffering from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show problems in executive functions (EF), which reflect neuronal pathways from perception to controlled action. Treatment approaches that improve executive functions may prevent a negative cycle of failures in students. Hence, this research aims to study the efficacy of the perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program on EF in children with ADHD while considering cognitive flexibility, abstract verbal skills, response inhibition, and working memory. Also, its effect on clinical ADHD symptoms should be considered. Method: The research design included pretest, posttest, and a follow-up after six months. The sample included third-grade school children with ADHD (50 students, aged 8–10 years, boys and girls) who were referred to the Child Psychology Clinic, Iran, Mashhad 2018–2019. After clinical assessment for ADHD, children were randomly assigned to an experimental (n = 25) and a waiting control (n = 25) group. The experimental group received the perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program for 16 sessions (three times per week, i.e., five weeks and one session in the sixth week). Delis–Kaplan executive function system (D-KEFS) was applied at three measurement points (M1–3) in order to test for changes over time. Results: Data analysis (analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with post-hoc-testing) showed that there was a significantly better performance of experimental versus waiting control group at posttest (M2) and follow-up (M3) for cognitive flexibility (t(24) = 4.9, df = 14, p < 0.0001), abstract verbal skills (t(24) = 3.5, df = 14, p < 0.004), response inhibition (t(24) = 7.54, df = 14, p < 0.0001) and working memory (t(24) = 12.69, df = 14, p < 0.004). Further, Conners-Scales-Score improved for the experimental group. Conclusions: Training with perceptual-motor skills reconstruction program clearly improved the trained variables (i.e., cognitive flexibility, abstract verbal skills, response inhibition, and working memory) and clinical symptoms of the children with ADHD. The obtained training may lead in practice to better preconditions for successfully handling daily tasks at school and in society.

Young Adults With Developmental Coordination Disorder Adopt a Different Visual Strategy During a Hazard Perception Test for Cyclists

Cycling in traffic requires a combination of motor and perceptual skills while interacting with a dynamic and fast-changing environment. The inferior perceptual-motor skills in individuals with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may put them at a higher risk for accidents. A key skill to navigate in traffic is to quickly detect hazardous situations. This perceptual-cognitive skill was investigated in young adults with DCD using simulated traffic situations in a hazard perception test in cycling. Nine individuals with DCD (age: 23.0 ± 3.8) and nine typically developing (TD) individuals (age: 24.6 ± 3.5) participated in the study and completed the test while their gaze was tracked using a remote eye tracking device. A questionnaire was used to determine cycling experience and the perception of cycling and anticipation skill in traffic. Despite a longer period to master the motor skill of cycling, individuals with DCD reported to be able to safely cycle in traffic around the same age as TD young adults. In the hazard perception test, individuals with DCD fixated the hazards later, less frequently and for a shorter duration than the TD participants, however, the participants with DCD did not wait longer to react to the hazard than the TD participants. Interestingly, individuals with DCD rated the traffic situations in the test as significantly more dangerous than the TD participants. In conclusion, the differences exposed in the hazard perception test may imply an increased risk of accidents in individuals with DCD. In further research and practice it is recommended that both the motor and the perceptual aspects of cycling are addressed.

DOES HEAD INJURY LEAD TO COGNITIVE DETERIORATION

Background: After any traumatic injury to brain, the brain doesn’t heal completely and that’s why some effects will be permanent leading to loss in cognitive function, behavior and emotions. The Aim is to study the cognitive functioning and evaluate the extent of cognitive loss in patients with Traumatic Brain injury. Methodology: A sample of 50 out-patients was taken from hospital. PGI BBD was used to assess the cognitive functioning. Results indicated that domains on memory showed severe dysfunction, intelligence was moderately impaired and perceptual motor skills were mildly impaired. Out of the total number patients, 26% has no neuropsychological disability, 40% had mild disability, 24% of the patients have moderate level of disability and only 10% had severe neuropsychological disability. There is no significant relationship between age, education, duration of illness with Neuropsychological disability. Conclusion: Patients with TBI have some extent of dysfunction in memory, Intelligence, perceptual motor skills causing mild neuropsychological disability in 40% of the TBI cases. There is no significant relationship between age, education, duration of illness and neuropsychological disability.

Evaluating fine perceptual-motor skills in children with mild intellectual disability

Over the years, several studies have indicated that delay in perceptual-motor development and impaired motor organization is strongly associated with the level of cognitive functioning and performance in children. The aim of the present research study was to assess the fine perceptual-motor skills of children with mild intellectual disability 7-9-years-old and the comparison of their performance with two groups of typically developing children with the same chronological and a corresponding mental age. Our research sample consisted of 129 children between the ages of four and nine years whilst the experimental group had a total of 43 children (7-9-years-old) with mild intellectual disability. As an assessment tool of fine perceptual-motor skills we used a battery of tasks constructed in accordance with other commonly used standardized tests that measure psychomotor abilities. Furthermore, several comparisons were carried out in order to investigate our experimental hypotheses. Overall, our results revealed that children with mild intellectual disability scored lower in the tasks compared to typically developing children of equal chronological age but significantly higher than the group of typically developing children of the same mental age (preschoolers). The results of the psychometric properties of our designed tasks (reliability, validity) verify the high-quality psychometric characteristics of the designed tool.

Perceptual Motor Skills in Children and Pupils with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

This literature review analyzes eight specialized papers which focus on issues of the perceptual motor skills of children and pupils with mild intellectual disabilities. Children and pupils with mild intellectual disabilities have deficits in perceptual motor skills. The deficits of adaptive and intellectual skills of these children and pupils may be greater (mainly because of their conceptual and abstract reasoning)­ than their relative deficits of perceptual motor skills. Stronger perceptual motor skills in children and pupils with mild intellectual disabilities may be the target of school intervention as a means of alleviating problems in adaptive functions.