An examination of writing pauses in the handwriting of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Difficulties with handwriting are reported as one of the main reasons for the referral of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) to healthcare professionals. In a recent study we found that children with DCD produced less text than their typically developing (TD) peers and paused for 60% of a free-writing task. However, little is known about the nature of the pausing; whether they are long pauses possibly due to higher level processes of text generation or fatigue, or shorter pauses related to the movements between letters. This gap in the knowledge-base creates barriers to understanding the handwriting difficulties in children with DCD. The aim of this study was to characterise the pauses observed in the handwriting of English children with and without DCD. Twenty-eight 8-14 year-old children with a diagnosis of DCD participated in the study, with 28 TD age and gender matched controls. Participants completed the 10 min free-writing task from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) on a digitising writing tablet. The total overall percentage of pausing during the task was categorised into four pause time-frames, each derived from the literature on writing (250 ms to 2 s; 2-4 s; 4-10 s and >10 s). In addition, the location of the pauses was coded (within word/between word) to examine where the breakdown in the writing process occurred. The results indicated that the main group difference was driven by more pauses above 10 s in the DCD group. In addition, the DCD group paused more within words compared to TD peers, indicating a lack of automaticity in their handwriting. These findings may support the provision of additional time for children with DCD in written examinations. More importantly, they emphasise the need for intervention in children with DCD to promote the acquisition of efficient handwriting skill

Investigation of possible causes for human-performance degradation during microgravity flight

The results of the first year of a three year study of the effects of microgravity on human performance are given. Test results show support for the hypothesis that the effects of microgravity can be studied indirectly on Earth by measuring performance in an altered gravitational field. The hypothesis was that an altered gravitational field could disrupt performance on previously automated behaviors if gravity was a critical part of the stimulus complex controlling those behaviors. In addition, it was proposed that performance on secondary cognitive tasks would also degrade, especially if the subject was provided feedback about degradation on the previously automated task. In the initial experimental test of these hypotheses, there was little statistical support. However, when subjects were categorized as high or low in automated behavior, results for the former group supported the hypotheses. The predicted interaction between body orientation and level of workload in their joint effect on performance in the secondary cognitive task was significant for the group high in automatized behavior and receiving feedback, but no such interventions were found for the group high in automatized behavior but not receiving feedback, or the group low in automatized behavior

National characteristics and variation in Arabic handwriting

From each of four Arabic countries; Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Oman, 150 participants produced handwriting samples which were examined to assess whether national characteristics were discernible. Ten characters, which have different configurations depending upon their position in the word, along with one short word, were classified into distinguishable forms, and these forms recorded for each handwriting sample. Tests of independence showed that character forms used were not independent of country (p < 0.001) for all but one character-position (this was dropped from subsequent analyses). A correspondence analysis ordination plot and analysis of similarity (R = 0.326, p = 0.0002) showed that whole samples were discernibly grouped by country, and a tree analysis produced a classification which was 71% accurate for the original data and 83% accurate for 80 new handwriting samples that underwent ‘blind’ classification. When the countries were combined into two regions, North Africa and Middle East, the grouping was more marked. Thus, there appears to be some scope for narrowing down the nationality, and particularly the wider geographical region of an author based upon the character forms they use in Arabic handwriting

Embodied Knowledge Construction inWriting

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Structural Extension of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll Cross-Battery Approach to Include Measures of Visual-Motor Integration

In spite of the long-standing tradition of including measures of visual-motor integration in psychological evaluations, visual-motor abilities have not been included in the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities or its complementary cross-battery approach to assessment. The purpose of this research was to identify the shared constructs of a popular test of visual-motor integration and a test of intellectual functioning, and to investigate how a test of visual-motor integration would be classified within the CHC model. A large normative sample of 3,015 participants that ranged in age from 5 to 97 years completed the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, Second Edition (Bender-Gestalt II; Brannigan & Decker, 2003) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fifth Edition (SB5; Roid, 2003). Correlational analyses indicated positive moderate correlations across all age ranges between the Bender-Gestalt II Copy measure and the SB5 Nonverbal Visual-Spatial Processing subscale and between the Bender-Gestalt II Recall measure and the SB5 Nonverbal Visual-Spatial Processing and Nonverbal Working Memory subscales. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a three-factor model for four age groupings and four-factor model for one age grouping, suggesting factors which represent crystallized ability, fluid reasoning, and visual-motor ability. The results of this study suggest that the Bender-Gestalt II measures abilities that are not included in the SB5. Therefore, the Bender-Gestalt II would complement an intelligence test such as the SB5 in order to form a CHC Visual Processing (Gv) broad ability factor. These findings also address the need for further research to validate the constructs measured by newer versions of widely-used tests of cognitive ability

Intelligent Advanced User Interfaces for Monitoring Mental Health Wellbeing

It has become pressing to develop objective and automatic measurements integrated in intelligent diagnostic tools for detecting and monitoring depressive states and enabling an increased precision of diagnoses and clinical decision-makings. The challenge is to exploit behavioral and physiological biomarkers and develop Artificial Intelligent (AI) models able to extract information from a complex combination of signals considered key symptoms. The proposed AI models should be able to help clinicians to rapidly formulate accurate diagnoses and suggest personalized intervention plans ranging from coaching activities (exploiting for example serious games), support networks (via chats, or social networks), and alerts to caregivers, doctors, and care control centers, reducing the considerable burden on national health care institutions in terms of medical, and social costs associated to depression cares

Aspects of wellness in a traditional leisure time game: an integrated approach for teaching innovation / Mawarni Mohamed and Puteri Aquila Tajuddin.

Malaysia and ASEAN society are rich with a variety of traditional games and usually played during leisure time. ‘Tossing the Stones’ or Batu Seremban was chosen in this survey. Using a purposive sampling technique, respondents from Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand went through the game intervention and answered the questionnaires provided. The goal was to understand how they perceived wellness while playing this game, after identifying the frequency of Traditional Games engagement. Results showed that Batu Seremban gave high wellness scores such as; M=4.16, SD=.722. The physical, intellectual, social and emotional elements identified in ‘Tossing the Stones’ showed that strong educational elements identified in the traditional leisure game can also be used to teach children and young adults through integration in the curriculum. Suggestions on how the game can be used in classrooms were made based on the findings

Embedding more writing into the kindergarten curriculum

Students in kindergarten require a solid foundation in letter formation skills to build upon this knowledge when writing their name, writing sentences or completing a standardized assessment. Embedding more of the proper and necessary kinds of writing within the curriculum was systematically planned to provide the skills the students need to move forward and make progress in writing and literacy. Once children have learned basic letter formation, they must continue to develop their writing skills to the point that they can produce letters automatically. Failing to gain automaticity in the early years may limit students’ subsequent ability to express ideas through writing, which may potentially affect their academic success, motivation, and self-esteem (Graham S., Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Abbott, S. P., and Whitaker, D. 1997). The intent of this program is to provide consultation and intervention proactively to all the kindergarten teachers so that all students in their classrooms will improve their overall writing skills. This proactive approach will benefit all students while also reducing occupational therapy referrals to focus only on students who truly require specialized intervention. Teachers participating in this program will be providing improved letter formation instruction along with consistent time for practice and reinforcement. Building a letter automaticity pathway in the brain benefits kindergarten students for their writing performance in grade 3 and beyond. The long-term outcomes of the program will produce kindergarten students that are able to write upper and lower-case letters without a model and can write (at least) their first name independently. The STAR early literacy testing should also demonstrate an improvement in standard scores along with success in the print concept goals. Parents will also become more invested at home writing and see how a little collaboration with the school can improve their child’s educational performance

Fine Motor Skills in Children With Prenatal Alcohol Exposure or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Objective: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)and associated neurodevelopmental impairments. It is uncertain which types of fine motor skills are most likely to be affected after PAE or which assessment tools are most appropriate to use in FASD diagnostic assessments. This systematic review examined which types of fine motor skills are impaired in children with PAE or FASD; which fine motor assessments are appropriate for FASD diagnosis; and whether fine motor impairments are evident at both “low” and “high” PAE levels. Methods: A systematic review of relevant databases was undertaken using key terms. Relevant studies were extracted using a standardized form, and methodological quality was rated using a critical appraisal tool. Results: Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria. Complex fine motor skills, such as visual-motor integration, were more frequently impaired than basic fine motor skills, such as grip strength. Assessment tools that specifically assessed fine motor skills more consistently identified impairments than those which assessed fine motor skills as part of a generalized neurodevelopmental assessment. Fine motor impairments were associated with “moderate” to “high” PAE levels. Few studies reported fine motor skills of children with “low” PAE levels, so the effect of lower PAE levels on fine motor skills remains uncertain. Conclusions: Comprehensive assessment of a range of fine motor skills in children with PAE is important to ensure an accurate FASD diagnosis and develop appropriate therapeutic interventions for children with PAE-related fine motor impairments