Effets d’un entrainement perceptivo-moteur et aux orthographes approchées sur les compétences scripturales à 5 ans

Cette recherche longitudinale, au cours de laquelle une cohorte de 170 élèves a été suivie pendant deux ans, a visé à évaluer les effets à moyen et long termes d’un entrainement à l’écriture sur l’ensemble des processus cognitifs en jeu dans l’acquisition de l’écrit chez des élèves de grande section de maternelle (conscience phonologique, lecture et écriture - dictée et copie - de lettres, pseudo-mots et mots), comparés à des élèves d’un groupe contrôle. L’entrainement, d’une durée de 12 semaines, a couplé un entrainement perceptivo-moteur et un entrainement aux orthographes approchées. En fin de grande section, les résultats révèlent, chez les élèves entraînés comparés aux élèves du groupe contrôle, une amélioration significativement plus importante des compétences représentationnelles en lecture et écriture, et des capacités perceptives mises en évidence par une diminution significative du nombre de regards portés au modèle à copier.Abstract : A longitudinal design was used to examine the middle- and long-term effects of a writing training in a cohort of 170 five-year-old pupils with typical development. The cognitive processes in a whole were assessed (phonological awareness, reading, spelling and copying of letters, pseudowords and words) to compare an experimental group to a control one. The 12-week training mixed perceptual-motor training and invented spelling training. At the end of kindergarten, results showed a significant improvement of alphabetic knowledges (in reading and spelling tasks) and of perceptual-motor abilities (decrease of number of gaze lifts in copy tasks) in experimental group children compared to control group children

Synthèse et commande de dispositifs haptiques pour la communication à distance : application à une interface robotique anthropomorphe pour la poignée de main

Les systèmes de communication à distance entre les individus ont évolué significativement au cours des dernières années, de concert avec les innovations technologiques caractérisant notre société. Afin de réaliser une communication réaliste et intuitive, le système doit être capable de stimuler les sens qui sont habituellement impliqués dans l’interaction entre deux personnes, tels que l’ouïe, la vision et le toucher. Le téléphone a représenté une innovation importante dans les communications en permettant enfin de pouvoir parler avec son interlocuteur directement, sans devoir employer un signal codé comme le code Morse. Cette communication a été améliorée en introduisant les appels vidéo, lesquels permettent non seulement d’entendre l’interlocuteur mais aussi de le voir. Plusieurs recherches ont cependant démontré que le sens du toucher joue également un rôle très important dans les interactions entre individus. Une technologie relativement récente, connue comme technologie haptique, aborde le problème de la transmission du sens du toucher à distance, dans le but de mettre en oeuvre une communication complète et encore plus réaliste. Cette technologie a également d’autres applications tout aussi importantes. À titre d’exemple, l’haptique est utilisée dans le domaine de la réadaptation et de l’apprentissage guidé de personnes ayant des déficiences motrices. Cette thèse porte sur le développement de la technologie haptique pour la communication à distance entre deux individus. L’objectif final est la réalisation d’un système permettant aux deux utilisateurs de se serrer la main à distance. Afin d’atteindre cet objectif, nous devons aborder deux problèmes différents, tels que la conception d’une interface capable de reproduire le mouvement désiré et l’implémentation d’une loi de commande garantissant le comportement correct de cette interface. Toujours dans le cadre de l’interaction à distance par le biais d’un dispositif haptique, une interface pour l’apprentissage de l’écriture manuelle est également présentée. Cette application permet de démontrer, entre autres, l’importance d’un signal haptique dans l’interaction humain-humain et son influence sur les utilisateurs.Remote communication systems have significantly improved in the course of the recent years, in concert with technological innovations of our society. In order to realize a realistic and intuitive communication, the system must activate the part of the sensory system that is normally stimulated in an interaction between two people, i.e., the auditory system, the visual system and the haptic perception system, which concerns touch. The telephone represented an innovating communication system. It allowed to directly talk to the interlocutor without any need for a coded signal such as the Morse code. Remote communications have been further improved with the introduction of the video calls, which allow people not only to talk to but also to see each other. Several researches proved that the sense of touch plays a crucial role in social interactions. Haptic technology, which is relatively recent, approaches the problems related to the perception and the transmission of touch. One objective is to render remote communications even more complete and realistic. Haptic technology is also used in other important applications such as, for instance, rehabilitation and guided learning process of people with movement impairments. This thesis concerns the development of the haptic technology devoted to the implementation of remote communication systems. The final objective is to realize a teleoperation system which allows two users to remotely shake hands. In order to achieve this objective, two main issues must be faced : the design of a haptic interface capable of reproducing the required movement and the implementation of a control law which guarantees the proper response of such an interface. In the framework of a remote interaction via a haptic device, an interface for the training and assessment of handwriting capabilities is also presented. The latter application demonstrates the importance of haptic signals in a remote human-human interaction and its influence on the users

Exploring the construct-related validity of the eye and hand coordination subscale of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales-Extended revised (GMDS-ER)

To constantly add to our understanding of child development, a valid, comprehensive, well-researched measure is needed. The recent revision and standardisation of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales - Extended Revised (GMDS-ER) has necessitated investigations into its psychometric properties. This measure is used to identify developmental delays in children and critical decisions may be made, hence it is imperative that this measure be deemed both reliable and valid. This study aimed to contribute to the broader restandardisation project and focussed on gathering qualitative and quantitative construct-related validity evidence for one of the six Subscales of the GMDS-ER, namely the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale (Subscale D). An exploratory descriptive method using a triangulation approach was used to explore the construct-related validity evidence of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. A non-random purposively selected sample of 6 experts, who had worked at least 10 years with children assessing and evaluating the domain of eye-hand coordination, participated in a facet analysis to identify the underlying dimensions tapped by the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. The sample for the quantitative aspects of this study, the empirical validation of the construct model, was collected as part of the broader restandardisation and represented a stratified sample of 1026 children between the ages 24 months and 96 months from across the United Kingdom and Eire. Three measures, namely a biographical questionnaire, the GMDS-ER and a construct evaluation form were used to gather the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was analysed by means of a facet analysis and literature control which included examining other tests or subtests that tapped eye-hand coordination skills. The quantitative data was analysed by means of exploratory common factor analysis using oblique (DQUART) rotation in order to verify the qualitatively identified construct model by specifying a one-factor solution for each underlying construct. While literature suggests that eye-hand coordination is multidimensional in nature the facet analysis revealed that the tasks tapped by Subscale D were not tapping complex skills aside from eye-hand coordination. The facet analysis thus revealed that all the items tap the eye-hand coordination of fine motor tasks and that these items could be grouped into two categories, using writing utensils and object manipulation. The results from the factor analysis confirmed that the items on Subscale D have one underlying construct and further exploration confirmed that these items could in fact be grouped into two categories. The coefficients of congruence for SES and gender were satisfactory and thus the construct model was validated across these groups as well. The study has provided extensive qualitative and quantitative evidence for the construct-related validity of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale of the GMDS-ER, thus validating its use as a sound measure of eye-hand coordination development in children aged 2 to 8 years. The content coverage however, seemed to indicate that the tasks required do not adequately cover all the facets of eye-hand coordination and some of these item types are tapped by the other Subscales in the measure. Hence, should the Subscale be used as an independent assessment of eye-hand coordination, the eye-hand coordination development of the child would have a narrow focus. In addition, in reviewing the variety of tasks in the two sections for the older and younger child, the researcher noted that while section III tapped a variety of skills, section IV only focused on skills associated with drawing, copying and writing. A review of the age appropriateness of the items and the item analysis results from the revision seemed to indicate that some of the items assessing the older child may need to be revised. Further, the researcher suggested that the revision should consider adding additional dimensions to the tasks assessed. Overall, it is the researcher‟s opinion that this Subscale was not given adequate attention during the revision process and should future revisions occur, the recommendations from this study should be considered