Dexterity and Finger Sense: A Possible Dissociation in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Both hand and finger sensory perception and motor abilities are essential for the development of skilled gestures and efficient bimanual coordination. While finger dexterity and finger sensory perception can be impaired in children with cerebral palsy (CP), the relationship between these two functions in this population is not clearly established. The common assumption that CP children with better sensory function also demonstrate better motor outcomes has been recently challenged. To study these questions further, we assessed both finger dexterity and finger gnosia, the ability to perceive one's own fingers by touch, in groups of 11 children with unilateral (i.e., hemiplegic CP) and 11 children with bilateral spastic CP (i.e., diplegic CP) and compared them with typical children. In our sample, children with hemiplegia exhibited finger dexterity deficit in both hands and finger gnosia deficit only in their paretic hand. In contrast, children with diplegia exhibited finger gnosia deficits in both hands and finger dexterity deficit only in their dominant hand. Thus, our results indicated that children with spastic hemiplegia and diplegia present different sensory and motor profiles and suggest that these two subgroups of CP should be considered separately in future experimental and clinical research. We discuss the implications of our results for rehabilitation

Danse-doigts, jeu de motricité fine

International audienceCe document décrit la conception, la réalisation et l'expérimentation de « Danse-doigts », une application ludo-thérapeutique à destination d'enfants hémiparétiques. L'objectif de ce logiciel est double : permettre d'entraîner leur motricité fine sur tablette puis d'étudier l'effet de cet entraînement sur leurs compétences numériques (dénombrement, calcul.. .). La population visée, comme l'objectif d'évaluation des compé-tences de calcul, ont influencé la conception. Le développement logiciel se base sur des technologies Web standard mais repose sur une bibliothèque de programmation parallèle en javascript. Applications et bibliothèques sont disponibles gratuitement et s'installent très facilement sur la plupart des tablettes tactiles

Le rôle de la dextérité fine et de la gnosie digitale dans le développement des compétences numériques

Les doigts sont d'une importance cruciale pour le développement des compétences numériques. Leur influence serait présente dès le traitement non-symbolique des quantités analogiques du fait de l'intrication neuro-anatomique des aires responsables des habiletés digitales et du « sens du nombre ». Les doigts sont ensuite concrètement impliqués dans les premiers apprentissages sensori-moteurs où l'enfant relie peu à peu les numérosités manipulées à leurs désignations. Enfin, des relations entre la dextérité et la gnosie digitale avec les compétences numériques symboliques témoignent du lien pérenne entre doigts et nombres au-delà de leur utilisation concrète. Cependant, quelle est la nature exacte du rôle de ces habiletés digitales ? Est-il contraint uniquement par le recouvrement neuronal ou est-il davantage influencé par les manipulations fonctionnelles ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nous avons étudié les performances d'enfants et adolescents avec troubles moteurs de naissance, en comparaison avec celles d'un groupe contrôle.Fingers play a crucial role in the development of numerical skills. They are already in link with non-symbolic treatment of analogic quantities because of a neuro-anatomic overlap of the areas devoted to finger perception and those responsible for the “number sense”. Then, fingers are concretely involved in early stages of learning mathematic where children progressively connect manipulated numerosities to their names. Finally, fine dexterity and finger gnosia seem to be also linked to symbolic skills, even when fingers are no longer practically used. However, we do not know exactly if fingers are involved in the numerical cognition only because of the neuro-anatomic constraint or through more functional manipulations. In order to clarify this issue, we studied performance of children with congenital motor impairments in comparison with a control group. We observed which skills were preserved or impaired, when fingers could not have played their usual role. Thus, we drew theoretical and pedagogical conclusions. Key words: fine motor skills; finger sense; mathematical cognition; cerebral palsy

Danse-doigts, a Fine Motor Game

International audienceThis paper describes the design, implementation and testing of "Danse-doigts", an edutainment therapeutic application for hemiplegic children. The objective of this program is twofold. Firstly, to allow them to train their fine motor skills on tablet. Secondly, to study the effect of this training on their numerical performance (counting, calculation...). The target population and the objective of evaluating numerical skills influenced the design. The software was developed using standard web technologies but is based on a new parallel programming library written in JavaScript. Applications and libraries are free of charge and easy to install on most tablets