Fine motor and executive function assessment for children with attention-deficit-hyperactive-disorder

The aim of this PhD was to develop a new assessment that could provide information about fine motor and executive function skills needed to perform school tasks by primary school children with AD/HD. The Fine Motor and Executive Function assessment (FiM&EF) was developed to answer the related questions

Inter-Intra Rater Reliability, Construct and Discriminative Validity of Iranian Typically Developing Children Handwriting Speed Test (I-CHST)

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop an Iranian Hand writing Speed Test (I-CHST) for testing of Iranian students aged 8-12. To date, no  norms of handwriting speed have been published for hand-writing speed of the Iranian students. Methods: A sample of 400 typically developing Iranian students across four age cohorts was recruited. Among those 400 students 50% were girls and 50%  were boys. 73% were studding at government schools and 27% were from the private schools. 79% were right handed and 11% were left handed. The results showed that the handwriting speed assessment test has excellent inter-rater reliability (r=1, P=0.000) and construct validity (r=0.798, P=0.000). Results: The findings showed that handwriting speed increases with age and the rate of increase was found to be greatest among Iranian children aged 8-12. It is also found that the girls aged 11-12 wrote faster than boys of the same age. Discussion: Based on this research, I-CHST was a valid and reliable test for testing the hand writing speed in Iranian children and it could be used for testing or intervention purposes by the therapists at clinics

Explicit and implicit motor sequence learning: motor learning analysis in children with Down syndrome. [Aprendizaje explícito e implícito de la secuencia motora: análisis del aprendizaje motor en niños con síndrome de Down].

AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to explore explicit and implicit motor sequence learning in 24 children with Down's syndrome (DS) and 24 matched typically developing (TD) children using a serial reaction time (SRT) task with both random and regular trials. The intervention was consisted of 10 stages (8 blocks for acquisition and 2 blocks for retention) in which the performances of groups were compared. In acquisition phase, our results showed a progress in the performance of SRT task in all groups while performing the SRT task. In addition, in retention phase, the results showed that children with DS succeed as well as TD children at the implicit motor sequence learning task. There were no significant differences between groups. But there was a significant difference between groups for explicit learning and the group of TD explicit children showed a reliable sequence learning pattern compared to DS children. These results are in line with the cognitive and motor features of the DS children and suggest that implicit motor learning is intact in children with DS but explicit motor learning seems to be impaired in these children. Nevertheless, this article provides preliminary data regarding implicit learning in DS children and further empirical research is needed to provide more meticulous and logical explanations. From a practical view, we suggest that during the education and rehabilitation interventions to children with DS, we can make use the benefits of implicit learning, because these children can learn skills implicitly.ResumenEl propósito del presente estudio fue explorar el aprendizaje de secuencias motoras explícitas e implícitas en 24 niños con síndrome de Down (DS) y 24 niños con un desarrollo típico (TD) pareados utilizando una tarea de tiempo de reacción en serie (SRT) con ensayos aleatorios y regulares. La intervención consistió en 10 etapas (8 bloques para adquisición y 2 bloques para retención) en las que se compararon los rendimientos de los grupos. En la fase de adquisición, nuestros resultados mostraron un progreso en el desempeño de la tarea SRT en todos los grupos al realizar la tarea SRT. Además, en la fase de retención, los resultados mostraron que los niños con SD tienen éxito, así como los niños con TD en la tarea de aprendizaje de la secuencia motora implícita. No hubo diferencias significativas entre los grupos. Pero hubo una diferencia significativa entre los grupos para el aprendizaje explícito y el grupo de niños explícitos con TD mostró un patrón de aprendizaje de secuencia confiable en comparación con los niños con SD. Estos resultados están en línea con las características cognitivas y motoras de los niños con SD y sugieren que el aprendizaje motor implícito está intacto en los niños con SD, pero el aprendizaje motor explícito parece estar afectado en estos niños. Sin embargo, este artículo proporciona datos preliminares sobre el aprendizaje implícito en niños con SD y se necesita más investigación empírica para proporcionar explicaciones más meticulosas y lógicas. Desde un punto de vista práctico, sugerimos que durante las intervenciones de educación y rehabilitación para niños con SD, podamos aprovechar los beneficios del aprendizaje implícito, porque estos niños pueden aprender habilidades de manera implícita. https://doi.org/10.5232/ricyde2019.05705References/referenciasAtwell, J. A.; Conners, F. A., & Merrill, E. C (2003). Implicit and explicit learning in young adults with mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 108(1), 56–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210903536910Bittles, A. H.; Bower, C.; Hussain, R., & Glasson, EJ (2007). The four ages of Down syndrome. European Journal of Public Health, 17(2), 221-5. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckl103Brown, J.; Aczel. B., Jiménez, L.; Kaufman, S. B., & Grant, K. P. (2010). 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Implicit and explicit motor learning: Application to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Aims and objectives: This study aims to determine whether children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are capable of learning a motor skill both implicitly and explicitly. Methods: In the present study, 30 boys with ASD, aged 7-11 with IQ average of 81.2, were compared with 32 typical IQ- and age-matched boys on their performance on a serial reaction time task (SRTT). Children were grouped by ASD and typical children and by implicit and explicit learning groups for the SRTT. Results: Implicit motor learning occurred in both children with ASD (p = .02) and typical children (p = .01). There were no significant differences between groups (p = .39). However, explicit motor learning was only observed in typical children (p = .01) not children with ASD (p = .40). There was a significant difference between groups for explicit learning (p = .01). Discussion: The results of our study showed that implicit motor learning is not affected in children with ASD. Implications for implicit and explicit learning are applied to the CO-OP approach of motor learning with children with ASD