archives@tulane.edu / 1 / Emily A. Lewis

Thesis (Ph.D.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / The purpose of this study was to assess the improvement of scissor skills after a graded scissor skills program in preschool children in South Africa (SA). A bilateral fine motor skills assessment tool was developed for use in this research. This task-based assessment included every day activities required at school as well as personal management items. This research phase included the development of the test items and test instructions, scoring as well as validity and reliability testing of the assessment. A suitable scissor skills program was then developed for Grade 0 children in South Africa. The program was validated by a pilot study and also by a focus group of occupational therapists. Some changes were made to the picture selection, the grading of the program, as well as to teacher instructions on how to present the program before it was finalised and ready for use in the implementation phase of the research study. The implementation phase of the study included the individual assessment of 149 learners (mean age of 5 years 6 months), from three different schools in South Africa. The main aim was to establish the effectiveness of the scissor skills program by measuring skill improvement, transferability of skills and skill retention. A further aim was to compare the difference of skill levels of learners from various socio-economic backgrounds in South Africa. The results showed statistically significant improvement in scissor skills in all groups from the three different schools, as well as an ability to retain the learnt skills. Participants from lower socio-economic backgrounds demonstrated the least skill initially but made the greatest gains during the program, at times decreasing the gap between themselves and other participants. It was concluded that children benefited from a graded scissor skills program, which allowed them to improve and retain their scissor skills but improvement did not transfer to other fine motor tasks.

Prehension is a fundamental skill usually performed as part of a complex action sequence in everyday tasks. Using an information processing framework, these studies examined the effects of task complexity, defined by the number of component movement elements (MEs), on performance of prehension tasks. Of interest was how motor control and organisation might be influenced by age and/or motor competence. Three studies and two longitudinal case studies examined kinematic characteristics of prehension tasks involving one-, two- and three-MEs: reach and grasp (low-complexity); reach, grasp and object placement (moderate-complexity); and reach, grasp and double placement of object (high-complexity). A pilot study established the suitability of tasks and procedures for children aged 5-, 8- and 11-years and showed that responses to task complexity and object size manipulations were sensitive to developmental changes, with increasing age associated with faster movements. Study 2 explored complexity and age effects further for children aged 6- and 11-years and adults. Increasing age was associated with shorter and less variable movement times (MTs) and proportional deceleration phases (%DTs) across all MEs. Task complexity had no effect on simple reaction time (SRT), suggesting that there may be little preprogramming of movements beyond the first ME. In addition, MT was longer and more on-line corrections were evident for the high- compared to the moderate-complexity task for ME1. Task complexity had a greater influence on movements in ME2 and ME3 than ME1. Adults, but not children, showed task specific adaptations in ME2. Study 3 examined performance of children with different levels of motor competence aged between 5- and 10-years. Increasing age was associated with shorter SRTs, and MTs for ME1 only. A decrease in motor competence was associated with greater difficulty in planning and controlling movements as indicated by longer SRTs, higher %DTs and more on-line corrections, especially in ME2. Task complexity affected movements in all MEs, with a greater influence on ME1 compared to Study 2. Findings also indicated that performance in MEs following prehension may be especially sensitive to motor competence effects on movement characteristics. Case studies for two children at risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) revealed two different patterns of performance change over a 16-17 month period, highlighting the heterogeneous nature of DCD. Overall, findings highlighted age-related differences, and the role of motor competence, in the ability to adapt movements to task specific requirements. Results are useful in guiding movement education programmes for children with both age-appropriate and lower levels of motor competence.

Studies of static and dynamic motor control have a long research history. In most cases, studies have focused on one condition or the other. However, it is important to determine whether differences exist between the two types of task, especially when used in conjunction with task performance. Video game controllers, motorized wheel chairs, steering wheels, and robotic surgical equipment are all examples of how modern equipment uses static and dynamic motor control to achieve task performance goals. To this end, this study aimed to examine possible differences in accuracy or consistency of performance between static and dynamic variations of a precision fine motor tracking task. Nineteen healthy, right-handed volunteer participants were asked to manipulate a cursor to track a moving target with both index fingers, using a static control method in one task and a dynamic control method in another task. The cursor was to follow as closely as possible a target traveling along a diagonal line and back. The control methods were tested during two different testing sessions to reduce confounding of the task conditions. After 50 practice trials in a condition, 5 test trials were recorded. Two dependent variables, RMSE and CVE, were used to represent task performance as indicators of accuracy and consistency, respectively. Analyses of variance with a Latin Square design were used to compare overall performance of each dependent variable between the two conditions. Results showed a significant difference in both variables with p-values less than .001; tracking accuracy was better on the static task and cursor motion consistency was better on the dynamic task. These findings suggest that performance aspects of a fine motor control task does vary with control method and can be used to aid equipment design and task performance in the future. / text

Clinical experience has shown that patients performing the Grooved Pegboard Test have difficulty maintaining the manualized right-to-left placement strategy with their left hand. This study sought to investigate possible differences in placement time on the Grooved Pegboard task between participants using the standardized left hand approach and a reversed manualized left hand placement strategy (i.e., left-to-right). The participants included 63 male and female undergraduate volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25 years. All participants had no history of neurologic disease/trauma, or conditions that would affect motor functioning of the right and left upper extremities. Data were analyzed using a 3-way mixed-design ANOVA. Results revealed a significant main effects for gender (F(1, 59) = 5.215, p = .026) and handedness (F(1, 59) = 6.362, p = .014). Of primary interest was the main effect for placement direction, which was not significant, F(1, 59) = .120, p = .731. No significant interaction was observed (all p > .40). Recommendations for the use of this test in applied neuropsychological settings are offered.

No description available.

This thesis is occupied with the issues of development of the fine motor skills and graphomotorics of an individual suffering from the central mobility disorder. The main aim of the thesis is to discover and describe what development possibilities of these abilities and skills are. The theoretical part deals with basic terms related to diagnosis of Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and its rehabilitation options. There are also described the fine motor skills, graphomotorics, grasping process, classification of grasps and their development. There is a separate chapter that is engaged only with development of the fine motor skills and graphomotorics. The thesis also contains evaluation surveys that are applied in practice and that are important for comparison before and after a therapeutic intervention. The practical part is based on qualitative oriented methodology and it operates with data gained from five case studies. Based on comparison of values gained from the entry and control examinations, particular data have been elaborated. It was discovered from the performed research that it had come up to improvement of the fine motor skills as well as graphomotorics by use of various therapeutic methods. Each method had been chosen in accordance with the client's current condition and their individual...

Abstract The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the teacher's approach to writing instruction and their view of fine motor development and fine motor difficulties for students in grades 1-3. By comparing a selection of teachers’ approaches to writing tuition and fine motor skills, with previous research it expects to gain a deeper understanding of the objective. In the study, qualitative semi-structured interviews and participant observation was used as a method. These interviews and observations were made with seven active Swedish teachers in grades 1-3. This gives an insight into teachers' views on fine motor skills and education, as well as how they see the adjustment of the writing instruction to students with fine motor difficulties. The results show that most of the teachers who participated in the study linked fine motor difficulties to the way students holding a pencil, as well as how they shape the letters. Most of the teachers say that they don´t practice fine motor exercises in the classroom, although the results shows that often it is done unconsciously. The first letter of the learning takes place mostly from a formal perspective. In most cases, when the first letter of the learning process is complete, the writing instruction, to some extent, starts from a functional perspective. / Sammanfattning Syftet med denna studie är att få en fördjupad förståelse för lärares förhållningssätt till skrivundervisning och deras syn på finmotorisk utveckling och finmotoriska svårigheter hos elever i årskurs 1-3. Genom att jämföra ett urval lärares förhållningssätt till skrivundervisning och finmotorik samt att jämföra detta med tidigare forskning förväntas en fördjupad förståelse för syftet att införskaffas. I studien har kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och deltagande observationer använts som metod. Dessa intervjuer samt observationer har skett med sju verksamma svensklärare i årskurs 1-3. Detta ger en inblick i lärarnas syn på finmotorik och skrivundervisning samt hur de ser på anpassning av skrivundervisning till elever med finmotoriska svårigheter. Resultatet visar att de flesta lärare som medverkat i studien kopplar finmotoriska svårigheter till hur eleverna håller i en penna och hur de formar bokstäver. Några uttalade finmotoriska övningar sker inte i klassrummet, ändå sker dessa övningar många gånger, men då omedvetet. Den första bokstavsinlärningen visar sig till största del ske utifrån ett formellt perspektiv. När den första bokstavsinlärningen är färdig så övergår skrivundervisningen, i de flesta fall, även med utgångspunkt ur ett funktionellt perspektiv.

Many handwriting programs are currently used in schools, but little research has been conducted on their effectiveness. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent comparison group pretest posttest design examined effects of the Handwriting Without Tears program with special and general education students enrolled in inclusion classrooms. Two experimental classes received instruction with the HWT method while two comparison classes received instruction using traditional methods. Handwriting performance was measured using the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment. One-way analysis of covariance tested the differences between rates of handwriting improvement for experimental and comparison groups while controlling for pretest scores. Students in the experimental classes showed no statistically significant improvement in overall handwriting skill compared to the classes receiving traditional handwriting instruction. However, the HWT program was found to be effective in improving the areas of size (p = .008) and spacing (p = .014) within a 10-week period, regardless of educational status or gender.

Title: Motor performance of pupils with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Objectives: The aim of the work was to determine the level of fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities of the pupils with diagnosis ADHD at schools specialized on these pupils and compare it with the fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities of children without this diagnosis at common elementary school. Further work objective was to determine the level of gross motor skills of lower limbs and laterality of paired organs (hand - foot) within above mentioned groups of pupils. Methods: To determine the level of fine and gross motor skills of upper extremities, gross motor skills of lower limbs, laterality of the upper and lower extremities of the pupils with and without ADHD aged 9-11 years we used these types of tests: "Spiral", "Dotting test", "Beads" (the level of fine motor skills of the upper extremities); "Pack", "Small plate tapping", "Big plate tapping" (the level of gross motor skills of upper extremities); "Tapping the leg" (the level of gross motor skills of the lower limbs); "Typing out the Rhythm" (the laterality of the lower limbs); "Bell" and "Matches" (the laterality of the upper extremities). Results: The fine motor level of dominant hand was in the case of ADHD diagnosed pupils...