جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « Visual-motor integration » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

Background :

Previous studies have well documented that oldest students in a given school class typically have better academic performance than their younger mates. However, there are many phenomena regarding the effects of relative age on academic performance of school students that must be considered. Because of its importance in academic performance of primary school children, handwriting would be of interest. The purpose of the present study was to explore the effects of relative age on handwriting of second grade students in primary school with considering the role of visual-motor integration as a possible underlying mechanism.

The present study used a descriptive-correlational approach. Based on the guidelines of Krejcie & Morgan, four hundred boys (100 boys from each year-season) in second grade from four regular national primary schools in Gorgan, Iran, in 2019 were selected by a cluster random sampling method and asked to perform a standard handwriting tool and visual motor integration test. Legibility and speed of handwriting were measured to assess handwriting quality.

Means of age of children who were born in fall, winter, spring, and summer were 94.99, 92.12, 89.04, and 85.88 months, respectively. Results demonstrated that older children in comparison to younger children had significantly better handwriting legibility in both copying and dictation, besides, they copied the text faster (p <0.05). Furthermore, older children compared with younger children had significantly higher scores in visual-motor integration (p <0.05).

  Conclusion:

 Based on these results, it seems that relative age affects handwriting performance of children. Furthermore, visual-motor integration might act as a possible underlying mechanism for the effects of relative age on handwriting performance.

Background:

 Poor performance in motor skills is common among children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, difficulties of children with ADHD in handwriting and its underlying mechanism have rarely been studied. We aimed to investigate the handwriting performance of children with ADHD by considering the role of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) as a possible underlying mechanism.

The present study used a comparative-correlational method, which was carried out in 2019 in Gorgan, Iran. Twenty-four children with ADHD and 24 healthy children of primary-school-age performed the Persian Handwriting Assessment Tool (PHAT). Children copied words on a paper sheet in which words were printed on top of the paper, and they had to copy words as accurately as possible. In the dictation part, the experimenter read a text aloud, and children had to write words on a paper sheet as accurately as possible. Legibility (including word formation, size, space, alignment, and text slant), as well as the speed of handwriting, were evaluated in both copying and dictation parts. The Beery test was used to measure VMI. 

Results showed that children with ADHD were weaker in word-formation compared to healthy children. However, they had the same performances as healthy children in terms of word size, space, alignment, and text slant. The speed of handwriting was not significantly different between healthy and ADHD groups. ADHD children showed significantly lower scores in VMI compared to healthy children (p = 0.004). 

Conclusion: 

Children with ADHD had weaker handwriting legibility compared to healthy children, which is mainly due to word-formation. Moreover, VMI might act as a possible underlying mechanism affecting poor handwriting in ADHD children.