Head and Upper Limb Motor Control in Elementary School Children with Handwriting Difficulties

ABSTRACT

Children with suspected developmental disabilities often have handwriting difficulties and show problems with motor control of the head and upper limbs, but it has not been examined in detail. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of motor control in children with suspected developmental disabilities and writing difficulties. Nineteen right-handed males who were receiving support in the resource room for handwriting difficulties (SDD group) were compared with 17 right-handed age-matched male controls. Both groups completed two handwriting tasks. The main measures were jerk and changes in joint angle, which were measured by a 3D motion analysis system. The SDD group had significantly higher mean values of jerk in the head, forearms, and hands and significantly greater changes in the joint angle of neck flexion in both handwriting tasks compared to the control group. Children with suspected developmental disabilities and handwriting difficulties had less smooth forearm movements and greater fixed head movements.

KEYWORDS:

• Handwriting
• child
• coordination
• smoothness
• three-dimensional motion analysis

Acknowledgments

We thank the children and parents who participated in this study. This study was supported by the Board of Education and several elementary schools.

Disclosure Statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this article.

Data Availability Statement

The data set acquired and analyzed in this study is not open to the public for the protection of personal information. However, the dataset can be made available on reasonable request by the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article.