Motor Control in Special Populations
Understanding macrographia in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Alejandra Gamez
University of Texas at El Paso
KIN 5373
October 15, 2015
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication, social interactions, and restrained, monotonous patterns of interests, activities, or behaviors. In addition, evidence has shown that ASD is also linked to motor irregularities such as motor planning, coordination, complex motor sequencing, and sensory integration and regulation (Fournier, Hass, Naik, Lodha, & Cauraugh, 2010; Levit-Binnun, Davidovitch, & Golland, 2013).
Few investigations have been done in the area …show more content…
Furthermore, high demands of clinical referrals including fine motor and handwriting deficits has urged for further investigation to determine the origin of these irregularities. A study done by Church, Alisankski, and Amanullah (2000) reported that 58% of children with Asperger’s disorder (AD) between the ages of 6 and 11 assisted to occupational therapy to attend fine motor issues. Also, another study done by Cartmill, Rodger, and Ziviani (2009) found that 86% of the occupational therapist’s cases involving children with ASD were associated with fine motor skills and handwriting support. Thus, leading Johnson et. al. (2013) to further investigate, concentrating on motor control by setting as the main objective to understand the handwriting mechanism process in children with ASD. Plamondon and Guerfali (1998) have described handwriting to be composed of a basic unit called stroke, which is an up and down movement that when is done continuously it forms a loop. If the basic units of handwriting are inadequately done or controlled, the accuracy of formation of letters and whole words is affected (Phillips, …show more content…
Therefore, to help accomplish the main objective of the study the first aim of Johnson et. al. (2013) was to assess simple handwriting movements using a cursive letter I task, which complies with the simple motor plan of handwriting (an up and down movement). The second aim of the study was to determine if irregular letter formation could also be related to greater noise within the neuromotor system since other studies have estimated this noise using a power spectral density analysis, where the velocity of a complete stroke was broken down into its frequencies by a Fast Fourier Analysis (Smits-Engelsman & Van Galen, 1997; van Galen et al., 1993). Finally, the third aim of Johnson et. al. (2013) was to evaluate if age, IQ
Understanding macrographia in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Alejandra Gamez
University of Texas at El Paso
KIN 5373
October 15, 2015
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in communication, social interactions, and restrained, monotonous patterns of interests, activities, or behaviors. In addition, evidence has shown that ASD is also linked to motor irregularities such as motor planning, coordination, complex motor sequencing, and sensory integration and regulation (Fournier, Hass, Naik, Lodha, & Cauraugh, 2010; Levit-Binnun, Davidovitch, & Golland, 2013).
Few investigations have been done in the area …show more content…
Furthermore, high demands of clinical referrals including fine motor and handwriting deficits has urged for further investigation to determine the origin of these irregularities. A study done by Church, Alisankski, and Amanullah (2000) reported that 58% of children with Asperger’s disorder (AD) between the ages of 6 and 11 assisted to occupational therapy to attend fine motor issues. Also, another study done by Cartmill, Rodger, and Ziviani (2009) found that 86% of the occupational therapist’s cases involving children with ASD were associated with fine motor skills and handwriting support. Thus, leading Johnson et. al. (2013) to further investigate, concentrating on motor control by setting as the main objective to understand the handwriting mechanism process in children with ASD. Plamondon and Guerfali (1998) have described handwriting to be composed of a basic unit called stroke, which is an up and down movement that when is done continuously it forms a loop. If the basic units of handwriting are inadequately done or controlled, the accuracy of formation of letters and whole words is affected (Phillips, …show more content…
Therefore, to help accomplish the main objective of the study the first aim of Johnson et. al. (2013) was to assess simple handwriting movements using a cursive letter I task, which complies with the simple motor plan of handwriting (an up and down movement). The second aim of the study was to determine if irregular letter formation could also be related to greater noise within the neuromotor system since other studies have estimated this noise using a power spectral density analysis, where the velocity of a complete stroke was broken down into its frequencies by a Fast Fourier Analysis (Smits-Engelsman & Van Galen, 1997; van Galen et al., 1993). Finally, the third aim of Johnson et. al. (2013) was to evaluate if age, IQ