Kinetics and Kinematics of Shape Tracing in Children with Probable Developmental Coordination Disorder (pDCD)

Background: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) exhibit visual–motor deficits affecting handwriting. Shape tracing, a key prerequisite for handwriting, supports motor and cognitive development but remains underexplored in research, particularly in objectively studying its role in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michal Hochhauser, Yfat Ben Refael, Esther Adi-Japha, Rachel Bartov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Children
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/12/1/90
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Summary:Background: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) exhibit visual–motor deficits affecting handwriting. Shape tracing, a key prerequisite for handwriting, supports motor and cognitive development but remains underexplored in research, particularly in objectively studying its role in children with DCD. Objectives: To compare the kinetics (pressure applied to the writing surface) and kinematics (spatial and temporal aspects) of shape tracing in children with pDCD to those of typically developing (TD) peers utilizing a digitized tablet. Methods: A total of 27 children with pDCD aged 7 to 12 years and 27 TD children matched by age and gender traced five unique shapes resembling print letters onto a digitized tablet. Participants’ performance measurements included precision, time, smoothness, velocity, and pressure. Results: The findings revealed lower precision, longer duration, more smoothness but less consistency, lower velocity, and less pressure application in the pDCD group. Conclusions: This research underlies the mechanisms of shape-tracing difficulties in children with DCD. Insights into early shape-tracing processes beyond product outcomes are essential for therapeutic and educational interventions, with digitized tablets offering a novel tool for assessing graphomotor skills in children with DCD.
ISSN:2227-9067