A Tablet App for Handwriting Skill Screening at the Preliteracy Stage: Instrument Validation Study.
homothety
isochrony
prevention
serious game
speed-accuracy tradeoff
steering law
tablet
writing
Journal
JMIR serious games
ISSN: 2291-9279
Titre abrégé: JMIR Serious Games
Pays: Canada
ID NLM: 101645255
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
22 Oct 2020
22 Oct 2020
Historique:
received:
11
05
2020
accepted:
03
08
2020
revised:
01
08
2020
entrez:
22
10
2020
pubmed:
23
10
2020
medline:
23
10
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Difficulties in handwriting, such as dysgraphia, impact several aspects of a child's everyday life. Current methodologies for the detection of such difficulties in children have the following three main weaknesses: (1) they are prone to subjective evaluation; (2) they can be administered only when handwriting is mastered, thus delaying the diagnosis and the possible adoption of countermeasures; and (3) they are not always easily accessible to the entire community. This work aims at developing a solution able to: (1) quantitatively measure handwriting features whose alteration is typically seen in children with dysgraphia; (2) enable their study in a preliteracy population; and (3) leverage a standard consumer technology to increase the accessibility of both early screening and longitudinal monitoring of handwriting difficulties. We designed and developed a novel tablet-based app Play Draw Write to assess potential markers of dysgraphia through the quantification of the following three key handwriting laws: isochrony, homothety, and speed-accuracy tradeoff. To extend such an approach to a preliteracy age, the app includes the study of the laws in terms of both word writing and symbol drawing. The app was tested among healthy children with mastered handwriting (third graders) and those at a preliterate age (kindergartners). App testing in 15 primary school children confirmed that the three laws hold on the tablet surface when both writing words and drawing symbols. We found significant speed modulation according to size (P<.001), no relevant changes to fraction time for 67 out of 70 comparisons, and significant regression between movement time and index of difficulty for 44 out of 45 comparisons (P<.05, R The designed app represents a promising solution for the screening of handwriting difficulties, since it allows (1) anticipation of the detection of alteration of handwriting principles at a preliteracy age and (2) provision of broader access to the monitoring of handwriting principles. Such a solution potentially enables the selective strengthening of lacking abilities before they exacerbate and affect the child's whole life.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Difficulties in handwriting, such as dysgraphia, impact several aspects of a child's everyday life. Current methodologies for the detection of such difficulties in children have the following three main weaknesses: (1) they are prone to subjective evaluation; (2) they can be administered only when handwriting is mastered, thus delaying the diagnosis and the possible adoption of countermeasures; and (3) they are not always easily accessible to the entire community.
OBJECTIVE
OBJECTIVE
This work aims at developing a solution able to: (1) quantitatively measure handwriting features whose alteration is typically seen in children with dysgraphia; (2) enable their study in a preliteracy population; and (3) leverage a standard consumer technology to increase the accessibility of both early screening and longitudinal monitoring of handwriting difficulties.
METHODS
METHODS
We designed and developed a novel tablet-based app Play Draw Write to assess potential markers of dysgraphia through the quantification of the following three key handwriting laws: isochrony, homothety, and speed-accuracy tradeoff. To extend such an approach to a preliteracy age, the app includes the study of the laws in terms of both word writing and symbol drawing. The app was tested among healthy children with mastered handwriting (third graders) and those at a preliterate age (kindergartners).
RESULTS
RESULTS
App testing in 15 primary school children confirmed that the three laws hold on the tablet surface when both writing words and drawing symbols. We found significant speed modulation according to size (P<.001), no relevant changes to fraction time for 67 out of 70 comparisons, and significant regression between movement time and index of difficulty for 44 out of 45 comparisons (P<.05, R
CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
The designed app represents a promising solution for the screening of handwriting difficulties, since it allows (1) anticipation of the detection of alteration of handwriting principles at a preliteracy age and (2) provision of broader access to the monitoring of handwriting principles. Such a solution potentially enables the selective strengthening of lacking abilities before they exacerbate and affect the child's whole life.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33090110
pii: v8i4e20126
doi: 10.2196/20126
pmc: PMC7644384
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
e20126Informations de copyright
©Linda Greta Dui, Francesca Lunardini, Cristiano Termine, Matteo Matteucci, Natale Adolfo Stucchi, Nunzio Alberto Borghese, Simona Ferrante. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (http://games.jmir.org), 22.10.2020.
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