Haptic Perception Training Programs on Fine Motor Control in Adolescents with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Somatosensory and haptic perception deficit was commonly found in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and was closely related to fine motor functions, and the intervention strategies should thus emphasize improving the underlying haptic functions. This study was intended to investigate the effects of haptic perception training programs on fine motor functions in adolescents with DCD. A total of 82 DCD participants were assigned to either the haptic perception training program (HTP; n = 42, 16 females, mean age = 13.32 ± 2.85 years) or standard occupational therapy (SOT; n = 40, 16 females, mean age = 13.41 ± 3.8 years) group. Both groups were given 12-week training, twice a week, 30 min per session. Outcome measures were: Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test (JTFHT), Bruininks–Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Second Edition (BOT-2), Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills- Fourth Edition (TVPS-4), and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale -Chinese Version (VABS-C). After the intervention, the HTP group outscored the SOT group on most fine motor control (JTFHT and BOT-2) tasks and all TVPS-4 and VABS-C items. The HTP group had greater pre–post changes on fine motor integration, fine motor precision, manual dexterity, and writing. TVPS-4 reached significant intervention gains on visual spatial relations, visual memory, and visual sequential memory. The haptic perception training programs demonstrated benefits in enhancing fine motor control in adolescents with DCD. It could be used as an easy and effective alternative to hospital or school-based therapy during the pandemic.

Children with developmental coordination disorders: a review of approaches to assessment and intervention

“…Motor planning was assessed by the “end-state-comfort” effect in the grip task, i.e., whether the selection of the object to be grasped was prioritized so that the movement could end comfortably ( 36 ). Assessment of perceptual function should focus on tactile perception and visual perception, previous studies have found that motor deficits in children with DCD are associated with tactile perceptual dysfunction, and that children with DCD have reduced tactile acuity compared to normal children ( 37 , 38 ), a tactile discrimination task can be used to examine children’s tactile acuity. In terms of visual perception-related functioning, focusing on visuospatial perception as well as assessment of visuomotor skills, research studies have found that 5–47% of children with DCD are impaired on visual or visuospatial perception measures and 5–42% on visuomotor measures, visual perception plays a key role in the development of motor skills, and low functioning can lead to motor deficits ( 39 ).…”

“…Tactile perception also plays a crucial role in the daily activities of children with DCD, and improving tactile perception can enhance overall somatosensory functioning and fine motor control ( 108 ). Wang ( 38 ) implemented a tactile perception training program for children with DCD, where they matched objects based on six perceptual dimensions: texture, shape, hardness, size, weight, and contour. Following the training, significant improvements were observed in fine motor control tasks, fine motor integration, accuracy, manual dexterity, as well as visual perceptual functions such as visuospatial relations, visual memory, and visual sequential memory.…”

Haptic Glove with Haptic Feedback for Elastic Objects at a Low Cost

“…A number of researches of convergence of haptic technology, fine motor, or EMG sensor have come out such as research about the correlation between fine motor development and haptic technology, fine motor rehabilitation using haptic technology, fine motor rehabilitation treatment using EMG sensors, and rehabilitation treatment using LMC. To be more specific, there was a haptic cognitive training study on the developmental coordination disorder (Wuang et al, 2022), a patent for a hand rehabilitation system based on hand motion recognition (Kim, 2015), a multi-finger control study for patients with cerebral palsy (Park and Xu, 2017), and a haptic-gripper study for analysis of fine motor behavior in autistic children (Zhao et al, 2018). From this background, we designed the demo content where a haptic glove and an EMG sensor can be utilized together for fine motor development and rehabilitation.…”