This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ben-Pazi, H. Articles by Sanger, T. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ben-Pazi, H. Articles by Sanger, T. D. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Poor Penmanship in Children Correlates With Abnormal Rhythmic Tapping: A Broad Functional Temporal Impairment

Department of Child Neurology, Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, California, Neuropediatric Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel, benpazi{at}gmail.com

Sahana Kukke, MS

Department of Child Neurology, Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, California

Terence D. Sanger, MD, PhD

Department of Child Neurology, Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, California

Timing is crucial for proficient motor tasks; temporal impairments may lead to dysfunctional motor activities. Although much research has been dedicated to the study of movement timing, clinical examination often overlooks temporal impairment of motor activity. The authors hypothesize that some children have a global temporal impairment leading to dysfunctional motor skills. This article checks whether temporal abnormalities detected on a simple tapping task correlate with temporal dysfunction during complex motor skills such as handwriting. Twenty-three school-aged children, 8-14 years (11.1 ± 1.3 years), underwent tests to assess finger tapping and cursive handwriting. Handwriting samples were rated by experienced teachers. Children with abnormal tapping had lower handwriting rating scores. Temporal features were similar in both tasks; variability on the tapping test correlated with handwriting variability. Temporal variability was not significantly higher for children with poor penmanship as a whole but rather specific to the subgroup of children with a tapping abnormality. Poor penmanship could be attributed in certain children to global temporal impairment reflected as variable finger tapping and handwriting. Evaluation of dysfunctional motor performance should include temporal aspects, and further studies are needed to better delineate and address treatment of "dysrhythmia."

Key Words: dysgraphia • handwriting

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?