Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract/Objectives
"It has been evident that proprioception plays a crucial role in motor control and motor coordination. At present, the empirical evidence on the correlation between proprioception and motor function in children with and without motor dysfunction has not been understood. The aim of this study is to, firstly, build a proprioceptive normative spectrum in typically developing (TD) children that can be compared in special needs population (building a proprioceptive spectrum); Second, to investigate the proprioceptive-motor mechanism in children with motor dysfunctions [i.e., developmental coordination disorder (DCD)](understanding the mechanism); Third, to examine the effect of special training (e.g., piano, rhythmic gymnastics) in proprioception and motor function in children with and without DCD (examining the effectiveness of special exercise training)."
Results/Contributions

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting the motor system, but it may also present with signs of somatosensory dysfunction. This study examined whether haptic perception, which relies on somatosensory afferents, is impaired in children with DCD. Haptic sensitivity and acuity were systematically quantified in children with DCD and contrasted to the performance of typically developing (TD) children and young adults (each group N = 20). All participants performed a curvature detection task measuring haptic sensitivity and a curvature discrimination task measuring haptic acuity. In both tasks, participants moved the index finger of their dominant hand over a surface contour and verbally indicated whether they could detect its curvature or discriminate between two curved contours. Based on their verbal responses haptic detection and discrimination thresholds were obtained. The main findings are as follows: First, the DCD group had significantly elevated haptic discrimination thresholds (lower haptic acuity) compared to both TD children and adult controls. Second, we found no evidence that haptic sensitivity is impaired in DCD. Third, haptic acuity significantly correlated with clinical motor measures, indicating that higher levels of haptic acuity were associated with higher motor abilities. We conclude that DCD may be associated with impaired haptic perception, which likely contributes to the observable fine motor deficits.

Keywords
movementdevelopmental coordination disordermotor trainingmotor skillsproprioceptionhaptic perception
References
1.

Research publications of Dr. Yu-Ting Tseng

Contact Information
曾鈺婷
yutingtseng@mx.nthu.edu.tw