Axford Caitlin, Joosten Annette V, Harris Courtenay
School of Occupational Therapy and Social Work, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Aust Occup Ther J. 2018 Apr;65(2):146-155. doi: 10.1111/1440-1630.12450. Epub 2018 Jan 21.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Children are reported to spend less time engaged in outdoor activity and object-related play than in the past. The increased use and mobility of technology, and the ease of use of tablet devices are some of the factors that have contributed to these changes. Concern has been raised that the use of such screen and surface devices in very young children is reducing their fine motor skill development. We examined the effectiveness of iPad applications that required specific motor skills designed to improve fine motor skills.
We conducted a two-group non-randomised controlled trial with two pre-primary classrooms (53 children; 5-6 years) in an Australian co-educational school, using a pre- and post-test design. The effectiveness of 30 minutes daily use of specific iPad applications for 9 weeks was compared with a control class. Children completed the Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and observation checklist, the Shore Handwriting Screen, and self-care items from the Hawaii Early Learning Profile.
On post testing, the experimental group made a statistically and clinically significant improvement on the VMI motor coordination standard scores with a moderate clinical effect size (P < 0.001; d = 0.67). Children's occupational performance in daily tasks also improved.
Preliminary evidence was gained for using the iPad, with these motor skill-specific applications as an intervention in occupational therapy practice and as part of at home or school play.
背景/目的：据报道，与过去相比，儿童参与户外活动和与物体相关游戏的时间减少。技术使用的增加和移动性，以及平板电脑设备的易用性是导致这些变化的一些因素。有人担心，在幼儿中使用此类屏幕和表面设备正在减少他们的精细运动技能发展。我们研究了需要特定运动技能以提高精细运动技能的iPad应用程序的有效性。
我们在澳大利亚一所男女同校的学校中，对两个学前班教室（53名儿童；5 - 6岁）进行了两组非随机对照试验，采用前后测试设计。将每天使用特定iPad应用程序30分钟，持续9周的效果与一个对照班级进行比较。儿童完成了贝利视觉运动整合发育测试（VMI）、观察检查表、肖尔笔迹筛查以及夏威夷早期学习档案中的自我护理项目。
在后期测试中，实验组在VMI运动协调标准分数上有统计学和临床意义的显著改善，临床效应大小适中（P < 0.001；d = 0.67）。儿童在日常任务中的职业表现也有所改善。
获得了初步证据，表明在职业治疗实践中，以及作为家庭或学校游戏的一部分，使用iPad及这些特定运动技能应用程序作为一种干预措施是有效的。
