Department of Occupational Therapy, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan.
Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 24;17(6):e0270466. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270466. eCollection 2022.
Handwriting difficulty (HD) is a widely discussed issue. Previous researchers have revealed many valuable kinematics related to the handwriting performance. However, a clear understanding of the kinetics of handwriting performance in children with HD is still lacking. Therefore, this study investigated the writing performance of children with HD via a force acquisition pen (FAP), which detects the force applied from the digits and pen tip.
Data from 64 school-age children were divided into control (36 children without HD; mean age: 7.97 years) and HD (28 children with HD; mean age: 8.67 years) groups. The participants were asked to perform a tracing task using the FAP at their usual writing pace.
Compared with the control group, the HD group had significantly less pen-tip force, an average amount of force (in-air) from all three digits, higher force variations (whole task) in the index finger, less force fluctuations with the index and middle fingers and a smaller force ratio.
The findings of this study suggest that an understanding of the handwriting kinetics and the role of digits in handwriting may be crucial for further planning strategies for handwriting training for children with HD.
书写困难（HD）是一个广受讨论的问题。先前的研究人员已经揭示了许多与书写表现相关的有价值的运动学特征。然而，对于患有 HD 的儿童的书写表现动力学，我们仍缺乏清晰的认识。因此，本研究通过力获取笔（FAP）来研究患有 HD 的儿童的书写表现，该笔可检测来自指尖和笔尖端的力。
从 64 名学龄儿童中收集的数据被分为对照组（36 名无 HD 的儿童；平均年龄：7.97 岁）和 HD 组（28 名患有 HD 的儿童；平均年龄：8.67 岁）。要求参与者以他们通常的书写速度使用 FAP 执行追踪任务。
与对照组相比，HD 组的笔尖力显著较小，三个手指的平均空中力较小，食指的力变化较大（整个任务），食指和中指的力波动较小，力比较小。
本研究的结果表明，对手写动力学和手指在手写中的作用的理解，对于为患有 HD 的儿童制定手写训练策略可能至关重要。
