Abstract
The present study investigated the use of a tablet computer to assess figure-tracing skills and their relationships with psychological (visual–perceptual processes, cognitive processes, handwriting skills) and physiological (body mass index, isometric strength of arms) parameters with school-children of second (7–8-year-olds) and fourth (9–10-year-olds) grades. We were also interested in gender differences. The task required tracing of geometric figures on a template, shown on a tablet screen in light gray, for the segments that make up the target figure, one at a time. This figure-tracing tablet test allows acquisition and automated analysis of four parameters: number of strokes (pen lift) for each segment; oscillations of lines drawn with respect to reference lines; pressure of pen on tablet; and average speed of tracing. The results show a trade-off between speed and quality for the tablet parameters, with higher speed associated with more oscillations with respect to the reference lines, and lower number of strokes for each segment, in both male and female children. The involvement of visual–motor integration on the ability to reduce the oscillations in this tablet test was only seen for the male children, while both the male and female children showed a relationship between oscillations and more general/abstract visual–spatial processes. These data confirm the role of visual–motor processes in this figure-tracing tablet test only for male children, while more general visual–spatial processes influence the performance in the tablet test for both sexes. We conclude that the test proposed is useful to screen for grapho-motor difficulties.
Highlights
In the western literate community, handwriting is a one of the most important skills that children acquire during their primary-school years
Acquisition of figure-tracing skills is critical for the development of handwriting and drawing skills during school age
The tablet test uses a digital computerized tool, and it entails the tracing of lines of simple geometrical figures, according to the trajectories illustrated on the tablet
Summary
In the western literate community, handwriting is a one of the most important skills that children acquire during their primary-school years. Despite the increasing popularity of digital tools that are based on typing keys and touch screens, handwriting still has great importance in the school context. Writing involves integration of perceptual and cognitive abilities that develop during the preschool period, and that consolidate from 7 to 9 years of age, during primary school. The sensory-motor integration involved in copying letters is the most important process (Daly et al, 2003). Children develop the ability to automate handwriting through construction of mental images of letters and learning of the movements involved in writing (Chartrel and Vinter, 2008; Scordella et al, 2015)
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