Kinematic Assessment of Fine Motor Skills in Children: Comparison of a Kinematic Approach and a Standardized Test

Abstract

Deficits in fine motor skills have been reported in some children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as amblyopia or strabismus. Therefore, monitoring the development of motor skills and any potential improvement due to therapy is an important clinical goal. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of performing a kinematic assessment within an optometric setting using inexpensive, portable, off-the-shelf equipment. The study also assessed whether kinematic data could enhance the information provided by a routine motor function screening test (the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, MABC). Using the MABC-2, upper limb dexterity was measured in a cohort of 47 typically developing children (7–15 years old), and the Leap motion capture system was used to record hand kinematics while children performed a bead-threading task. Two children with a history of amblyopia were also tested to explore the utility of a kinematic assessment in a clinical population. For the typically developing children, visual acuity and stereoacuity were within the normal range; however, the average standardized MABC-2 scores were lower than published norms. Comparing MABC-2 and kinematic measures in the two children with amblyopia revealed that both assessments provide convergent results and revealed deficits in fine motor control. In conclusion, kinematic assessment can augment standardized tests of fine motor skills in an optometric setting and may be useful for measuring visuomotor function and monitoring treatment outcomes in children with binocular vision anomalies.

Sensor-Based Quantitative Assessment of Children’s Fine Motor Competence: An Instrumented Version of the Placing Bricks Test

“…When analyzing differences between 6YC and 7YC groups, corresponding to two different school grades, results indicate that 7YC generally exhibited shorter task completion times (PBtime), Cycle and Placing durations, and lower variability of Cycle compared to 6YC, highlighting the expected improvements in fine motor skills with age and with school education. While direct comparison is not possible due to there being different tasks and age groups under consideration, Placing duration tended to decrease with age maturation as for the quantitative assessment of fine MABC-2 [11]. Differences were higher for the dominant hand, probably as a consequence of the intensive training that happens during the first year of primary school with the learning of writing skills.…”

“…When aiming to analyze the process of how a movement is performed, motion capture systems are preferrable. Recently, Niechwiej-Szwedo et al, [11] confirmed the feasibility and the promising pathway of performing a quantitative kinematic assessment within an optometric setting using inexpensive, portable, off-the-shelf equipment (Leap motion capture system) for enhancing the information provided by a routine motor function screening test (bead-threading task, fine MABC-2, [6]). They proposed a quantitative method for estimating the duration of sub-phases of each bead-threading trial (reach to bead, grasp and pick up bead, reach to needle, and place the bead on a needle), based on the analysis of hand velocity trajectory.…”