The examination of factors affecting handwriting kinematics and pen grip position in children with low-vision and comparison of typically developed peers

The aim of this study was to investigate fine motor skills, somatosensory perception and visual-motor organization that associated with handwriting, handwriting kinematics and pen grip position of children with low vision and compare with their typically developed peers. 18 children with low vision and 18 typically developed children between the ages 7 and12 were included in this study. "Visual-Motor Organization" test of Dynamic Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment for Children for cognitive factors, "Somatosensory Perception" test of Ayres Southern California Sensory Integration Tests for sensorial factors, "Fine Motor Precision" and "Fine Motor Integration" tests of Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd Edition Short Form, 9 Hole Peg Test and Jamar Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer and Pinchmeter for motor proficiency were used. Handwriting kinematics were recorded with a digitizing tablet and analyzed with MovAlyzeR software. Pen grip positions developed by Schneck were used to pen grip position of children. As a result of the study, significant differences were found in favor of typically developed children for certain parameters of cognitive, sensory factors and motor proficiency (p<0.05). Significant differences were found in favor of typically developed children for the start time to writing, segmental duration, horizontal and vertical size and average normalized jerk (p<0.05). There were no significant differences for pen grip positions between the groups (x²=0.725, p>0.05). The information obtained from this study showed that cognitive, sensory and motor skills and handwriting kinematics of children with low vision are different from their typically developing peers due to inadequate visual stimuli. We think that the findings obtained from our study will guide the physiotherapists who will work with children with low vision.