Higher risk for poor handwriting in Taiwanese children born late preterm

BACKGROUND

Late-preterm and early-term births constitute a significant proportion of live births. However, handwriting skills of these two populations remain unclear. We aimed to investigate their risk for poor Chinese handwriting in grade two.

METHODS

In this observational study, 185 second graders born late preterm (34⁺⁰-36⁺⁶ weeks' gestation, n = 54), early term (37⁺⁰-38⁺⁶ weeks' gestation, n = 56), and full term (39⁺⁰-41⁺⁶ weeks' gestation, n = 75) without any intervention or diagnosis related to developmental delays were included. Their handwriting performance was rated by class teachers using the Chinese Handwriting Evaluation Form (CHEF), which is a standardized handwriting scale including five handwriting dimensions (construction, accuracy, directionality, speed, and pencil grasp).

RESULTS

After controlling for demographic risk factors, the late-preterm born group had a greater risk of having worse performance in the full form (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.93; p = .038) and construction dimension (aOR = 4.77; p = .009) of the CHEF than peers born at full term, whereas the risks were comparable for the early- and full-term born groups (aOR = 0.14-1.90; p = .073-0.453 in the handwriting dimensions).

CONCLUSIONS

Late-preterm but not early-term born children were found to be at higher risk for poor Chinese handwriting in grade two. They particularly have difficulty with spatial construction including size, spacing, and alignment of Chinese characters and components that may influence handwriting legibility.

Impact of tactile function on upper limb motor function in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

This study investigated the presence of, and relationship between tactile dysfunction and upper limb motor function in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) compared to typical developing (TD) children. Participants were 36 children aged 6-12 years. Presence of DCD (n=20) or TD (n=16) was confirmed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, second edition. All children participated in a comprehensive assessment of tactile registration (Semmes Weinstein Monofilaments); tactile spatial perception (Single Point Localisation (SPL) and two-point discrimination (2PD)); haptic perception (Stereognosis); speed of simple everyday manual tasks (Jebsen-Taylor Test of Hand Function (JTTHF)); and handwriting speed and accuracy (Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting (ETCH)). Compared to TD children, children with DCD demonstrated poorer localisation of touch in the non-dominant hand (p=0.04), slower speed of alphabet writing (p<0.05) and less legible handwriting (p<0.01), but no difference in speed of simple everyday manual tasks (JTTHF: p>0.05). Regression analysis showed that spatial tactile perception (SPL) predicted handwriting legibility (ETCH: r=0.11) and speed of functional tasks (JTTHF: r=0.33). These results suggest that tactile function, specifically single point localisation, should be a primary tactile assessment employed to determine reasons for upper limb motor difficulties experienced by children with DCD.