(Research Hub Theater) The Influence of Visual and Auditory Guidance of Tapping Movements in Children

Background and/or Objectives: To compare the upper limb movement coordination among children with and without coordination problems using Tapping Application (TA), and to examine the changes in movement coordination with and without visual and auditory guidance.

Design: Cross-sectional study

Setting: TA

Participants: 22 children aged 6-13 years were included in the study, grouped according to their Manual Dexterity (MD) score on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second edition (MABC-2) into two groups: one group with no coordination problems (NCP group; n=12) and the other group with coordination problems (CP group; n=10).

Interventions: TA was performed on both groups under three conditions: unguided, with sound, and with light.

Main Outcome Measures: Total score of TA, score considering tap time (correction score), average time per tap, and standard deviation of tap time (SD).

Results: In all conditions, the CP group had significantly lower correction scores than the NCP group. There was a significant interaction between the presence or absence of coordination problems and the SD only with light condition.

Conclusions: Correction scores based on tapping time and tapping location scores may be appropriate for assessing rhythmic movements associated with coordination difficulties. In addition, the interaction suggested that visual guidance may improve movement coordination among children with coordination problems.