title: Dexterity and two-point discrimination of the hand in school-aged children with dysgraphia.
abstract: Background:Dysgraphia as a problem with handwriting, affects student's performance in school activities and participation. The purpose of the study was to compare dexterity and two-point discrimination of the hand between learning disabled students with dysgraphia and healthy students.Methods:Forty-three students with developmental dysgraphia and 55 normal students in grade two to four from special and regular schools participated in this study. Hand dexterity and static/dynamic discriminative touch were assessed via Purdue Pegboard and Two-Point Discriminator respectively.Results:Significant differences were found in Purdue Pegboard scores between two groups except in doing the test with the left hand (p<0.05). Purdue Pegboard scores were significantly lower in left-handed children with dysgraphia compared to healthy children (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in dynamic two point discrimination between two groups of children (p>0.05). Static two-point discrimination of the thumb finger was significantly higher in children with dysgraphia (p<0.05).Conclusion:Hand dexterity affects handwriting performance in children with dysgraphia. There were no correlations between two-point discrimination and Purdue Pegboard scores of children with dysgraphia. Intervention should focus on other aspects of dexterity rather than sensory components. Hand dominancy also may be a factor influencing hand performance in dysgraphia.
authors.affiliation: PhD in Occupational Therapy, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. naser_havaei@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Naser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Havaei
authors.affiliation: PhD in Physiotherapy, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. mandana.rezae@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mandana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rezaei
authors.affiliation: PhD in Occupational Therapy, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. hrr.rostami@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Rostami
keywords: Learning disability; dexterity; dysgraphia; hand; two point discrimination