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The authors would like to thank the Universidad de Alcala that supported the results of this paper through the Sistemas de monitorizacion de actividad del desarrollo infantil y la vida cotidiana mediante juguetes y otros objetos del entorno project (UAH-GP2018-5). This work has been funded by the Spanish National Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2013-2016 (EDUCERE, TIN2013-47803-C2-R [MINECO/BIE/FEDER, UE]) and 2017-2020 (Deteccion precoz de trastornos de Desarrollo mediante el uso de juguetes y objetos cotidianos, TRASGO, RTI2018-101962-B-I00 [MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE]) and through the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness PhD students funding program (BES-2014-067912). The vector hand drawing used in Multimedia Appendix 1 was created by Ddraw (Freepik) and the users icons used in Figure 3 were created by Freepik and all of them are licensed by Creative Commons BY 3.0. The development of the pegboard program was carried out using Arduino language and NRF24 libraries. The collector and mobile app where developed using Python and the Django Framework. The authors wish to thank the children, staff, and families of the initial education school participating in the study.

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Intraindividual Variability Measurement of Fine Manual Motor Skills in Children Using an Electronic Pegboard: Cohort Study

Publicated to:JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 7 (8): e12434-e12434 - 2019-01-01 7(8), DOI: 10.2196/12434

Authors: Rivera D, García A, Ortega JE, Alarcos B, van der Meulen K, Velasco JR, Del Barrio C

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Abstract

Pegboard tests are a powerful technique used by health and education professionals to evaluate manual dexterity and fine motor speed, both in children and adults. Using traditional pegboards in tests, the total time that, for example, a 4-year-old child needs for inserting pegs in a pegboard, with the left or right hand, can be measured. However, these measurements only allow for studying the variability among individuals, whereas no data can be obtained on the intraindividual variability in inserting and removing these pegs with one and the other hand.The aim of this research was to study the intraindividual variabilities in fine manual motor skills of 2- to 3-year-old children during playing activities, using a custom designed electronic pegboard.We have carried out a pilot study with 39 children, aged between 25 and 41 months. The children were observed while performing a task involving removing 10 pegs from 10 holes on one side and inserting them in 10 holes on the other side of a custom-designed sensor-based electronic pegboard, which has been built to be able to measure the times between peg insertions and removals.A sensor-based electronic pegboard was successfully developed, enabling the collection of single movement time data. In the piloting, a lower intraindividual variability was found in children with lower placement and removal times, confirming Adolph et al's hypothesis.The developed pegboard allows for studying intraindividual variability using automated wirelessly transmitted data provided by its sensors. This novel technique has been useful in studying and validating the hypothesis that children with lower movement times present lower intraindividual variability. New research is necessary to confirm these findings. Research with larger sample sizes and age ranges that include additional testing of children's motor development level is currently in preparation.©Diego Rivera, Antonio García, Jose Eugenio Ortega, Bernardo Alarcos, Kevin van der Meulen, Juan R Velasco, Cristina del Barrio. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 28.08.2019.

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