Improvement of Fine Motor Skills in Children with Visual Impairment: An Explorative Study

In this study we analysed the potential spin-off of magnifier training on the fine-motor skills of visually impaired children. The fine-motor skills of 4- and 5-year-old visually impaired children were assessed using the manual skills test for children (6-12 years) with a visual impairment (ManuVis) and movement assessment for children (Movement ABC), before and after receiving a 12-sessions training within a 6-weeks period. The training was designed to practice the use of a stand magnifier, as part of a larger research project on low-vision aids. In this study, fifteen children trained with a magnifier; seven without. Sixteen children had nystagmus. In this group head orientation (ocular torticollis) was monitored. Results showed an age-related progress in children's fine-motor skills after the training, irrespective of magnifier condition: performance speed of the ManuVis items went from 333.4 s to 273.6 s on average. Accuracy in the writing tasks also increased. Finally, for the children with nystagmus, an increase of ocular torticollis was found. These results suggest a careful reconsideration of which intervention is most effective for enhancing perceptuomotor performance in visually impaired children: specific "fine-motor" training or "non-specific" visual-attention training with a magnifier. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)