Bimanual coordination in children: manipulation of object distance.

The performance of many everyday activities requires the coordination of the two upper limbs to achieve the goal of the task. Although bimanual performance has been studied in detail in adults, few studies have examined how children coordinate the movements of the two hands during symmetric and asymmetric bimanual prehension. With the current study, we asked younger (4-6 years, n = 14) and older (7-10 years, n = 16) children to complete a discrete bimanual task.

Oral and manual force control in preschool-aged children: is there evidence for common control?

The authors examined and compared the development of oral and manual force control in preschool-aged children. In all, 50 typically developing children (aged 3-5 years) performed maximal strength tasks and submaximal visually guided tasks using tongue elevation, power, and precision grips. Dependent measures included strength, rate of force rise, initial force overshoot, force variability, and rate of force release.

Challenges and approaches to the identification of traumatic brain injury among nursing home residents.

The Minimum Data Set (MDS) is a standardized, federally mandated assessment tool used to identify the needs of nursing home residents and rehabilitation and nursing services received on a routine basis. These data can be used to identify people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), where a diagnosis is recorded. However, both limitations of the MDS and the presence of other neurological issues that can be confused with TBI can reduce the likelihood that brain injury is identified where it exists.

Task-dependent organization of pinch grip forces.

The organization of thumb and index finger forces in a pinch formation was investigated under conditions where kinetic constraints on interdigit force coupling were removed. Two visually guided isometric force tasks at submaximal levels were used to characterize the spatial and temporal aspects of interdigit force coupling. Task 1 provided an initial characterization of interdigit force coordination when the force relationship between the digits was not specified.

Impaired re-weighting of sensory feedback for maintenance of postural control in children with developmental coordination disorder.

To further the understanding of postural control impairments seen in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and the effect of these impairments on motor performance in these children, 30 children with and without DCD (mean age=9 years, 7 months +/- 1 year, 10 months) were administered the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC), Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and the Sensory Organization Test. Analyses of covariance revealed that children with DCD had greater difficulty maintaining postural control when visual and somatosensory feedback were compromised in sensory conflict environments (p=.031).

Power and precision grip force control in three-to-five-year-old children: velocity control precedes amplitude control in development.

The aim of this study was to examine the development of underlying motor control strategies in young children by characterizing the changes in performance of a visually guided force regulation task using two different grip formations; a whole-hand power grip (developmentally easier) and a thumb-index finger precision grip (developmentally more advanced). Typically developing preschool children (n=50, 3.0-5.