Case study on fine motor skills of special children when using light and sound tool

Abstract

Autism and D syndrome children are example of children that have motor skills disabilities as their hand do not seem to coordinate properly, in addition to observably low muscle tone. Therefore, an early intervention program is needed to improve their find motor skills. This paper proposes an integrated approach for the enhancement of children's fine motor skills and functional performance that are fundamental in daily activities. This can be achieved by inventing a tool that's designed with the implementation of sound and light for children use in fine motor activity. Henceforth, to specify the muscular performance and amplitudes of muscular activation generated during fine motor activity, surface electromyography (EMG) technique was used. The analysis was performed on two healthy children and two special needs children, each with Autism and Down syndrome, ages ranging from four to six years old. EMG activity of hand muscles, specifically flexor muscle was recorded while human subjects grasped a ball and transferred it to the tool. The results as analysed through computer software such as LabVIEW and MATLAB demonstrated that there are differences in muscular performance and amplitude of surface EMG signals between the involved children. Furthermore, a correlation between engagement and learning was found among the children during the fine motor activity using the designed tool.