Examining the Relationship Between Copying Skills & Saccadic Eye Movements Among Children

The purpose of the study was to describe the relationship between copying skills and saccadic eye movements among children. To date, there has been little research examining if there is any connection between visual efficiency and a child’s handwriting performance. ‘For school-age children, handwriting difficulties can create barriers to fulfilling their academic potential and participating in school life’ (Huang, W.F. et al., 2023). ‘Problems in attention, memory, and executive skills are associated with impaired saccadic function’ (Maguire, 2022). This correlational study used data collected from recruited participants older than 6 and younger than 9 years of age with a minimum of 20/25 distance acuity who were able to follow directions for 30 minutes at a table and complete standardized testing. Correlation coefficients were established by a statistician. The methodology for this study was quantitative research. IRB approval was obtained. The sample size was 29 children. First, each parent/caregiver provided consent and completed a caregiver questionnaire. Second, each child completed far acuity screening, binocular vision screening, and vision assessment for eye movements that provided psychometric data for reading performance. Lastly, each participant completed an occupation-based handwriting assessment that included measures for near and far-point copying. All data was entered into a spreadsheet and transferred to SPSS for analysis by a statistician; z scores and p values were calculated. Results indicated a negative correlation between eye movements and copying skills among the participants. A greater number of errors during saccadic eye movements correlated with lower legibility performance for both near and far copying. This study can impact pediatric occupational therapy practice by encouraging the inclusion of performance-based vision assessments to enhance handwriting evaluations.

References

Huang, W.-F., Wang, T.-N., Chuang, P.-Y., & Chen, H.-L. (2023). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Computer-Aided Measure of Chinese Handwriting Legibility (CAM-CHL) for school-age children. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77, 7701205170. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2023.050075

McGuire, M. J. (2022). Practice Guidelines: Addressing Vestibular and Visual Problems in the Neurologically Impaired Adult. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 10(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1893