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Children (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2023Handwriting is a complex perceptual motor task that requires years of training and practice before complete mastery. Its acquisition is crucial, since handwriting is the... (Review)
Review
Handwriting is a complex perceptual motor task that requires years of training and practice before complete mastery. Its acquisition is crucial, since handwriting is the basis, together with reading, of the acquisition of higher-level skills such as spelling, grammar, syntax, and text composition. Despite the correct learning and practice of handwriting, some children never master this skill to a sufficient level. These handwriting deficits, referred to as developmental dysgraphia, can seriously impact the acquisition of other skills and thus the academic success of the child if they are not diagnosed and handled early. In this review, we present a non-exhaustive listing of the tools that are the most reported in the literature for the analysis of handwriting and the diagnosis of dysgraphia. A variety of tools focusing on either the final handwriting product or the handwriting process are described here. On one hand, paper-and-pen tools are widely used throughout the world to assess handwriting quality and/or speed, but no universal gold-standard diagnostic test exists. On the other hand, several very promising computerized tools for the diagnosis of dysgraphia have been developed in the last decade, but some improvements are required before they can be available to clinicians. Based on these observations, we will discuss the pros and cons of the existing tools and the perspectives related to the development of a universal, standardized test of dysgraphia combining both paper-and-pen and computerized approaches and including different graphomotor and writing tasks.
PubMed: 38136127
DOI: 10.3390/children10121925 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) May 2023Handwriting learning disabilities, such as dysgraphia, have a serious negative impact on children's academic results, daily life and overall well-being. Early detection...
Handwriting learning disabilities, such as dysgraphia, have a serious negative impact on children's academic results, daily life and overall well-being. Early detection of dysgraphia facilitates an early start of targeted intervention. Several studies have investigated dysgraphia detection using machine learning algorithms with a digital tablet. However, these studies deployed classical machine learning algorithms with manual feature extraction and selection as well as binary classification: either dysgraphia or no dysgraphia. In this work, we investigated the fine grading of handwriting capabilities by predicting the SEMS score (between 0 and 12) with deep learning. Our approach provided a root-mean-square error of less than 1 with automatic instead of manual feature extraction and selection. Furthermore, the SensoGrip smart pen SensoGrip was used, i.e., a pen equipped with sensors to capture handwriting dynamics, instead of a tablet, enabling writing evaluation in more realistic scenarios.
Topics: Child; Humans; Deep Learning; Handwriting; Agraphia; Algorithms; Machine Learning
PubMed: 37299942
DOI: 10.3390/s23115215 -
Frontiers in Neurology 2022Currently, little is known about Chinese-speaking primary progressive aphasia (PPA) patients compared to patients who speak Indo-European languages. We examined the...
INTRODUCTION
Currently, little is known about Chinese-speaking primary progressive aphasia (PPA) patients compared to patients who speak Indo-European languages. We examined the demographics and clinical manifestations, particularly reading and writing characteristics, of Chinese patients with PPA over the last two decades to establish a comprehensive profile and improve diagnosis and care.
METHODS
We reviewed the demographic features, clinical manifestations, and radiological features of Chinese-speaking PPA patients from 56 articles published since 1994. We then summarized the specific reading and writing errors of Chinese-speaking patients.
RESULTS
The average age of onset for Chinese-speaking patients was in their early 60's, and there were slightly more male patients than female patients. The core symptoms and images of Chinese-speaking patients were similar to those of patients who speak Indo-European languages. Reading and writing error patterns differed due to Chinese's distinct tone and orthography. The types of reading errors reported in Chinese-speaking patients with PPA included tonal errors, regularization errors, visually related errors, semantic errors, phonological errors, unrelated errors, and non-response. Among these errors, regularization errors were the most common in semantic variant PPA, and tonal errors were specific to Chinese. Writing errors mainly consisted of non-character errors (stroke, radical/component, visual, pictograph, dyskinetic errors, and spatial errors), phonologically plausible errors, orthographically similar errors, semantic errors, compound word errors, sequence errors, unrelated errors, and non-response.
CONCLUSION
This paper provides the latest comprehensive demographic information and unique presentations on the reading and writing of Chinese-speaking patients with PPA. More detailed studies are needed to address the frequency of errors in reading and writing and their anatomical substrates.
PubMed: 36561305
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1025660 -
Journal of Oncology Pharmacy Practice :... Apr 2023Capecitabine is a pre-metabolite of 5-fluorouracil and is used as a chemotherapeutic agent. Among the common side effects of capecitabine, there are gastrointestinal...
INTRODUCTION
Capecitabine is a pre-metabolite of 5-fluorouracil and is used as a chemotherapeutic agent. Among the common side effects of capecitabine, there are gastrointestinal side effects including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and dermatological side effects including hand-foot syndrome and skin pigmentation change. However, neurological side effects of capecitabine are very rare. We describe herein a patient who developed neurological side effects in the form of agraphia and dysarthria on the 7th day of capecitabine treatment.
CASE REPORT
A 34-year-old male patient, who was being followed up with the diagnosis of colon cancer, presented with speech and writing disorder that developed while under capecitabine treatment. Dysarthria and agraphia were detected in his neurological examination. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed acute diffusion restriction in the splenium of the corpus callosum and at the level of the bilateral centrum semiovale. Brain MRI revealed symmetrical T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (T2-FLAIR) signal increases at the right temporoparietal medial, corpus callosum level, and bilateral white matter level.
MANAGEMENT & OUTCOME
The capecitabine treatment was terminated, and methylprednisolone treatment was administered and plasmapheresis procedure was carried out. Subsequently, significant improvement was observed in the clinical findings and neuroimaging.
DISCUSSION
Capecitabine is used as an oral agent; thus, it provides ease of use. Neurological side effects associated with the use of capecitabine reportedly occur very rarely. The findings of this case demonstrated that leukoencephalopathy can be seen during the use of capecitabine, imaging results are very important in the diagnosis of leukoencephalopathy, and improvement can be achieved with the termination of the capecitabine treatment.
Topics: Male; Humans; Adult; Capecitabine; Agraphia; Dysarthria; Fluorouracil; Leukoencephalopathies
PubMed: 35903929
DOI: 10.1177/10781552221116329 -
Zhurnal Nevrologii I Psikhiatrii Imeni... 2021The function of the formation of speech skills is decisive in the development of a child in communication and assimilation of information. Early pediatric diagnosis...
The function of the formation of speech skills is decisive in the development of a child in communication and assimilation of information. Early pediatric diagnosis should become a routine practice of monitoring children from infancy to school age for the timely correction of speech disorders and associated dysgraphia and dyslexia. According to the ICD-10 classification, speech developmental disorders are divided into the following options: articulation impairment, delay in expressive and impressive speech. Articulation disorders, stuttering, impaired expressive speech are the most common and most favorable prognosis for speech therapy interventions. The data on the effectiveness of disorders of the receptive (impressive) language are ambiguous, since there is a high likelihood of a combination with neurogenetic diseases and autism. The development of speech therapy programs will make it possible to broader coverage of those in need of treatment, including complex course therapy with neuropeptides (cortexin).
Topics: Child; Humans; Language; Language Development Disorders; Speech; Speech Disorders; Speech Therapy
PubMed: 34932295
DOI: 10.17116/jnevro2021121111106 -
Journal of Neural Transmission (Vienna,... Mar 2023Vision has a crucial role to play in human development and functioning. It is, therefore, not surprising that vision plays a fundamental role in the development of the... (Review)
Review
Vision has a crucial role to play in human development and functioning. It is, therefore, not surprising that vision plays a fundamental role in the development of the child. As a consequence, an alteration in visual function is, therefore, likely to hinder the child's development. Although ocular disorders are well known, diagnosed and taken into account, cerebral visual impairments (CVI) resulting from post-chiasmatic damage are largely underdiagnosed. However, among the disorders resulting from an episode of perinatal asphyxia and/or associated with prematurity, or neonatal hypoglycaemia, CVIs are prominent. In this article, we focus on the role of the possible effects of CVI on a child's learning abilities, leading to major difficulty in disentangling the consequences of CVI from other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although we focus here on the possible overlap between children with CVI and children with other NDD, De Witt et al. (Wit et al. Ear Hear 39:1-19, 2018) have raised exactly the same question regarding children with auditory processing disorders (the equivalent of CVI in the auditory modality). We underline how motor, social and cognitive development as well as academic success can be impaired by CVI and raise the question of the need for systematic evaluation for disorders of vision, visual perception and cognition in all children presenting with a NDD and/or previously born under adverse neurological conditions.
Topics: Vision, Ocular; Cognition; Child Development; Humans; Child; Vision Disorders; Learning Disabilities; Visual Perception; Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders; Visual Cortex
PubMed: 36547695
DOI: 10.1007/s00702-022-02572-8 -
Survey of Ophthalmology 2020An 84-year-old woman with a history of dry age-related macular degeneration presented with an acute inability to read, but intact writing ability (pure alexia or alexia...
An 84-year-old woman with a history of dry age-related macular degeneration presented with an acute inability to read, but intact writing ability (pure alexia or alexia without agraphia). She denied any difficulty speaking, paresthesias, or hemiparesis. Her visual acuity was 20/20 in each eye. Macular examination, optical coherence tomography, and fluorescein angiography demonstrated the previously diagnosed macular drusen and geographic atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium consistent with the dry form of age-related macular degeneration both eyes. Automated perimetry revealed a right homonymous hemianopsia. Neuroimaging confirmed a left occipital ischemic infarction with involvement of the splenium of the corpus callosum producing the classic disconnection syndrome of alexia without agraphia.
Topics: Aged, 80 and over; Alexia, Pure; Corpus Callosum; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Hemianopsia; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Visual Acuity
PubMed: 30953621
DOI: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2019.03.008 -
Frontiers in Psychiatry 2023Language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) refers to a spectrum of neurodevelopmental-associated disorders that are characterized by cognitive and behavioral...
INTRODUCTION
Language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) refers to a spectrum of neurodevelopmental-associated disorders that are characterized by cognitive and behavioral differences in comprehending, processing and utilizing spoken and/or written language. The focus of this work was on identifying early predictors of three main specific LBLD including dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia.
METHODS
The Web of Science (WoS) was searched for literature related to (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) measurements used to identify early predictors of LBLD from 1991 to 25 October 2021. A retrospective bibliometric analysis was performed to analyze collaboration among countries, institutions, authors, publishing journals, reference co-citation patterns, keyword co-occurrence, keyword clustering, and burst keywords using Biblioanalytics software.
RESULTS
In total, 921 publications related to the identification of LBLD using (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) modalities were included. The data analysis shows a slow growth in research on the topic in the 90s and early 2000 and growing trend in recent years. The most prolific and cited journal is Neuroimage, followed by Neuropsychologia. The United States and Finland's Universities Jyvaskyla and Helsinki are the leading country and institution in this field, respectively. "Neuroimaging," "brain," "fMRI," "cognitive predictor," "comorbidity," "cortical thickness" were identified as hotspots and trends of (neurocognitive, neurophysiological, and neuroimaging) modalities in the identification of LBLD.
DISCUSSION
Early predictors of LBLDs would be useful as targets for specific prevention and intervention programs to be implemented at very young ages, which could have a significant clinical impact. A novel finding of neuroimaging predictors combined with neurocognitive and neuropsychological batteries may have implications for future research.
PubMed: 38111620
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1229580 -
Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Aug 2023: Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is a complex neurobiological disorder characterized by a persistent difficult in reading (dyslexia), written expression (dysgraphia),...
: Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) is a complex neurobiological disorder characterized by a persistent difficult in reading (dyslexia), written expression (dysgraphia), and mathematics (dyscalculia). The hereditary and genetic component is one of the underlying causes of SLD, but the relationship between genes and the environment should be considered. Several genetic studies were performed in different populations to identify causative genes. : Here, we show the analysis of 9 multiplex families with at least 2 individuals diagnosed with SLD per family, with a total of 37 persons, 21 of whom are young subjects with SLD, by means of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) to identify possible causative mutations in a panel of 15 candidate genes: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . We detected, in eight families out nine, SNP variants in the , , , and genes, even if in silico analysis did not show any causative effect on this behavioral condition. In all cases, the mutation was transmitted by one of the two parents, thus excluding the case of de novo mutation. Moreover, the parent carrying the allelic variant transmitted to the children, in six out of seven families, reports language difficulties. : Although the present results cannot be considered conclusive due to the limited sample size, the identification of genetic variants in the above genes can provide input for further research on the same, as well as on other genes/mutations, to better understand the genetic basis of this disorder, and from this perspective, to better understand also the neuropsychological and social aspects connected to this disorder, which affects an increasing number of young people.
Topics: Child; Humans; Adolescent; Specific Learning Disorder; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Receptors, Immunologic; Alleles; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Microtubule-Associated Proteins
PubMed: 37629793
DOI: 10.3390/medicina59081503 -
Disability and Rehabilitation.... May 2023This article reviews the instructional strategies used by assistive technologies and maps their problem manifestation and effectiveness for children with learning... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
This article reviews the instructional strategies used by assistive technologies and maps their problem manifestation and effectiveness for children with learning disabilities. The objective of this article is to investigate the most common types of assistive tools used in learning to study their attributes, limited to the needs of learners with the condition of dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.
REVIEW METHODS
It studies currently available low, mid and high-level assistive learning technologies available to deal with problems faced by these learners. Assistive tools studied in this article range from simple hardware tools to multi-sensory software. A simple analytical framework by interlinking, Problem Manifestation, Underpinned Implication, Instructional Strategy and Cognitive Strength Developed (PISC) is formulated to examine the tools.
RESULTS
Five assistive tools types (non-electronic products, low-tech products, mid-tech products, high-tech products apps and learning software) for each learning disability are identified, analysed and associated learning implication is studied under PISC framework. This helps to map the problems and learning style of learning disabled and analyses the underpinned implication along with the corresponding development of skills (cognitive, affective or psychomotor) by these assistive technologies.
CONCLUSION
Performance of identified assistive tool types using PISC framework is analysed. Findings are reported and discussed. Implications for RehabilitationAvailable assistive tools are not learning disability specific. So, in order to differentiate the learning path of a Learning Disabled learner from that of a Non-Learning Disabled learner, study is conducted under four attributes of PISC framework: Problem Manifestation, Underpinned Implication, Instructional Strategy and Cognitive Strength.Available assistive tools in the field of remedial education are found to be problem centric and only able in dealing with single academic learning need of a learner with specific learning difficulty.The mapping of the available assistive technologies under PISC framework provides a detailed structure for the selection of most suited assistive tool as per learning requirement of a learner with learning disability.This study also conclude the non- availability of the High-tech assistive tools and Educational Software specifically designed for learners with learning disability.
Topics: Child; Humans; Learning Disabilities; Software; Dyslexia; Learning; Self-Help Devices
PubMed: 33449814
DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1864669