Dr. Katie Cremin

This project is an Enterprise Ireland co-funded innovation voucher project, with the specific purpose of scoping out the usefulness of the Scriba stylus for children with visual motor skill challenges, related to conditions such as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) and dysgraphia. Scriba is stylus designed and developed by Dublin Design Studio architect David Craig. It has been designed ergonomically to fit the hand and enhance the user's experience of comfort and control. It utilises novel Squeeze-Motion technology to allow the user maximum control over the output. The user feels the sensation of the interface between stylus and screen which is unique to this product. Uniquely it delivers haptic feedback to the user. One in twenty-five children is estimated to have additional educational needs, requiring support, and extra resources. Common specific learning disabilities include developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) or dyspraxia, dyslexia and dysgraphia. Visual motor and handwriting difficulties are shared across all these conditions, with children requiring extra supports, individual programmes and often utilising assistive technology to support their difficulties. Visual motor integration involves effective, efficient communication between the eyes and the hands, so that an individual can copy, draw or write what they see. Children who struggle to integrate or coordinate their visual systems and their motor systems may struggle with handwriting as well as with other school skills. Motor challenges include assuming the correct pencil grip, force and position for writing. Visual challenges include perceiving the size, direction and space between letters and shapes. There is a small amount of research indicating positive outcomes for screen-based technology in improving children's visual motor integration. There is also a small amount of research indicating haptic feedback and changing the properties of the pen can improve handwriting (e.g., Ben-Pazi, Ishihara, Kukke, & Sanger, 2010; Patchan & Puranik, 2016; Wałach & Szczęsna, 2014). The Scriba stylus and accompanying apps bring together some of these qualities and anecdotal evidence suggests it may be a useful tool to improve a child's visual motor integration. In a domain where there appears to be increasing number of children requiring intervention and very few technology based therapeutic tools, it offers an exciting opportunity to test out its effect. This project is looking at the feasibility and effectiveness of the Scriba as an intervention tool / assistive device for children with visual motor skills challenges.

This study proposes to explore the transition from primary to the end of the 1st year in post primary education for students with ASD attending mainstream schools in Ireland. The study aims to focus on the student's experience. It will also append these accounts with views and experiences from other key stakeholders in the students education i.e. parents, educators and relevant health professionals, and examine contexts and social constructs which influence the transition experience. Objectives are as follows: . To describe the experience of the transition into post primary education up to the end of the 1st year from the perspective of the student with ASD. o What are their concerns and perceptions for post primary school? o What are the perceived barriers and enablers to the transition? o What are the perceived barriers and enablers to participation in 1st year? . To investigate the factors which influence the transition and its outcome from the perspective of key stake holders in the students' education, i.e. parents, educators and health professionals.

Balance is essential for locomotion and function. The ability to sustain single leg stance and tandem stance is often used to determine the balance abilities of children especially following injury. The aim of this study was to assess the normative range of balance abilities in typically developing children to provide a reference source for clinicians. A cross sectional battery of standardised balance tests were conducted on school going children in 11 schools across the Republic of Ireland. 534 children (4 -15yrs) were tested on six balance test and the standing broad jump. The results allow clinicians to reference IRQ for six commonly used balance test across different age groups (4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 and 12+ yr). The results confirm the improvement in balance performance as children age especially after the 7-8th years. Girls tend to perform better than boys for balance test but perform less at the SBJ. This study provides appropriative normative scores for different age group. This removes the guesswork from performance assessment where factors such as height or weight may be used to predict ability.

This pre - post intervention study examined the impact of occupational therapy intervention on the fine motor and visual motor skills of children attending an early intervention service using the Miller Function and Participation Scales (M-FUN). It also explored the relationship between these skills and the perception of teachers and parents of the children's classroom and home participation. Eighteen children between the ages of 2 years 11 months and 6 years 11 months completed pre intervention assessments, six weekly sessions of occupational therapy intervention and home program followed by a post intervention assessment. Results indicated limited relationships between performance skills and perceived participation. A statistically significant change was found in the fine motor component of the M-FUN following intervention. The study recommends further research into the relationship between early intervention at a skill level and children's participation in the contexts of everyday life.

The overall aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Alert Programme with a group of children between 8-12 presenting with difficulties with self regulation and attention, through a battery of standardised pre and post group measures, Goal attainment scaling, parental interviews and a comparison control group.