Investigating Handwriting Characteristics and Underlying Factor in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Investigating the Unique Motor Characteristics and Corresponding Cortical Activation During Handwriting -- in 5-12 Year-old Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The mechanism of the motor problem in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in handwriting has been investigated in the following three aspects, including collecting dynamic handwriting performance, exploring the related underlying factors, and investigating corresponding brain activities. This study aimed to investigate the underlying factor of handwriting issue in children with ASD. There are four study aims. The first is to examine the differences of handwriting performance between children with ASD and TD using kinetic and kinematic measurements and handwriting difficulties questionnaires. The second is to investigate the group difference of the underlying motor factors, including fine motor ability and sensorimotor ability. The third is to explore the relationship between underlying motor factors and handwriting performance. The fourth is to explore the corresponding cortical activity during writing in children.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age between 5-12 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• who have a diagnosis of a seizure disorder, genetic condition, neurological condition, uncorrected significant hearing or visual impairment, and/or intellectual disability
• having non-verbal intelligent ability score lower than 70, determining by TONI-3
• unable to follow instructions during the process