Clinical trial NCT06006767: Rhythmic Handwriting Deficits and General Rhythmic Abilities in Children
Official title: Links Between Rhythmic Handwriting Deficits and General Rhythmic Abilities in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder: a Pilot Study. TDC-Rythme
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Conditions: Developmental Coordination Disorder
Keywords: : Developmental Coordination Disorder
Rhythm
Rhythmic skills
Handwriting
Lead sponsor: University Hospital, Montpellier
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-08-23
Enrollment: 55
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 7
Maximum age (years): 10
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: OTHER
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: DCD children

Brief summary: Patients with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects motor skills and motor learning (APA, 2013), have been reported to manifest rhythmic deficits in handwriting domain, as well as general rhythmic deficits (i.e., regardless handwriting context per se) (Rosenblum \& Regev, 2013). Accordingly, children with DCD struggle in tasks like synchronising to an external musical rhythm (in rhythm production tasks) or even in discrimination tasks such as detecting beat deviations, i.e., in rhythm perception tasks (INSERM collective expertise, 2019).

These rhythmic deficits which manifest in a variety of tasks and conditions support the hypothesis of a "generalised dysrhythmia" in DCD, according to which the rhythmic deficits - in perceptual tasks and motor production - could have a common source, namely a mechanism devoted to rhythm processing (a cerebral mechanism involved in the perception of rhythm) and independent of the effectors involved and the type of task considered.

However, the nature of the relationships between general rhythmic skills (perceptual and motor) and rhythmic abilities when engaged in handwriting movement is largely unknown in DCD. Whether a common source drives these diverse rhythmic deficits remains to explore. If this hypothesis were to be confirmed, this would pave the way for innovative therapeutic tools (e.g., serious games) for training a central rhythmic processing mechanism (rhythm perception), which could positively impact in turn rhythmicity of thandwriting movement in this population.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Children aged 7 to 10 inclusive
* Children who can read and write
* Diagnosis of DCD according to DSM-5 criteria (APA, 2015)
* Native French speaker
* Living with at least one parent

Exclusion Criteria:

* Intellectual development disorder confirmed or suspected during the initial evaluation phase in the MPEA department.
* Presence or suspected presence of a visual impairment at the root of the motor skills deficit.
* Presence or suspected presence of a neurological motor disorder (e.g. sensory impairment, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, degenerative disease).
* Not affiliated to a social security scheme or not benefiting from such a scheme.
* Absence of written, informed consent from parents.

Primary outcomes:
measure: The rhythm of handwriting movement
timeFrame: 1 day at First visit
Secondary outcomes:
measure: The rhythmic variables
timeFrame: 1 day at First visit
measure: Speed of handwriting : abnormal peak velocity fluctuations during handwriting movement
timeFrame: 1 day at First visit
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Montpellier
country: France
facility: Hôpital La Colombière - CHU de Montpellier
Study officials:
References:
citation: American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
citation: Dalla Bella S, Farrugia N, Benoit CE, Begel V, Verga L, Harding E, Kotz SA. BAASTA: Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities. Behav Res Methods. 2017 Jun;49(3):1128-1145. doi: 10.3758/s13428-016-0773-6.
citation: Danna J, Paz-Villagran V, Velay JL. Signal-to-noise velocity peaks difference: a new method for evaluating the handwriting movement fluency in children with dysgraphia. Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Dec;34(12):4375-84. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.09.012. Epub 2013 Oct 18.
citation: Expertise Collective INSERM (2019). Trouble développemental de la coordination ou dyspraxie, Paris : Les Editions EDP Sciences.
citation: Rosenblum S, Regev N. Timing abilities among children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) in comparison to children with typical development. Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Jan;34(1):218-27. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.07.011. Epub 2012 Sep 6.