Progressive dysgraphia in a case of posterior cortical atrophy

Dysgraphia (agraphia) is a common feature of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA). However, detailed analyses of these spelling and writing impairments are infrequently conducted. LM is a 59-year-old woman with dysgraphia associated with PCA. She presented with a two-year history of decline in her writing and dressmaking skills. A 3D T1-weighted MRI scan confirmed selective bi-parietal atrophy, with relative sparing of the hippocampi and other cortical regions. Analyses of LM's preserved and impaired spelling abilities indicated mild physical letter distortions and a significant spelling deficit characterised by letter substitutions, insertions, omissions, and transpositions that was systematically sensitive to word length while insensitive to real word versus nonword category, word frequency, regularity, imagery, grammatical class and ambiguity. Our findings suggest a primary graphemic buffer disorder underlies LM's spelling errors, possibly originating from disruption to the operation of a fronto-parietal network implicated in verbal working memory.

Teaching students with dyslexia and dysgraphia : lessons from teaching and science.

Este manual proporciona información clave sobre la dislexia y la disgrafía, así como recomendaciones prácticas para el uso de la investigación en el aula. Da una visión general de los contextos históricos y contemporáneos sobre la enseñanza de los estudiantes con dislexia y aporta las contribuciones de los investigadores para aumentar el conocimiento científico de sus causas biológicas. Cubre temas de desarrollo profesional para los profesores que desean basar su práctica educativa en la ciencia.

Lexical learning and dysgraphia in a group of adults with developmental dyslexia

We investigated the ability to learn new words in a group of 22 adults with developmental dyslexia/dysgraphia and the relationship between their learning and spelling problems. We identified a deficit that affected the ability to learn both spoken and written new words (lexical learning deficit). There were no comparable problems in learning other kinds of representations (lexical/semantic and visual) and the deficit could not be explained in terms of more traditional phonological deficits associated with dyslexia (phonological awareness, phonological STM). Written new word learning accounted for further variance in the severity of the dysgraphia after phonological abilities had been partialled out. We suggest that lexical learning may be an independent ability needed to create lexical/formal representations from a series of independent units. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. © 2005 Psychology Press Ltd.

Morphological-compound dysgraphia in an aphasic patient:"A wild write through the lexicon"

We describe the case of a dysgraphic aphasic individual-S.G.W.-who, in writing to dictation, produced high rates of formally related errors consisting of both lexical substitutions and what we call morphological-compound errors involving legal or illegal combinations of morphemes. These errors were produced in the context of a minimal number of semantic errors. We could exclude problems with phonological discrimination and phonological short-term memory. We also excluded rapid decay of lexical information and/or weak activation of word forms and letter representations since S.G.W.'s spelling showed no effect of delay and no consistent length effects, but, instead, paradoxical complexity effects with segmental, lexical, and morphological errors that were more complex than the target. The case of S.G.W. strongly resembles that of another dysgraphic individual reported in the literature-D.W.-suggesting that this pattern of errors can be replicated across patients. In particular, both patients show unusual errors resulting in the production of neologistic compounds (e.g., "bed button" in response to "bed"). These patterns can be explained if we accept two claims: (a) Brain damage can produce both a reduction and an increase in lexical activation; and (b) there are direct connections between phonological and orthographic lexical representations (a third spelling route). We suggest that both patients are suffering from a difficulty of lexical selection resulting from excessive activation of formally related lexical representations. This hypothesis is strongly supported by S.G.W.'s worse performance in spelling to dictation than in written naming, which shows that a phonological input, activating a cohort of formally related lexical representations, increases selection difficulties. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Estratégias, actividades e recursos em Educação Especial para alunos disléxicos do 1º, 2º, 3º ciclos do Ensino Básico e Secundário nas disciplinas de Língua Portuguesa e Português

A dislexia define-se como um transtorno ou distúrbio de aprendizagem na área da leitura, escrita e soletração. Uma vez que é genética e hereditária, se os pais ou outros parentes da criança tiver dislexia, quanto mais precocemente for realizado o diagnóstico melhor para os pais, para a escola e para a própria criança. Os efeitos da dislexia agrupam-se em comportamentais e escolares; na primeira categoria incluem-se ansiedade, insegurança, atenção instável e ou desinteresse pelo estudo; quanto às manifestações escolares, são sobretudo percebidos o ritmo de leitura lento, a leitura parcial de palavras, a perda da linha que está a ser lida, confusões na ordem das letras, inversões ou palavras e mescla de sons ou incapacidades para ler fonologicamente. Os programas direccionados para as necessidades dos alunos com dislexia devem incluir o ensino directo de conceitos e capacidades linguísticas, o ensino multissensorial, o ensino sistemático e ambientes estruturados e consistentes. Participaram 605 docentes. Conclui-se que poucos os professores que possuem formação em Educação Especial e, mais especificamente, em dislexia. No entanto, são sensíveis a esta problemática, mostrando-se favoráveis à realização de uma formação para actualizarem conhecimentos e colmatar a falta de informação. Realizam, neste momento, adequações na avaliação dos alunos disléxicos.

Processing of wh-questions in a case of posterior cortical atrophy

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a type of dementia that is characterized by visuo-spatial and memory deficits, dyslexia and dysgraphia, relatively early onset and preserved insight. Language deficits have been reported in some cases of PCA. Using an off-line grammaticality judgement task, processing of wh-questions is investigated in a case of PCA. Other aspects of auditory language are also reported. It is shown that processing of wh-questions is influenced by syntactic structure, a novel finding in this condition. The results are discussed with reference to accounts of wh-questions in aphasia. An uneven profile of other language abilities is reported with deficits in digit span (forward, backward), story retelling ability, comparative questions but intact abilities in following commands, repetition, concept definition, generative naming and discourse comprehension.

Função motora fina, sensorial e perceptiva de escolares com transtorno do déficit de atenção com hiperatividade

OBJETIVO: Caracterizar e comparar as funções motoras fina, sensorial e perceptiva de escolares com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade (TDAH) e escolares com bom desempenho escolar sem alterações de comportamento. MÉTODOS: Participaram 22 escolares do ensino fundamental, de gênero masculino, distribuídos em: GI - 11 escolares com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade; e GII - 11 escolares com bom desempenho acadêmico e sem alterações de comportamento. Os escolares foram submetidos à aplicação do Protocolo de Avaliação da Função Motora Fina, Sensorial e Perceptiva e da Escala de Disgrafia. RESULTADOS: Houve diferença nas tarefas de função motora fina, função sensorial e função perceptiva entre o GI e o GII, com desempenho inferior do GI. Todos os escolares de GI apresentaram disgrafia. CONCLUSÃO: Escolares com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção com Hiperatividade apresentam desempenho inferior aos escolares com bom desempenho acadêmico em relação às funções motoras fina, sensorial e perceptiva. Tais dificuldades podem causar impacto significativo sobre o desempenho acadêmico, uma vez que comprometem o desenvolvimento da linguagem escrita, ocasionando disgrafia nesses escolares.

Alterações dos processos fonológicos e índice de gravidade entre escolares com dislexia e escolares com bom desempenho acadêmico

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Função motora fina de escolares com dislexia, distúrbio e dificuldades de aprendizagem

TEMA: função motora fina em escolares com dislexia, distúrbio e dificuldades de aprendizagem. OBJETIVO: este estudo teve por objetivo caracterizar o desempenho da função motora fina, sensorial e perceptiva em escolares com dislexia, distúrbio e dificuldades de aprendizagem e correlacionar estes achados à escrita destes escolares. MÉTODO: participaram deste estudo 80 escolares da 2ª à 4ª série do ensino fundamental, na faixa etária de 7 a 12 anos de idade, de ambos os gêneros, distribuídos em: GI: formado por 20 escolares com dislexia, GII: formado por 20 escolares com distúrbio de aprendizagem, GIII: formado por 20 escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem e GIV: formado por 20 escolares sem dificuldades de aprendizagem. Os escolares foram submetidos à avaliação da função motora fina, sensorial e perceptiva e análise da escrita por meio da escala de disgrafia. RESULTADOS: os resultados evidenciaram que a maioria dos grupos apresentou desempenho inferior nas provas de FMF7 (oposição de dedos), S8 (grafoestesia) e P1 (imitar posturas). Os GI e GII foram os grupos que apresentaram desempenho inferior na maioria das provas em relação aos GIII e GIV. Quanto à grafia, observou-se que no GII todos os escolares são disgráficos. CONCLUSÃO: a presença de alterações motora fina, sensorial e perceptiva é característica de escolares com distúrbio de aprendizagem e dislexia, entretanto esta característica pode ou não ser encontrada nos escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem, sendo, portanto, esta alteração responsável pelo comportamento disgráfico dos escolares com transtornos de aprendizagem deste estudo.

Performance of children with learning difficulties in fine motor function and handwriting

This study aimed to compare and characterize the fine, sensory and perceptive function performance and handwriting quality between students with learning difficulties and students with good academic performance. Methods: This study comprised 192 students from 2nd to 4th grades, both genders, whose ages ranged from 7 to 11 years old. The students were distributed into: GI, GII, GIII and GIV, comprising 96 students with learning difficulties, and groups GV, GVI, GVII, GVIII comprising 96 students with good academic performance. The students were submitted to evaluation of fine motor, sensorial and perception functions and handwriting evaluation under dictation. Results: The results showed that the students with learning difficulties, from 1st to 3rd grade, had lower performance on tests of fine motor, sensory and perceptive function, when compared to the students with good academic performance in the same grade; the students from 4th grade, both groups, did not show changes on fine motor, sensory and perceptive function; and only the students of GII showed dysgraphia. Conclusions: the results presented in this study suggest that the qualitative aspects of fine motor, sensory and perceptive skills reflect the integrity and maturity of central nervous system and can probably play an important role in early diagnosis of development disorders and consequently prevent academic disorders such as handwriting performance.

Elaboração de programa de intervenção com as habilidades percepto-viso-motoras em escolares com dislexia do desenvolvimento

Pós-graduação em Fonoaudiologia - FFC

O impacto do Método Mãe Canguru no processo de aprendizagem de prematuros de baixo peso: Revisão da literatura

Technology advances and scientific studies in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) have contributed significantly to reduce mortality and morbidity of at-risk newborns (NB). However, they are more likely to present neurological and/or developmental psychomotor delay with neurological and sensory alterations. Therefore, proposals for neonatal intervention were developed with the aim of protecting the baby and offering appropriate incentives to minimize the effects of hospital intervention. To this end, programs of protective measures such as the Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) were developed. Given the relevance of the issue described, this systematic review critically appraises articles from the national and international literature, published in recent years (from 2000 to 2011), that describe whether the KMC can be a protective factor for the development of writing in premature infants. The textual search was conducted using the Virtual Health Library (VHL), a website that covers publications worldwide, allowing access to articles from health science, including LILACS, IBECS, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and SciELO, as database. The findings revealed that infants who participated in the KMC program showed improvements in their development and that factors such as low-birth-weight prematurity and learning disorders have close relationship with the onset of motor impairments and changes in psychomotor development. The findings showed no articles describing the KMC as a protective factor for the incidence of dysgraphia. Thus, we emphasize the importance of conducting further studies on these topics.

Habilidades perceptivas visuais e qualidade de escrita de escolares com dislexia

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to characterize and compare the visual perceptual skills and writing quality of students with dyslexia, with good academic performance, and to relate the perceptual visual motor skills and the writing quality of students with dyslexia, with good academic performance. METHODS: 40 students participated in this study; 35 males and 5 females, from 8 to 11 years and 11 months, who attended from the 3rd to 5th grade level of public municipal schools of Marília-SP, divided into two groups: Group I (GI) comprised 20 students with interdisciplinar diagnoses of dyslexia, and Group II (GII) comprised 20 students with good academic performance. The Visual Perceptual Skills Test - TVPS-3 and the Disgraphy Scale were applied. RESULTS: The results obtained from this study showed that the students with dyslexia presented difficulties in visual skills concerning discrimination and memory. Besides discrimination and memory skills, it was observed inferior performance concerning the relation visual spacial skills and steady form, and inferior performance in all the visual skills, when compared to the chronological age. However, the group of students with good academic performance has also presented inferior performance concerning the relation visual spacial skills and steady form. CONCLUSIONS: The study mentions that maybe schools do not invest sufficiently in activities which envolve visual experiences necessary for the enhancement of reading and writing. Although statistically significant difference was not observed between the groups concerning disgraphy, it iwas possible to observe that a higher amount of students presented disgraphy.

Efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia

Purpose: To verify the efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia. Methods: The participants were 20 students from third to fifth grade of a public elementary school in Marília, São Paulo, aged from 8 years to 11 years and 11 months, distributed into the following groups: Group I (GI; 10 students with developmental dyslexia) and Group II (GII; 10 students with good academic performance). A perceptual and visual-motor intervention program was applied, which comprised exercises for visual-motor coordination, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual-spatial relationship, shape constancy, sequential memory, visual figure-ground coordination, and visual closure. In pre- and post-testing situations, both groups were submitted to the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (TVPS-3), and the quality of handwriting was analyzed using the Dysgraphia Scale. Results: The analyzed statistical results showed that both groups of students had dysgraphia in pretesting situation. In visual perceptual skills, GI presented a lower performance compared to GII, as well as in the quality of writing. After undergoing the intervention program, GI increased the average of correct answers in TVPS-3 and improved the quality of handwriting. Conclusion: The developed intervention program proved appropriate for being applied to students with dyslexia, and showed positive effects because it provided improved visual perception skills and quality of writing for students with developmental dyslexia.

Desarrollo de un sistema automático de detección de disgrafías en niños de 4 a 5 años

La escritura es una actividad psicomotora muy importante en el desarrollo infantil. Tanto es así que su correcto aprendizaje condicionará el futuro de una persona, pues estará presente en todo tipo de situaciones cotidianas. La disgrafía es el término utilizado para referirse a los problemas relacionados con la escritura, y se manifiesta cuando la escritura de un determinado sujeto es ilegible o lenta como resultado de un aprendizaje fallido de los procesos motores de la escritura. Estos problemas intentan resolverse durante el desarrollo infantil mediante diferentes pruebas que miden las capacidades visomotoras de los niños basándose en criterios de forma (número y posición correcta de trazos). Sin embargo, a lo largo de los años estos criterios han demostrado no ser totalmente precisos en la detección prematura de posibles casos de disgrafía. Por ello, en este proyecto se ha desarrollado una aplicación que ayuda a ampliar la fiabilidad de los test actuales, utilizando un criterio cinemático. Esta aplicación, desarrollada para una tableta Android, muestra al niño una serie de figuras que él debe copiar en la tableta haciendo uso de un lápiz óptico. Los trazos registrados por la aplicación son analizados para valorar aspectos como la fluidez, continuidad y regularidad, ampliando así la fiabilidad de los test actuales, lo que permite desechar falsos positivos y detectar irregularidades que antes no podían ser detectadas. La aplicación desarrollada ha sido validada con un total de ocho niños de cuatro años y siete meses de media de edad, confirmando que cumple con las expectativas planteadas. ABSTRACT. Writing is a very important psychomotor activity in child development because it will be present in all kinds of everyday situations; therefore its proper learning will determine the future of the individual. Dysgraphia is the term used to refer to the problems related to writing, and it takes place when a particular person’s writing is unreadable or slow-moving as a result of a failed learning of writing motor processes. These problems are usually detected by different tests that measure children’s visual motor abilities based on shape criteria (correct number and position of strikes). However, over the years these criteria haven’t proved to be completely accurate in the early detection of possible cases of dysgraphia. Therefore, in this project is presented an application that extends the reliability of current test, using a kinematic approach. This application, developed for an Android tablet, displays a series of figures that the child must copy to the tablet by using a stylus. Strokes recorded by the application are then analyzed to assess aspects such as fluidity, continuity and regularity, expanding the reliability of the current test, discarding false positives created by the conventional criteria and detecting irregularities that previously could not be detected. The developed application has been validated with a total of eight children about four years and seven months in average age, confirming that the application fulfills the initial expectations.