David G Gaul | Institute of Technology Blanchardstown Dublin Ireland (original) (raw)
Papers by David G Gaul
Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such a... more Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such as dressing, feeding or playing. Poor fine motor skills can lead to difficulties in academic achievement, increased anxiety and poor self-esteem. Recent findings have shown that children's gross motor skill proficiency tends to fall below established developmental norms. A question remains: do fine motor skill proficiency levels also fall below developmental norms? The aim of this study was to examine the current level of fine motor skill in Irish children. Children (N = 253) from 2nd, 4th and 6th grades (mean age = 7.12, 9.11 and 11.02 respectively) completed the Fine Motor Composite of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd Edition (BOT-2). Analysis revealed that only 2nd grade children met the expected level of fine motor skill proficiency. It was also found that despite children's raw scores improving with age, children's fine motor skill proficiency was not progressing at the expected rate given by normative data. This leads us to question the role and impact of modern society on fine motor skills development over the past number of decades.
Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and moveme... more Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and movement outcome during a visual rhythmic coordination task. Methods. 88 participants (44 obese and 44 matched control) sat on a chair equipped with a wrist pendulum oscillating in the sagittal plane. The task was to swing the pendulum in synchrony with a moving visual stimulus displayed on a screen. Results. Obese participants demonstrated significantly (í µí± < 0.01) higher values for continuous relative phase (CRP) indicating poorer level of coordination, increased movement variability (í µí± < 0.05), and a larger amplitude (í µí± < 0.05) than their healthy weight counterparts. Conclusion. These results highlight the existence of visual sensory integration deficiencies for obese participants. The obese group have greater difficulty in synchronizing their movement with a visual stimulus. Considering that visual motor coordination is an essential component of many activities of daily living, any impairment could significantly affect quality of life.
Endocrine Abstracts, 2015
Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, tal... more Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, talk and participate in sports. These motor skills play a central role in children's lives and specifically allow them to be physically active and healthy. Recent evidence has been uncovered to suggest that obese children have increased difficulties in the planning, initiating and controlling of motor skills (D’Hondt et al., 2009). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of weight status on children's ability to coordinate and control their movements. It is believed that increased weight might affect children's ability to coordinate movements accurately compared to their normal weighted peers. If this is the case, the decreased perceptual-motor function might impede performance of everyday life activities as well as their willingness to participate in physical activity (Bouffard, 1996; Cairney et al 2005, 2006). This could offer new insight into why obese and over...
Endocrine Abstracts, 2015
All Ireland Postgraduate Conference in Sport Science and Physical Education, Jan 24, 2014
Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, tal... more Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, talk and participate in sports. These motor skills play a central role in children's lives and specifically allow them to be physically active and healthy. Recent evidence has been uncovered to suggest that obese children have increased difficulties in the planning, initiating and controlling of motor skills (D’Hondt et al., 2009). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of weight status on children's ability to coordinate and control their movements. It is believed that increased weight might affect children's ability to coordinate movements accurately compared to their normal weighted peers. If this is the case, the decreased perceptual-motor function might impede performance of everyday life activities as well as their willingness to participate in physical activity (Bouffard, 1996; Cairney et al 2005, 2006). This could offer new insight into why obese and overweight children have difficulty in engaging in physical activity thus increasing the likelihood of becoming obese in adulthood.
Methodological Overview and Implementation Plan
This study will be of cross sectional design sampling obese (n=60) and lean (n=60) children between the ages of 6-12 years of age. The obese cohort will be recruited from the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department of Our Lady's Children Hospital Crumlin while lean children will be recruited from local schools.
The study will consist of two different measures to assess children’s coordination ability. The first stage, the children will be tested using the validated Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2), to evaluate their fine motor skill proficiency. The BOT-2 provides a variety of fun and engaging activities which test the multiple components of fine motor skills. We will implement these tests to examine the effect of increased weight on each constituent of fine motor skill performance (e.g. fine motor skill precision, sensory integration, manual dexterity etc.)
The second part of testing will use a custom device, the multisensory seat which employs the movement of a handheld pendulum and a number of auditory and/or visual stimuli to measure children’s coordination ability. This device helps us 1) examine the sensory integration ability of children and 2) analyse to what weighting children place on each stimuli (visual and/or auditory).
Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such a... more Fine motor skill proficiency is an essential component of numerous daily living activities such as dressing, feeding or playing. Poor fine motor skills can lead to difficulties in academic achievement, increased anxiety and poor self-esteem. Recent findings have shown that children's gross motor skill proficiency tends to fall below established developmental norms. A question remains: do fine motor skill proficiency levels also fall below developmental norms? The aim of this study was to examine the current level of fine motor skill in Irish children. Children (N = 253) from 2nd, 4th and 6th grades (mean age = 7.12, 9.11 and 11.02 respectively) completed the Fine Motor Composite of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd Edition (BOT-2). Analysis revealed that only 2nd grade children met the expected level of fine motor skill proficiency. It was also found that despite children's raw scores improving with age, children's fine motor skill proficiency was not progressing at the expected rate given by normative data. This leads us to question the role and impact of modern society on fine motor skills development over the past number of decades.
Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and moveme... more Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and movement outcome during a visual rhythmic coordination task. Methods. 88 participants (44 obese and 44 matched control) sat on a chair equipped with a wrist pendulum oscillating in the sagittal plane. The task was to swing the pendulum in synchrony with a moving visual stimulus displayed on a screen. Results. Obese participants demonstrated significantly (í µí± < 0.01) higher values for continuous relative phase (CRP) indicating poorer level of coordination, increased movement variability (í µí± < 0.05), and a larger amplitude (í µí± < 0.05) than their healthy weight counterparts. Conclusion. These results highlight the existence of visual sensory integration deficiencies for obese participants. The obese group have greater difficulty in synchronizing their movement with a visual stimulus. Considering that visual motor coordination is an essential component of many activities of daily living, any impairment could significantly affect quality of life.
Endocrine Abstracts, 2015
Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, tal... more Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, talk and participate in sports. These motor skills play a central role in children's lives and specifically allow them to be physically active and healthy. Recent evidence has been uncovered to suggest that obese children have increased difficulties in the planning, initiating and controlling of motor skills (D’Hondt et al., 2009). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of weight status on children's ability to coordinate and control their movements. It is believed that increased weight might affect children's ability to coordinate movements accurately compared to their normal weighted peers. If this is the case, the decreased perceptual-motor function might impede performance of everyday life activities as well as their willingness to participate in physical activity (Bouffard, 1996; Cairney et al 2005, 2006). This could offer new insight into why obese and over...
Endocrine Abstracts, 2015
All Ireland Postgraduate Conference in Sport Science and Physical Education, Jan 24, 2014
Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, tal... more Motor skills are the basis for any bodily movement. They allow children to read, write, walk, talk and participate in sports. These motor skills play a central role in children's lives and specifically allow them to be physically active and healthy. Recent evidence has been uncovered to suggest that obese children have increased difficulties in the planning, initiating and controlling of motor skills (D’Hondt et al., 2009). The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of weight status on children's ability to coordinate and control their movements. It is believed that increased weight might affect children's ability to coordinate movements accurately compared to their normal weighted peers. If this is the case, the decreased perceptual-motor function might impede performance of everyday life activities as well as their willingness to participate in physical activity (Bouffard, 1996; Cairney et al 2005, 2006). This could offer new insight into why obese and overweight children have difficulty in engaging in physical activity thus increasing the likelihood of becoming obese in adulthood.
Methodological Overview and Implementation Plan
This study will be of cross sectional design sampling obese (n=60) and lean (n=60) children between the ages of 6-12 years of age. The obese cohort will be recruited from the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department of Our Lady's Children Hospital Crumlin while lean children will be recruited from local schools.
The study will consist of two different measures to assess children’s coordination ability. The first stage, the children will be tested using the validated Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2), to evaluate their fine motor skill proficiency. The BOT-2 provides a variety of fun and engaging activities which test the multiple components of fine motor skills. We will implement these tests to examine the effect of increased weight on each constituent of fine motor skill performance (e.g. fine motor skill precision, sensory integration, manual dexterity etc.)
The second part of testing will use a custom device, the multisensory seat which employs the movement of a handheld pendulum and a number of auditory and/or visual stimuli to measure children’s coordination ability. This device helps us 1) examine the sensory integration ability of children and 2) analyse to what weighting children place on each stimuli (visual and/or auditory).