Fluency and Fine Motor Skills Training
Alice Scattolin, Vanessa Artoni, Samantha Giannatiempo, Federica Martino, Federica Berardo
Fine motor skills are important skills for the execution of various complex tasks that affect the development of important life autonomies. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a Fluency Based Instruction (Binder, 1990; 1996; 2010) to train fine motor skills in order to promote autonomy in daily life activities. The research participant was an 18-year-old girl with Down syndrome and a diagnosis of moderate intellectual disability (DSM-5, APA, 2013). The student presented a reader and writer level of verbal development (Greer & Ross, 2008) and was beginning to acquire a certain degree of independence in self-care, good academic skills and an adequate ability to communicate. A single-subject pre- and post-probe design was used for the study (Cooper, Heron & Heward, 1987). There were three dependent variables: (a) percentage of correct answers issued when fastening the zip of a jacket; (b) percentage of correct answers issued when buttoning up trousers and (c) percentage of correct answers issued when unbuttoning trousers. The independent variable was the use of fluency training to train basic motor movements defined for the acquisition of manipulation skills, known in literature as the Big 6. The results obtained showed that training the Big 6 through training based on fluency appears to be an effective procedure, as demonstrated by post probe data in which an increase in the percentage of correct answers was recorded for all three variables examined. This study therefore highlights the effectiveness of using training to enhance fine motor skills in order to improve the life autonomy of individuals with motor difficulties.
Keywords
Big 6, Fluency, Down syndrome.
