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Spatial Cognition in Children With Physical Disability; What Is the Impact of Restricted Independent Exploration?
Emily K Farran1, Valerie Critten2, Yannick Courbois3
1School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom.
Insights
Physical disability minimally impacts spatial cognition in children with learning difficulties. While wheelchair users showed specific challenges in mental rotation, overall spatial skills were largely comparable to typically developing peers.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Science
Background:
- Motor ability and spatial skills are developmentally intertwined.
- Physical disability (PD) may influence spatial cognition due to altered physical exploration.
- Investigating PD's impact is crucial for understanding developmental trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the effect of physical disability on spatial cognition in children.
- To differentiate the impact of wheelchair use versus independent locomotion on spatial skills.
- To compare spatial performance between children with PD and typically developing (TD) children.
Main Methods:
- Fifty-three children with special educational needs including PD were assessed.
- Participants were categorized into wheelchair users (n=34) and independent locomotion (n=19).
- Spatial tasks included mental rotation, spatial programming, and virtual reality navigation.
Main Results:
- Spatial performance generally correlated with non-verbal ability across groups.
- Children using wheelchairs underperformed on the mental rotation task relative to their non-verbal ability.
- Both PD groups exhibited distinct error patterns in spatial programming compared to TD children.
Conclusions:
- The unique developmental impact of physical disability on spatial ability, beyond learning difficulties, appears minimal.
- Wheelchair use may present specific challenges in tasks like mental rotation.
- Further research can explore targeted interventions for spatial skill development in children with PD.
Abstract:
Given the developmental inter-relationship between motor ability and spatial skills, we investigated the impact of physical disability (PD) on spatial cognition. Fifty-three children with special educational needs including PD were divided into those who were wheelchair users (n = 34) and those with independent locomotion ability (n = 19). This division additionally enabled us to determine the impact of limited independent physical exploration (i.e., required wheelchair use) on spatial competence. We compared the spatial performance of children in these two PD groups to that of typically developing (TD) children who spanned the range of non-verbal ability of the PD groups. Participants completed three spatial tasks; a mental rotation task, a spatial programming task and a desktop virtual reality (VR) navigation task. Levels of impairment of the PD groups were broadly commensurate with their overall level of non-verbal ability. The exception to this was the performance of the PD wheelchair group on the mental rotation task, which was below that expected for their level of non-verbal ability. Group differences in approach to the spatial programming task were evident in that both PD groups showed a different error pattern from the TD group. These findings suggested that for children with both learning difficulties and PD, the unique developmental impact on spatial ability of having physical disabilities, over and above the impact of any learning difficulties, is minimal.
