The Effects of Ergonomic Desk with Regard to Motor Accuracy in the Writing Performance of the Students with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the effects of ergonomic desk design for improving motor accuracy in the writing performance of cerebral palsy students. Thirty-two cerebral palsy students were tested in four workstations. Work surface design involved a regular work surface and a cut-out work surface, and desk angle design included a horizontal desk top and a 20° inclined desktop. The height of the desk and chair were adjustable. We compared the writing performance of each subject by administering the Motor Accuracy Test. The writing performance was obtained by accuracy score and adjusted score. Results showed that accuracy score didn't reach the significant level (p=0.0593); however, adjusted score was significantly (p<0.05) better at the cutout table than at the regular table. And students with athetoid benefited from the cutout surface significantly. These results indicated that a cutout work surface elicited significantly better tracing performance than a regular work surface did.