Kinematic movement strategies in primary school children with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome compared to age- and IQ-matched controls during visuo-manual tracking.
Kids with 22q11.2DS move fast but can’t adjust mid-flight—build in extra time and visual feedback, not more drawing drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Van Aken et al. (2010) watched kids move a stylus to follow a dot on a screen. The kids had 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. A control group had the same age and IQ.
Cameras tracked every tiny hand twitch. The team looked at speed, accuracy, and course corrections.
What they found
Kids with 22q11.2DS moved faster but missed the target more often. They also made fewer mid-move fixes. The study calls this a ‘ballistic’ style: shoot first, adjust later.
In plain words, they can start a movement quickly but struggle to steer it while it’s happening.
How this fits with other research
Storch et al. (2012) saw the same slow-accurate trade-off using timed versus untimed pencil tasks. Both papers blame psychomotor speed, not poor vision or weak muscles.
Cignetti et al. (2018) tested kids with DCD and found a different problem: slow muscle shut-off. Together the studies show that fast starts plus poor mid-course fixes create a double handicap.
de Leeuw et al. (2024) reviewed digital games for motor skills. Their positive results hint that game-like practice could help the 22q11.2 group, but no trial has tested it yet.
Why it matters
If you write goals for fine-motor tasks, break them into two parts: quick start and online fix. Give kids extra seconds to finish the line, not just to start it. Use visual guides they can see while moving. Digital games that slow the target and give instant feedback may train both speed and accuracy—worth a pilot test in your next session.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a 3-second pause rule during tracing tasks so the child can see and correct before the next stroke.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study focused on the mechanism subserving the production of kinematic patterns in 21 children with 22q11.2DS (mean age=9.6+/-1.9; mean FSIQ=73.05+/-10.2) and 21 age- and IQ-matched control children (mean age=9.6+/-1.9; mean FSIQ=73.38+/-12.0) when performing a visuo-manual tracking task in which they had to track a cursor rhythmically between 2 target zones. Children with 22q11.2DS moved faster (overall) and reached their maximum velocity sooner when compared to controls. However, the number of corrective submovements to attain the target did not differ. Children with 22q11.2DS seem to adopt a young ballistic movement strategy, with a fast ballistic first movement phase, followed by a second movement phase with very little online corrections to attain the target. Children with 22q11.2DS are not able to process the incoming feedback during the second movement phase to maximize the accuracy of the ongoing movement and use this phase to prepare the following. The fact that the parietal cortex and cerebellum are involved in action prediction and internal representation and are implicated in children with 22q11.2DS provides a possible neurological basis for their problems with prospective control and tracking behavior.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.01.019