Gross Motor Skill Development in Children with Learning Disabilities
[Source: Research in Developmental Disabilities via Your Therapy Source]
Research in Developmental Disabilities published a longitudinal study on the gross motor skill development of children with learning disabilities (LD). Fifty six children with LD, ages 7-11 years old along with 253 typically developing children were assessed annually for three years with the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD).
The results indicated the following:
- the ball skills of children with LD improved with age especially between 7 and 9 years
- the locomotor skills did not improve with age
- boys had higher ball skill scores than girls and these differences were constant over time
- typically developing children outperformed the children with LD on the locomotor skills and ball skills at all ages, except the locomotor skills at age 7.
- children with LD developed their ball skills later in the primary school-period compared to typically developing peers
- 11 year-old children with LD had a lag in locomotor skills and ball skills of at least four and three years, respectively, compared to their peers
Reference: Westerndorp, M et al. A longitudinal study on gross motor development in children with learning disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities. Volume 35, Issue 2, February 2014, Pages 357–363
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