Depth Perception of Elementary School Students with Qualitatively Evidenced Locomotor Impairments

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine differences in depth perception of students classified according to their gross locomotor skills. The seven qualitative gross locomotor tasks of Ulrich's Test of Gross and Motor Development were used to classify 162 students as either motor impaired (n1 =27) or nonimpaired (n2= 135). The Howard Dollman Apparatus was used to measure depth perception. Analysis showed that the motor-impaired group scored significantly lower than the nonimpaired group on depth perception. Discriminant function analysis indicated that only the running task separated the students by depth perception scores. Subsequent multiple regression analysis confirmed that the running task, along with sliding and galloping, were significant predictors of the students' perception of the third dimension. Physical educators working with students with gross locomotor impairments or low perception of the third dimension need to adjust their teaching and offer opportunities for successful involvement in physical education classes and sports.

Specifically designed physical exercise programs improve children's motor abilities

“…Balance and coordination rely on the interaction of multiple functions like visual and auditive perceptions, as well as cardiovascular and motor control. Moreover, trained children develop their perceptual motor skills and consequently can better process information regarding their place in space and time (Skordilis et al, 2004). Accordingly, the coordinative abilities that we measured in this study were all improved by the training protocol.…”

Competitive State Anxiety and Performance in Young Female Rhythmic Gymnasts

“…The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Norusis, 1993) was used for the analyses. Initially, the sample was separated into two groups (Koutsouki, 1986;Acevedo, Dzewaltowski, Gill, & Noble, 1992;Takei & Dunn, 1996;Hardy, et al, 2004;Skordilis, Douka, Spartali, & Koutsouki, 2004), according to the median split of their respective all-around competition scores, as either high or low. Accordingly, the multivariate (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2001) and univariate (Grimm, 1993) diff erences were examined with Bonferroni adjustment (.05/3 = .02), between the high-and low-score groups, on the three CSAI-2 subscales (Cognitive Anxiety, Somatic Anxiety, and Self-confi dence).…”

Eye movements and binocular function in low birthweight teenagers

“…A wide range of everyday activities, from reading to running down stairs, are made more difficult by impaired stereopsis, defective accommodative amplitude, poor convergence or other defects in ocular motor ability (Skordilis et al 2004;Abdi & Rydberg 2005;Sterner et al 2006). Full function of these visual systems requires the cerebral structures involved to be undamaged.…”