Differentiation of Learning Disabled Children from Normal Children Using Four Coordination Tasks

Abstract

Fifty 8-year-old children, 25 classified as normal and 25 as learning disabled, participated in a study to determine whether they could be differentiated into their respective groups by using four tasks from the Devereux Test of Extremity Coordination: opposition, foot patting, finger wiggling, and heel-toe walking with the eyes closed. Each chilld received numerical scores based on the number of times he could perform a task in 10 seconds. A stepwise discriminant function analysis revealed that two tasks, opposition and foot patting, were significant discriminating variables. A resulting discriminant function prediction equation showed that, according to the results of the tasks tested, 78 percent of the sample had been correctly classified by previous methods.

Learning Disabled Students in Physical Education

“…Four years later, using the same test, Haubenstricker, Seefeldt, Fountain, and Sapp (1981) verified those findings. Kendrick and Hanten (1980) compared 25 nondisabled 8-year-olds with 25 learning disabled children of the same age and reported significant @ < .01) differences in their abilities to repeat a finger opposition task and to control repeated tapping of the ball of the foot. Gardner and Broman (1979) also found these children to have fine-motor coordination problems.…”

Development of lumbrical control in children aged four to six years

“…Denck1a (1973 and1974) assessed the child's ability to perform a number of fine motor tasks, including repetitive and successive finger-thumb opposition. Kendrick and Hanton (1980) and Gr.ant etal (1973) also studied the developmental sequence of repetitive finger-thumb opposition.VVhi1e it is apparent that the fingers are capable of many complex movements, research into the development of such patterns or the influence of these upon fine motor skills appears to have been limited largely to finger-thumb movements. One movement noted clinically to be important for effective hand functioning is that produced by lumbrical activity.…”

Motor Sequencing of Boys with Learning Disabilities: Modeling and Verbal Rehearsal Strategies

“…Motor sequencing is the serial ordering and integration of individual components to form smooth and efficient movement (Lazarus, 1990). Motor sequencing deficits of children with LD have been reported on various subtests (visual-motor control, upper limb speed and dexterity, and upper limb coordination) requiring sequencing (Bruininks, 1978;Bruininks & Bruininks, 1977), combining independent tasks to perform a series (Williams, Temple, & Bateman, 1977), performing a sequential hopping task (Halverson & Roberton, 1988), and on sequential motor tasks selected from the Devereaux Test of Extremity Coordination (Kendrick & Hanten, 1980). A possible explanation for deficits in motor sequencing may come from an information processing perspective, which posits that children with LD have not developed effective strategies for processing and using information (Kerr & Hughes, 1987).…”