The aim of this work was to gather different perspectives on the "key ingredients" involved in creative writing by children--from experts of diverse disciplines, including teachers, linguists, psychologists, writers and art educators. Ultimately, we sought in the experts' convergence or divergence insights on the relative importance of the…

As one of the recognized media of the Orff-Schulwerk method of music instruction, movement is fundamental to music specialists' teaching. It can embody the mantra of "sound before sign," and provide the means by which students experience the kinesthetic learning that is so natural to their musical development. Because there are multiple…

This study examined the impact of a short-time coordination program conducted during recess periods on improving agility in elementary school students. The subjects consisted of 60 third grade students, who were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 29) and a control group (n = 31). The experimental group completed a coordination program…

Purpose: The present study examined associations of 5 endophenotypes (i.e., measurable skills that are closely associated with speech sound disorders and are useful in detecting genetic influences on speech sound production), oral motor skills, phonological memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and speeded naming, with 3 clinical criteria…

Background: Games represent a very important part of the physical education curriculum and the process by which they are learnt is very complex. Constructive teaching theories highlight the existence of knowledge prior to instruction that the pupil actively transforms through verbalisation and interaction with classmates. The results of research…

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) commissioned a multi-part study to determine the viability of using the drawing response interaction on the PARCC Mathematics Assessment. This study in particular focused on students with disabilities. PARCC has over 40 interaction types on the summative assessments. Why…

Developmental dyslexia is believed to involve a phonological deficit of which the exact properties have not been clearly established. This article presents the findings of a longitudinal case study that suggest that, at least for some people with dyslexia, the fundamental problem involves a disturbance of temporal-spatial ordering abilities. A…

Research has shown that children with learning disabilities exhibit considerable challenges with visual motor integration. While there are specialized Occupational Therapy interventions aimed at visual motor integration, computer games and virtual toys have now become increasingly popular, forming an integral part of children's learning and play.…

Students' proficiency in three object control and three locomotor skills were assessed in 2000 (M age = 10.06 years, SD = 0.63) in New South Wales, Australia and in 2006-07 (M age = 16.44 years, SD = 0.64). In 2006-07, 266 students, 138 girls (51.9%) and 128 boys (48.1%), had at least one skill reassessed. Boys were more object control proficient…

Our goal was to investigate the role of body mass index (BMI) and motor competence (MC) in children's physical activity (PA) levels during physical education (PE) classes. We assessed PA levels of 5-to-10-year old children ("n" = 264) with pedometers in four PE classes. MC was assessed using the TGMD-2 and BMI values were classified…

Occupational therapists assess fine motor, visual motor, visual perception, and visual skill development, but knowledge of the relationships between scores on sensorimotor performance measures and handwriting legibility and speed is limited. Ninety-nine students in grades three to six with learning and/or behavior problems completed the Upper-Limb…

The ability to learn temporal patterns in sequenced actions was investigated in elementary-school age children. Temporal learning depends upon a process of integrating timing patterns with action sequences. Children ages 6-13 and young adults performed a serial response time task in which a response and a timing sequence were presented repeatedly…

Background: After-school programs (ASPs, 3 pm to 6 pm) have been called upon to increase the amount of daily physical activity children accumulate and improve the nutritional quality of the snacks served. To this end, state and national physical activity and nutrition (PAaN) policies have been proposed. Frontline staff who directly interact with…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Primary Movement programme on the fine motor skills of children in an early years setting in an area of high social disadvantage. Primary Movement is a programme which can be used as an early intervention technique to help children inhibit persistent primary reflexes that have been shown to…

This article presents an art project designed for upper-elementary students to (1) imagine visual differences in the sun's appearance during the four seasons; (2) develop ideas for visually translating their personal experiences regarding the seasons to their sun drawings; (3) create four distinctive seasonal suns using colors and imagery to…