Reviews some models used for conceptualizing the possible developmental implications of blindness and severe visual impairment. Questions the implications of visual impairment for certain skills, especially motor, in infancy. Addresses ways of mitigating the potentially educationally handicapping consequences of visual disability for school-aged…

This article focuses on postural anticipation and multi-joint coordination during locomotion in healthy and autistic children. Three questions were addressed: (1) Are gait parameters modified in autistic children? (2) Is equilibrium control affected in autistic children? (3) Is locomotion adjusted to the experimenter-imposed goal? Six healthy…

The purpose of this study was to assess whether verbal-motor performances deficits exhibited by individuals with Down syndrome limited their ability to acquire gross motor skills when given visual and verbal instruction together and then transferred to either a visual or verbal instructional mode to reproduce the movement. Nine individuals with…

This paper describes and supports (through citations of published literature) hands-on and personalized activities that help English (and any other) language learners of all ages and skill levels to acquire and express integrated reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. The paper discusses use of motor activities, video, graphic art works…

Development occurs according to the rhythm that is established by the genetic potential and the influence of environmental factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the child's residence area and maternal education on child's motor development. Eight hundred children (384 boys and 416 girls, aged 37-72 months), randomly…

Government Ministers, health care professionals and sporting organisations throughout the UK are presently engaged in the promotion of extending the length of time each school child spends participating in quality physical education. Agendas may differ from a crackdown on obesity and sedentary lifestyles to basking in reflected glory of British…

The reported study aimed to identify the effects of two 10-week intervention programs on fundamental locomotor skill performance in kindergarten children. Seventy-five children with mean age 5.4 plus or minus 0.5 years participated. Experimental Group A followed a movement program, experimental Group B followed a music and movement program, and…

A combination of physical fitness tests designed to be administered to a wide spectrum of the population, male and female, children and adults, is described. Three tests are included in this battery--motor fitness, physical fitness, and sports fitness. The philosophy behind this test structure is that motor fitness tests only measure and indicate…

After a 10-week physical training program for 11 motorically handicapped Dutch children, aged eight to l4, the experimental group (N=6) demonstrated a significant increase in physical efficiency and classroom attention scores. Follow-up showed that both groups' physical efficiency scores deteriorated and that experimentals' attention scores…

How infants come to master reaching for moving objects was studied in a situation where the distance to and the velocity of the moving object varied. Eleven infants participated in the study. (MP)

Protein-energy malnutrition in early childhood, as seen in many developing countries, influences subsequent behavior and intellectual performance. These impairments are associated with further reduction in fine motor skills and academic performance. (Author)

Changes in upper/lower lip integrated electromyographic (IEMG) amplitude and temporal measures related to linguistic factors known for their influence on stuttering were investigated in 12 male Dutch nonstutterers. Findings indicated that production of stressed, vowel-rounding gestures of words in initial position, longer words, and words in…

Reports the use of the Extended Logistic Model (ELM) of Rasch (D. Andrich, 1988) to validate the reduction of continuous motor-skill data to categorize performance. Data from 332 Australian preprimary and primary school students show that application of the ELM can provide a check on the quality of the rating mechanism. (SLD)

Used the Rasch measurement model to explore the construct of a general motor ability in 332 5- and 6-year-old Australian children performing 24 motor skills. After categorizing data, two different, unidimensional scales were created, one for boys and one for girls. (SLD)

In this study, 12 participants with various levels of motor and speech deficits were tested to explore their reading skills in relation to letter knowledge, speech level, auditory discrimination, phonological awareness, language skills, digit span, and nonverbal IQ. Two subgroups, based on a median split of reading performance, are described: the…