Priya Pabreja
December 9, 2005
Thesis Defense: Exploring and Identifying Gross Motor Coordination Deficits in
Children with Dyslexia
ABSTRACT
This project was designed to explore and identify gross motor coordination
deficits in children with dyslexia using two standardized motor assessment tests:
Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC) and the Test of Gross
Motor Development (TGMD). To address the first primary aim of the project, motor
performance of dyslexic children was compared to age and gender matched typically
developing (TD) children on four gross motor subtests: total balance, ball skills,
locomotor and object control. Performance of dyslexic children was found to be
significantly poorer than TD children on the total balance subtest. A second primary aim
was to explore if deficits in gross motor skills have the ability to discriminate dyslexic
children from TD. The results revealed that the four gross motor subtests failed to
discriminate between the two groups. Four additional secondary analyses were also
conducted. In the first secondary analysis, the total balance subtest was split up and
differences between the two groups were examined separately on measures of static and
dynamic balance. Another analysis involved examining group differences on the manual
dexterity (fine motor) subtest of Movement ABC. Performance of dyslexic children was
found to be poorer than TD children on static balance and manual dexterity, with
significant differences obtained between the two groups on static balance, while the
differences between the groups on manual dexterity approached significance. The results
obtained for the motor differences between dyslexic and TD children provide support to
an underlying cerebellar dysfunction in children with dyslexia, and suggest an
abnormality of particularly those cerebellar control mechanisms that regulate the speed of
movement/ influence time based motor performance. The third and fourth secondary
analyses involved exploring the age and gender based differences in motor performance
within the dyslexic group. The youngest dyslexic children performed better than their age
norms, as compared to the old dyslexic children in the sample. Such results indicate that
the structural/functional changes that lead to differing performance levels between
dyslexic children and others of the same age may not be rectifiable. Lastly, the gender
based comparisons within the dyslexic sample revealed dyslexic boys to be superior in
power/force dependent tasks, while the performance of girls was found to be better than
boys on postural control and fine motor tasks.