Die verband tussen ontwikkelingskoördinasieversteuring, akademiese prestasie en visueel-motoriese-integrasie by leerders : die NW-CHILD studie

MSc (Kinderkinetics), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2016Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) exhibit deficits in acquiring and performing motor skills, which lead to poor and uncoordinated implementation of everyday tasks and poor academic performance. Several deficiencies co-occur with DCD and have a negative impact on several developmental domains of these children. Academic performance is affected by delays in motor skills performance, because the development of skills such as visual-motor integration and visual perception serves as a foundation for future cognitive abilities. This study's aim was twofold. The first objective was to determine which visual-motor integration skills in ten-year-old children in the North-West Province of South Africa with DCD will have the largest contribution in the possible relationship between DCD, visual-motor integration and academic achievement. Secondly, the aim was to determine whether significant differences will occur in the academic performance of ten-year-old boys and girls identified with DCD in the North-West Province. A sub-population from one of four regions that formed part of the NW-CHILD study was included in the study and data collected in 2013 as part of this project were used. The sub-population has formed part of the NW-CHILD longitudinal study since 2010, spanning over six years (2010-2016) and representing five schools, including Quintile 1 to Quintile 5 schools. The 221 participants (10.5 years ± 0.41) who participated in the study were randomly selected and lived in the Zeerust region in the North-West Province of South Africa. Participants' motor skills were evaluated by use of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) and the DCD status of participants were determined when learners who fell below the 16th percentile and performed inadequately in two or more academic learning areas, were identified. The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration, 4th edition (VMI-4) was used to evaluate the group's visual-motor integration-, visual perception- and motor coordination skills. The academic performance of each learner in the study was determined by using both the June progress reports from each school as well as the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results of 2013. The "Statistica for Windows 2014" computer software package was used for data processing. Data were analysed primarily for description purposes on the basis of means (M), standard deviation (SD) and minimum and maximum values. For the first objective correlation coefficients were used to determine the relationship between the various components of the MABC-2, VMI-4 and the academic learning areas. A stepwise regression analysis was further used to determine the best predictor for the possible relationship between DCD, visual-motor integration and academic achievement. For the second objective an independent T-test was used to analyse statistically significant differences between boys and girls, where p≤0.05 was accepted as a statistically significant difference. A Mann-Whitney non-parametric test was also used to confirm practical significant differences found, due to the small group of participants identified with DCD. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between DCD, visual-motor integration and academic achievement. Visual perception shows correlations during the June assessment opportunity, respectively with natural sciences (r=0.42), English (r=0.36) and mathematics (r=0.30), as well as during the ANA with English (r=0.32) and mathematics (r=0.46). Motor coordination also shows a correlation with Afrikaans (r=0.31) with a medium practical effect. It was also found that visual perception contributed the most towards predicting academic performance, where it has contributed to 16.36% of the variance in the average of the learners, while motor coordination (handedness) emerged in a smaller way as a predictor. Girls (n=7) with DCD performed academically significantly better than boys with DCD (n=7). Boys, however, obtained practical significantly lower standard scores for balance, manual dexterity and MABC-2 in total than the girls, which implies bigger coordination problems within the group of boys with DCD. A higher overall academic average (43.56%, p=0.04), as well as better language (p=0.02) and maths performance was also found amongst the girls with DCD. This study's results also confirm clear academic problems in children of both genders with DCD, where the highest average for any learning area was only 53.0% for girls and boys. The conclusion that can be drawn from these results is that visual perception plays a significant role in academic achievement of ten-year-old children. The study also confirms that girls and boys with DCD have academic problems and that the coordination- and academic problems of boys with DCD are more serious compared to girls with DCD.Master