Comparison of motor skills between gifted and normal children

Purpose was to compare motor skills and abilities of gifted and normal children. Subjects were 13 gifted girls, 12 gifted boys, 12 normal girls, and 13 normal boys that were seven years old. Assessments used were the Short Form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP), handwriting samples, laterality measures, anthropometric data, and grip strength measured by hand dynamometer. Data were subjected to a Pearson product-moment correlation analysis and an analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significant differences between gifted and normal subjects were found on individual test items, gross motor ability, fine motor ability, overall motor performance as well as handwriting and laterality measures with the gifted children performing better on all measures. Significant sex differences were found on handwriting, laterality measures, grip strength and anthropometrics with girls doing better on handwriting and boys being larger and stronger. There were no significant sex differences in performance on the BOTMP. Significant intercorrelations between variables were also evident