RELATIONSHIP OF MOTOR DEVELOPMENT TO ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

The aim of the study was to evaluate motor development and adaptive behavior of visually impaired children and adolescents without the simultaneous existence of impairment, aged 6-14 years old. Thirty-seven (37) children and adolescents with visual impairment and thirty seven (37) children and adolescents without visual impairment took part in the study. Children and adolescents with visual impairment attended the Special Education Primary Schools for the Blind at four of the biggest cities in Greece. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2) (Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005) was used to evaluate motor development of the participants. Also, the Teacher Rating Scale (Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition Sparrow, Balla and Cicchetti, 2005) was used to evaluate adaptive behavior. For the statistical analysis of the data the SPSS version 20.0 statistical package was used. The results of the research revealed that the performance of visually impaired children and adolescents in terms of their motor development and adaptive behavior was lower than that of their peers. At the same time, a convergence was found between the variables motor development and adaptive behavior of children and adolescents with visual impairment. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to a smoother school and social adaptation of visually impaired children and adolescents