Unger M.1, van der Walt J.1, Plastow N.2
1Stellenbosch University, Physiotherapy, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2Stellenbosch University, Occupational Therapy, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Background: Motor dysfunction hinders the development of scholastic skills needed to enter formal education. Numerous health conditions such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), HIV, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) etc. have been shown to affect normal motor development and in order to develop appropriate intervention strategies in poor resourced setting where access to specialized care is limited or absent, a better understanding of the extent of the problem was needed.
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe the level of motor functioning as determined by the Movement-ABC 2 in pre-school children (five to seven years old) attending public schools within in the West Coast of SA.
Methods: A crossectional descriptive (prevalence) study in which multistage cluster sampling was used to identify 6 schools from which all pre-school learners were invited to participate. N=138 children were assessed using the M-ABC-2. Prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals were determined. Demographic and other factors were analysed descriptively and Pearsons chi square tests were used to explore associations. Level of significance was set at p 0.05.
Results: The prevalence of motor impairment in the region is very high with 14.5% compared to global reports of 5-10% (for DCD) among the general population. > 24% presented with manual dexterity difficulties; 18.1% had balance difficulties; while only 4.3% had difficulties with aiming and catching. Boys are more likely to have difficulties with manual dexterity than girls and children attending schools with limited or no playground had significantly more difficulties with manual dexterity and balance than those attending schools with an extensive playground. Low weight was another associated risk factor.
Conclusion(s): The prevalence of children presenting with motor skills difficulties in this region is high which poses a significant challenge to health and rehabilitation professionals. Risk factors identified to be associated with poorer motor performance include gender (male), access to playgrounds (no access) and weight (low).
Implications: There is increasing evidence that motor performance is associated with numeracy and literacy. Given the poor scholastic achievement reported in these schools, it is hypothesised that the low level of motor functioning is a contributing factor and as such supports the need to develop school-based intervention programs to address the motor deficits found in this age-group.
Funding acknowledgements: Self-funded with a contribution from the Occupational Therapy Departmental funds
Topic: Paediatrics
Ethics approval: Project was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee Stellenbosch University (N14/08/109)
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
