The Effects of Selected Physical Activities on Perceptual Motor Ability in Pre-school Children with Neuropsychological Learning Disabilities

One of the most common neurological disorders in pre-school children is neuropsychological disabilities. Disorders in performing perceptual motor movements (activities) are among the signs of this disorder in children. This study aimed to find out the effect of the selected physical activities on perceptual motor abilities in preschool children with neuropsychological disabilities. This study was experimental research with pre-test, post -test and control group. The subjects of this study included all 5-6 year-old children of kindergartens and preschool centers of Babol, in 2013. To select the sample, 120 parents of these children filled up Conner neurological - psychological questionnaire and 30 children (via convenience sampling) who received higher score in psychological-neural Conner questionnaire and did not have a proper motor conditions were selected randomly for inclusion in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control group, each with 15 persons. The selected motor program in this research was Spark movement program that includes strengthening activities, sports and games for children. This program was administered on experimental group for 15 sessions (each session 45 minutes and for 35 days). The Oseretsky- Lincoln test was used for assessment of perceptual motor skills in children. The data were analyzed by Multivariate analysis of covariance. The results showed that the selected program was effective for improving perceptual motor skills of children with neuropsychological disabilities (p<0.05); however, only in the velocity motor components no significant difference was observed. According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that sport and physical activities as an essential part of the daily program of these children can lead to the more useful results for these children.