Effect of SPARK Program on Visual-Motor Skills of Children With Profound Hearing Loss and a Cochlear Implant

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a selected motor program on visual-motor skills of children (3 to 6 years) with profound hearing loss and a cochlear implant.

Participants were selected purposefully from a rehabilitation center in Tehran and divided into two groups experiment (n=10) and control (n=12) according to their scores on Gardner’s Test of Visual-Motor Skills. Visual-motor skill pretest was taken from two control and experimental groups by the test of visual motor skills revised (TVMSR). The experiment group subjects contributed in the SPARK program for 8 weeks, three sessions per week with 45 minutes in each session.

A posttest was taken of both groups after completion the course of intervention program. Analyze of Covariance test were conducted for data analysis (α = 0.05). Results showed that there was no significant difference between groups for TVMSR score before the intervention program but, it was significant after program course. However, effect of the program on visual spatial skill (P=0.002), visual analysis skills (P=0.010) and visual motor integration (P=0.002) was significant.

In conclusion, appropriate training opportunities may lead to improvement on visual-motor skills in children with profound hearing loss and a cochlear implant.