The effect of motor sequential training on language development in 4-to 8-year-old deaf children with cochlear implants

Sequential learning is an inseparable part of language development. Children who have difficulty to perform sequential motor tasks are poorer in the language skills as well. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of sequential motor training on language development of children with the cochlear implant.

This study was quasi-experimental kind with pretest-posttest design, in which 22 children (9 girls and 13 boys) aged 4 to 8 years who were randomly selected and assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group underwent a twelve-week sequential motor training of taekwondo. Phonological awareness, reading and dyslexia tests (NEMA) were used to collect data on phonological awareness and reading performance, respectively. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance.

The results showed that, after the twelve weeks of taekwondo training, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in phonological awareness and reading performance.

According to the obtained results, there seems to be a strong relationship between language and motor systems, and sequential motor training, in the case of taekwondo training, which can be an effective exercise method to improve language skills of children with the cochlear implant