The Relation of Motor Skills and Proprioception in Children with Learning Difficulties

Proprioception is one of the necessary factors in the successful performance of fine and gross motor skills.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between motor competencies and upper extremities’s proprioception sense levels in children aged 11-13 with a diagnosis of special learning difficulty.

In the study, upper extremities proprioception sensory level measurements of a total of 20 children (16 boys and 4 girls) aged 11-13 years (12,5±0,73) with a diagnosis of special learning difficulty were made from the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. Motor proficiency was measured by the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. The parameters were analyzed to identify the relationship between motor skill and proprioception.

It has been observed that the motor skills of children with a diagnosis of special learning difficulty are related to the perception of upper extremity proprioception. No significant relationship was observed between agility and the upper extremities’s proprioception, which is one of the items of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. It was concluded that there is a significant relationship between shoulder and elbow flexion and wrist extension proprioception measures and motor abilities of children with a diagnosis of learning difficulty (p<0,05). A significant correlation was found between upper extremity proprioception, fine motor accuracy, fine motor integration, endurance, coordination, and balance.

In this context, it will be useful to have activities to develop the sense of proprioception for the development of motor skills in children with special learning difficulties.