The effects of a sensory motor development programme on selected variables of school readiness

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether a sensory motordevelopment programme could have an effect on some of the underlying physicaland perceptual abilities that support school readiness. The control groupconsisted of 23 children and the two intervention groups of 79 children in total. Allof the children were enrolled in a pre-primary school programme in a localcommunity. They were all six years old by the end of the intervention. TheMovement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) wasused to assess the children on their manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination,static balance and dynamic balance. The intervention programme consisted oftwo phases of 10 weeks each, during which the sensory motor developmentactivities were presented to the two intervention groups.Results of the investigation revealed there were significant improvements for someof the children on selected variables that underlie school readiness. It can beconcluded that participation in a sensory motor development programme canmake a significant contribution to school readiness for many children.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University