Browsing by Author "Botha, Sharnay"
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- ItemThe effect of a perceptual-motor intervention on the motor proficiency, letter recognition and -formation of selected Grade 1 children(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Botha, Sharnay; Africa, Eileen KatherineENGLISH ABSTRACT: The growing sedentary lifestyles among today’s school-going youth, have negative effects on their physical development and academic performance. Children need to move in order to learn and develop. During Grade 1, children experience a rapid increase in their motor and cognitive development. It is,therefore, important to establish healthy and active habits during this developmental period. This period (ages 5 to 7 years) is strongly related to improved academic performance, as well as the onset of perceptual-motor development. Perceptual-motor integration is important for both gross motor development and academic achievement. The purpose of the current study was to improve the motor proficiency, letter recognition and -formation (reading and spelling) skills of selected Grade 1 children by implementing a perceptual-motor intervention and determining the relationships between these variables. The Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Second Edition Short Form(BOT-2) was used to measure children’s gross and fine motor proficiency; the ESSI Reading and Spelling test was used to test reading and spelling abilities and the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration 6th Edition (BeeryVMI) was used to evaluate participants’ visual-motor integration (VMI) skills. Two primary schools were selected through convenient sampling. Two Grade 1 classes from each school were randomly selected and the learners were randomly assigned to an experimental (n=50) and control group (n=50). Of the total participants initially evaluated(N=100), 3 participants had to be excluded due to health reasons and non-attendance. Therefore, the final sample size was 97 (N=97), with 48 in the experimental group (n=48) and 49 in the control group (n=49). After pre-tests, the experimental group participated in a 12-week perceptual-motor intervention that consisted of two 60-minute sessions per week. The intervention focused on perceptual-motor skills, which included body awareness, spatial awareness, balance, visual perception and directional awareness and incorporated letters into the activities. After the 12-week intervention, participants underwent a post-test to measure the effects of the intervention. All data were statistically analysed by applying repeated measures ANOVA and Pearson correlations. The results revealed that the 12-week perceptual-motor intervention was effective in significantly improving participants’ overall motor proficiency, VMI, reading and spelling skills. Results also indicated statistically significant positive correlations between motor proficiency, reading and spelling. Another finding revealed a significant improvement in participants’ fine motor skills. As the intervention consisted of predominantly gross motor movements, it could be assumed that gross motor skills are essential for the development of fine motor skills. This study provides unique contributions to the field of early childhood development investigating the relationship between gross motor development and academic performance. It provides sufficient evidence that gross motor movements can be beneficial for children’s physical and academic skills.