Investigation of motor development levels of 04-06 age group girls and boys according to bruininks-oseretsky test

Abstract

Motor skills are the physical elements that enable movement. Basic skills at an early age form the basis for activities that require much more complex motor skills specific to sports. These basic skills are called basic motor skills and include activities such as throwing, jumping, running, catching and hitting. Basic movement skills form the basis of sport-specific skills to be acquired later. In this respect, it is important to measure the basic movement skills of children and to monitor these skill levels. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the motor development levels of children aged 04-06 according to the Bruininks-Oseretsky test.The population of the study consists of children between the ages of 4-6 attending kindergartens and nursery schools in Rize in 2018-2019 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 286 healthy children, 150 boys and 136 girls, selected by random method. The short form of this conversion of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Proficiency Test (BOT-2) was used as a measurement tool. Normality test was applied to the obtained data. It was observed that the data had normal distribution in some sub-groups and not normal distribution in some others. Then, t-test or Mann-Whitney-U test was applied for two in- dependent groups in pair wise comparisons at a = 0.05 significance level, and One-Way ANOVA test or Kruskal-Wallis H test was applied in comparisons of three or more.According to the test results, there was a significant difference in the gross motor skills of children according to gender and age (U0.05; -3,538; p<0.05; X2(2), n=286, 101,754 p<0.05). There was also a significant difference in gross motor skills of children according to school type (X2 (2), n=286, 14,358 p<0.05). There were no significant differences in hand coordination and strength and agility tests according to gender (U0.05; -1,066; -1,077; p>0.05) and in hand control test according to school type (f2,283; 0.004; p>0.05). As a result, it can be said that the gross motor development levels of 4-6 year old children vary according to gender, age and school type. In line with the results, games involving physical activity such as running, jumping, climbing and playing ball should be encouraged for 4-6 year old children. Such games can provide children with a fun activity while developing fine and gross motor skills.