Gross Motor Skills And Verbal Competences Of A Primary Aged Child

Abstract

Gross motor skills are considered to be in connection with different cognitive abilities. The relationship is not clearly stated in various contemporary researches. The research question: Is there a relationship between the level of gross motor skills of primary aged children and their verbal competences? The purpose of the study is to assess the relationship between the level of gross motor skills and verbal competences of children in primary school age within the project GF_PdF_2019_0003 and therefore contribute to problematics of connection between motor skills and cognitive abilities of a child. The research group consisted of 200 children from Czech elementary schools at the age 9,87 ± 0,65 years. For the assessment of gross motor skills was used TGMD-2 test battery. The verbal competences of a child were assessed by Czech version of Cognitive abilities test. The Ethics Committee approval of the authors department was obtained for the research. More than half of children (57 %) scored average level of gross motor skills. And bigger percentage (22,5 %) scored lower levels than average. The results indicate loose relationship between motor skills and verbal competences of a child in primary school age. Motor skills of the research group were mostly average and so were the verbal competences. But, both measured categories deserve higher focus from the primary teachers. Verbal expression will be useful for the child in future life and good motor skills can also allow better social connection in professional life.