Identification of Children with Motor Coordination Problems

Abstract

This study focuses on identification of children with motor coordination problems and investigates whether the incidence of children with such problems in a normal school setting in Norway is comparable to that found in other countries using the same tests and criteria. The study also examines whether there would be any agreement between two motor tests, the Test of Motor Proficiency (TMP) and the Test of Motor Impairment (TOMI), and teachers’ judgment in identifying clumsiness among 360 children 10 years of age. The results showed that while the three different assessment methods identified about the same number of children with such problems (5-5.6%), each measure identified a somewhat different set of children. The lack of agreement demonstrates the difficulty in assessing subtle motor coordination problems or clumsiness.