The movement assessment battery in Greek preschoolers: The impact of age, gender, birth order, and physical activity on motor outcome

Early identification of possible risk factors that could impair the motor development is crucial, since poor motor performance may have long-term negative consequences for a child's overall development. The aim of the current study was the examination of disorders in motor coordination in Greek pre-school aged children and the detection of differences in motor performance with regards to age, gender, participation in sports and order of birth in the family. Performance profiles on the movement ABC were used to classify 412 Greek children aged 4–6 years old. It appears from the results that the occurrence rate of probable developmental coordination disorders (DCD) was 5.4%. Significant differences were observed in all independent variables except the order of birth in the family. The findings reinforce the need for the evaluation of motor performance in preschool-aged children, in order specific individual motor profiles to be established for optimizing and adapting early intervention programs.

► 5.4% (22 children) from the total number of 412 children participating in this study exhibited definite motor difficulties
► ‘Participation or non-participation’ of children in sports for all tasks performed as well as ‘age’ concerning all tasks except “balance” emerged as the main factors creating statistically significant differences in motor skills measured.
► Gender produced statistically significant difference only in ‘ball skills’ in favor of boys who tend to develop such skills earlier than girls.
► The impact of age on motor performance was expressed in the ball and the manual dexterity skills in which older children performed significantly better than younger children.
► Children who participated in physical activities display higher level of skills compared to non-participants.
► ‘Order of birth in a family’ did not affect the development of motor ability of children participating in this study.