Profiles and cognitive predictors of motor functions among early school-age children with mild intellectual disabilities

• Published in: Journal of intellectual disability research Vol. 52; no. 12; pp. 1048 - 1060
• Main Authors: Wuang, Y.-P., Wang, C.-C., Huang, M.-H., Su, C.-Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2008; Blackwell Publishing; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Children; Children & youth; cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Processes; Comprehension; Correlation; Developmental disabilities; Developmental disorders; Disability Evaluation; Disability Identification; Dysfunction; Early Intervention; Female; Fines; Humans; Intellectual deficiency; Intellectual Disability - diagnosis; Intellectual Disability - psychology; Intelligence Quotient; Learning disabled children; Male; Mass Screening - statistics & numerical data; Medical sciences; mild intellectual disabilities; Mild Intellectual Disability; Mild Mental Retardation; Motor ability; Motor performance; Motor skills; Motor Skills Disorders - diagnosis; Motor Skills Disorders - psychology; Neurologic Examination - statistics & numerical data; Predictor Variables; Profiles; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Psychomotor Disorders - diagnosis; Psychomotor Disorders - psychology; Psychomotor Skills; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; school-age children; Sensation; sensorimotor function; Sensory Integration; Verbal Ability; Wechsler Scales - statistics & numerical data; Young Children; Human; Handicap; Developmental disorder; Cognition; Mental retardation; school-age children; Sensorimotor coordination; School age; sensorimotor function; Intellectual deficiency; mild intellectual disabilities; Early; Predictive factor; Child; Motricity
• ISSN: 0964-2633; 1365-2788
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2788.2008.01096.x

Background  The purpose of the study was to describe sensorimotor profile in children with mild intellectual disability (ID), and to examine the association between cognitive and motor function. Methods  A total of 233 children with mild ID aged 7 to 8 years were evaluated with measures of cognitive, motor and sensory integrative functioning. Results  Children with mild ID performed significantly less well on all test measures. 44.2% of children scored in the impaired range on seven out of 22 sensorimotor measures. They had weaker fine motor skills than gross motor skills. Sensory integrative functions were only mildly impaired. Total IQ substantially predicted overall performance on each motor test. Specifically, verbal comprehension and processing speed indexes were significant predictors of gross and fine motor function. Conclusions  Sensorimotor dysfunctions were found to be very frequent in children with mild ID. Early identification of sensorimtor impairments is essential to prompt early intervention and facilitate better integration into regular school settings.