Pradeep Balakrishnan¹, Mahfuzan², Izham³, Vinodhkumar Ramalingam⁴

^{1 2 3}School of Health Sciences, KPJ University, Kota Seriemas, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

⁴ Saveetha College of Physiotherapy, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India

Email: ¹pradeep@kpjuc.edu.my /physiodeep@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background of the study: Children who display clumsiness, poor performance in sports or delayed motor milestones may face challenges in gross motor skills. Research has shown many factors that influences Gross Motor Skills such as BMI and physical activity participation. However, few research has shown relationships between sensory processing and gross motor skills. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the correlations between sensory processing abilities and gross motor skills among children aged 7- years old.

Methodology: The study was conducted at a children’s gym and a primary school where 56 typically developing children between ages 7-10 years old were collected. Their parents were given a questionnaire known as the Short Sensory Profile to assess the sensory processing abilities while the subjects were observed by the researcher using the Test of Gross Motor Development – 2 in order to assess the gross motor skills.

Results: The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between sensory processing -abilities and gross motor skills among children aged 7 – 10 years old [p-value < 0.05; p-value = 0.012]. Under the short sensory profile subscales, only the under responsive/sensation seeking was found to be significantly correlated with gross motor skills [p-value <0.01; p-value = 0.003].

Conclusion: Child who faces challenges in gross motor skills could also likely exhibit atypical sensory processing abilities. Therefore, a child should also be screened for deficits in sensory processing when they display poor performance in gross motor skills. However, the results of this study does not imply causation.

Keywords: Poor performance; Motor milestones;Gross Motor Skills;BMI