During the preschool period, children become cognizant of themselves and the world through movement. Most children have no problems with movement, but in some we may notice clumsiness in movement early on. With the child being an integral being, motor clumsiness affects all areas of his or her activity. During the early developmental period, the brain is in the process of intense maturation and is most susceptible to learning. It is therefore important to identify movement problems early. With an appropriate approach, problems can be mitigated, giving the child a higher quality of life.
Motor clumsiness is sometimes referred to as a "hidden disorder" and is easily overlooked. Most research and measuring aids for identifying movement clumsiness focus on children in the late preschool years. The purpose of the master's thesis was to expand the set of the tested measuring aids for the identification of motor clumsiness in the early preschool period and to contribute to the improvement of special-educational practice in this field. Thus, the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, allowing the identification of motor clumsiness from the age of three onwards, was translated and tested for the first time in our country.
In the research part of the master's thesis, a quantitative research approach with the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire and the MABC-2 test was used. With the Little Developmental Disorder Questionnaire, we found a 40 % incidence of motor clumsiness in the sample; with the MABC-2 test, the incidence was 19 %. Among the children who were identified as physically clumsy by the MABC-2 movement test, the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire recognized 50%. We also found that the children with motor clumsiness had most difficulties with targeting, hunting, and activities requiring hand skills. Finally, we provided guidelines for the development of children's motor skills.
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