The Effect of Game-Oriented Exercises on Motor Development of Overweight Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of game-oriented exercises on motor development of overweight children with developmental coordination disorder. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest and posttest. 50 overweight children aged between 8 and 10 with developmental coordination disorder were selected and were randomly assigned to experimental (n=35) and control (n=15) groups after pretest. The experimental group participated in the protocol for 3 sessions per week during 3 months. MABC-2 test was used and SPSS 21 software was used for data analysis. The results of MANCOVA showed a difference between the experimental and control groups in at least one of the variables. Based on the results of one-way covariance analysis with a significance level of 0.05, there was a significant difference between the control and the intervention groups in motor development components and its subscales (hand speed, targeting and balance) and the experimental group got better scores. Therefore, it is recommended that the development of this disorder should be prevented in overweight individuals by designing different exercises and early intervention, and have a positive effect on their motor development.

Keywords

• balance
• developmental coordination disorder
• hand speed
• overweight
• targeting