DEVELOPMENT OF FINE MOTOR COORDINATION AND VISUAL-MOTOR INTEGRATION IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Фините моторни вештини се предуслов за многу секојдневни активности и се добри индикатори на подоцнежните академски остварувања на детето. Целта на ова истражување е да се проценат влијанијата на возраста врз развојот на координацијата на фината моторика и визуелно-моторната интеграција кај децата на предучилишна возраст. Примерокот на ова истражување се состои од 276 предучилишни деца од Кантон Сараево, Босна и Херцеговина. Моторните вештини на децата ги проценивме со Бериевиот тест за визуелно-моторна интеграција и со Lafayette тестот со перфорирана табла. Податоците беа анализирани со еднонасочна анализа на варијанти АНОВА, проследена со планираната споредба меѓу возрасните групи. Исто така, ја употребивме и регресиската анализа за да го процениме влијанието на возраста и моторната координација над визуелно-моторната интеграција. Резултатите покажаа дека возраста има значаен ефект врз развојот на фините моторни вештини. Fine motor skills are prerequisite for many everyday activities and they are a good predictor of a child's later academic outcome. The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of age on the development of fine motor coordination and visual-motor integration in preschool children. The sample for this study consisted of 276 preschool children from Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We assessed children's motor skills with Beery Visual Motor Integration Test and Lafayette Pegboard Test. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, followed by planned comparisons between the age groups. We also performed a regression analysis to assess the influence of age and motor coordination on visual-motor integration. The results showed that age has a great effect on the development of fine motor skills.

Fine motor skills are prerequisite for many everyday activities and they are a good predictor of a child's later academic outcome.The goal of the present study was to assess the effects of age on the development of fine motor coordination and visual-motor integration in preschool children.The sample for this study consisted of 276 preschool children from Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.We assessed children's motor skills with Beery Visual Motor Integration Test and Lafayette Pegboard Test.Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, followed by planned comparisons between the age groups.We also performed a regression analysis to assess the influence of age and motor coordination on visual-motor integration.The results showed that age has a great effect on the development of fine motor skills.
Furthermore, the results indicated that there are possible sensitive periods at preschool age in which the development of fine motor skills is accelerated.Early intervention specialists should make a thorough evaluations of fine motor skills in preschool children and make motor (re)habilitation programs for children at risk of fine motor delays.

Вовед Introduction
Фината  and Herzegovina (BiH).This is the first study to examine the developmental trends of fine motor skills in preschool children in BiH using psychometrically sound and valid instruments.
The sample comprised 276 children aged 3 to 6 (mean age 4.58, SD=0.93), both sexes (150 boys, 126 girls), attending regular kindergardens in Canton Sarajevo.Children were categorized into four age groups: 1. children between 2.8-3.6 years (N=44), 2. children between 3.7-4.5 years (N=90), 3. children between 4.6-5.5 years (N=86) and 4. children between 5.6-6.5 years (N=56).Children's educational records contained information on medical and psycho-educational status of the children.According to these records, the children in the sample did not have any known sensory (hearing or visual) impairment or neurological impairment and the children in the sample did not have intellectual disability as measured by an IQ score of less than 70.
Visual-motor integration was assessed using the Beery VMI-Test of Visual Motor Integration 6 th Edition-Short Form (10).It is a widely used test with very good psychometric properties (split-half correlation for these age groups varies between 0.86-0.93 and alpha coefficient of internal consistency varies between 0.81-0.89).The Beery VMI is designed to assess the extent to which individuals can integrate their visual and motor abilities.Research indicates that Beery VMI is almost culture free test and as such was convenient for the purposes of this study.Raw scores of Beery VMI were used for the analysis.Higher scores indicate better performance.Lafayette Pegboard test is used for assessment of fine motor skills, motor coordination and dexterity.It consists of 25 holes in which children need to place the pegs.Time to complete the task was used as a dependant variable.Lower scores indicate better performance.
ANOVA.Planned comparisons were performed afterwards to see the trend for the differences.In order to gain a better understanding of the development of visual-motor integration, we performed a regression analysis with age and Lafayette Pegboard scores being in the one block (enter method).Finally the relationships between Beery VMI, Lafayette Pegboard and age were calculated by using the Pearson correlation coefficient.An alpha level of 0.05 was used for all tests.Data were analyzed with the computer program SPSS v.13 for Windows.
As it can be seen from the table, all correlations were statistically significant.
Further on, we examined the correlation between visual motor integration and age, controlling the influence of motor coordination.Again, the correlation was statistically significant with r=0.64 (p<0.001).
Fine motor skills are of extreme importance in child's development.This study has indicated a possible sensitive periods in the development of fine motor skills.Professionals working with children need to be aware of these periods and to provide Individualized (Re)habilitation Programs for alleviation of fine motor delays in children at risk for such delays.

Table 1 :
резултати од Beery тест за визуелномоторна интеграција и од Lafayette тестот со перфорирана табла се прикажани во табелата 1.The mean results on the Beery Visual Motor Integration Test and Lafayette Pegboard Test are shown in table 1.The results of Beery VMI Test and Lafayette Pegboard scores in different age categories longitudinal study of motor abilities in children to see the exact nature of the relationship between age and motor skills.It would also be usefull to have the same size and same age bands group as it would strenghten the statistical analysis performed and subsequent conclusions.It would also be interesting to replicate this study on the sample of children from the first four grades of elementary school to see the trends in fine motor development in that age group.Finally, it would be useful to use another measure of Visual-motor abilities, such as Bender-Gestalt test in order to get an additional validation of the scores and qualitative analysis of the type of errors children make.The implications of these findings are very important for the practice of occupational therapy, education, special education and rehabilitation.The focus of this study was to show the developmental course of visual motor abilities at preschool age.The findings presented here indicate the possibility of sensitive periods in the visual motor development of the child.Motor coordination and visual motor integration, as part of visual motor abilities, have a great impact on child's overall level of functioning both academic and social.Knowing the sensitive periods of fine motor development, we can design enriched rehabilitation programs to help children at risk eliminate or at least alleviate some of the fine motor delay they might have.This will, in turn, help children to be better prepared for the academic and everyday challanges ahead them.