The Influence of Speech Impairments on Preschool Children’s Gross Motor Skills

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Full Citation
Merriman, W. J., Barnett, B. E., & Kofka, J. B. (1993). The standing long jump performances of preschool children with speech impairments and children with normal speech. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 10(2), 157-163.
Problem Being Addressed
The study focused on the influence of speech impairments on preschool children’s gross motor skills.
Purpose
The study was conducted to examine and observe the qualitative and quantitative performance differences within a standing long jump organization among speech-impaired and normal speech preschool children.
Methodology
The study used the Development Sequence, developed by Van Sant, to evaluate the standing long jump’s trunk, leg, and arm actions. All 30 subjects were tested individually over three days. The examiner performed a standing long jump physical demonstration before the subjects performed three jump trials. A video camera was used to measure the distance at the end of each trial. The exercise used four volunteer physical therapists with ten years of experience who acted as the study’s raters. The raters attended the Development Sequence training, after which they viewed the recorded performance videos individually and rated each subject’s three trials. Finally, the three trials’ mean was calculated, resulting in each child’s four mean scores obtained from each rater.
Description of Subjects
The study used 30 preschool children from the same private school, of which 15 (12 boys three girls) were speech-impaired while 15 (10 boys five girls) had normal speech. The subjects did not have any other reported disabilities. The study used five subjects selected from three age levels for both groups. The Preschool Special Education Committee of the subjects’ school district determined that the subjects...