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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The effects of a psychomotor training programme on motor skill development in children with developmental language disorders

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Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two approaches to movement intervention for children with a combination of language and movement difficulties – a specialist approach labelled psychomotor training and regular PE lessons from trained PE teachers. From a sample of 76 children formally classified as suffering from developmental language disorder, 54 (71%) fell below the 15th percentile on a test of motor competence. These 54 children were then divided into two groups, one of whom received a 10 week psychomotor training programme and the other regular PE lessons. Although all children, regardless of the type of intervention, made progress, the differences between these two approaches were small. However, the children in the psychomotor training programme did improve more than those who followed the regular physical education curriculum, particularly on the object control task of the Test of Gross Motor Development. Our results are discussed in terms of the contribution movement intervention can make to the overall development of children with developmental language disorders. PsycINFO classification: 3250; 3270; 3357