Use of proprioception in normal and clumsy children

This study investigates the relation between performance on simple tasks dependent on proprioception, and performance of complex perceptual-motor skills in clumsy children and age-matched control children. One hundred and forty-six right-handed children aged between 5 and 8 years were tested on non-visual aiming, non-visual posture matching, the Kinaesthetic Sensitivity Test (KST), and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (ABC). Half of the children had scores below the 15th centile on the Movement ABC and were classed into the developmental coordination disorder (clumsiness) group. Scores on the proprioceptive tasks were used to predict performance on complex tasks of the subscales of the Movement ABC (manual dexterity, ball skills, and balance). Specific relations were found between the proprioceptive tasks and the subscales of the Movement ABC, but the KST did not predict differences in motor skills, and no relation was found between tasks carried out without vision. Simple non-visual movement tasks do predict performance in more complex skilled tasks but this is affected by many task features rather than simply the reliance on proprioception for information about movement.