Comparison of motor coordination levels of children with Down Syndrome and normally developed children -Germany Case-

Abstract

Aim: The primary aim of this study was to compare the motor coordination levels of primary school age children with Down Syndrome (DS) and normally developed children in the age group of 7-10 years. The secondary aim is to examine the effects of normal weight, excess weight, and obesity on motor coordination values. Methods: A total of 101 children of primary school age, 47 with Down Syndrome (37 boys / 10 girls) and 54 normally developed (27 boys / 27 girls) aged 7-10 participated in the study. In the determination of motor coordination values, the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK), which consists of the subtests of stepping back, jumping one foot, jumping sideways, and stepping sideways, was used. The skewness-kurtosis values of the data and the normality analysis were examined; and the t-test was used in the comparison of two independent groups in the analysis of the normally distributed data; and one-way analysis of variance was used to compare two or more unrelated groups; and Bonferroni test, one of the post hoc tests, was used to determine the source of the difference between normal weight, overweight and obese groups. Results: According to the data obtained, it was determined that children with DS were overweight and obese compared to their normally developed peers, while all the tests conducted concluded that children with DS showed statistically lower overall motor performance than their normally developed peers (p