The Study
Professors Gail Dummer and John Haubenstricker of the Department of Kinesiology, and David Stewart, professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education, assessed the motor skills of children who are deaf. They then compared the performance of those children with reference data for young people who can hear.

The Findings
The researchers assessed the motor skills of 91 girls and 110 boys from 4 to 18 years of age. Using the Test of Gross Motor Development (run, gallop, hop, leap, horizontal jump, skip and slide) and five object-control skills (two-hand strike, stationary bounce, catch, kick, and overhead throw), the researchers found that children aged 4-10 who are deaf scored lower than same-aged children who could hear at all but one age level. The 4-year-old children who were deaf performed better. (There were no reference data for older individuals from ages 11 to 18.) The data they collected also suggests that children who are deaf seem to lag behind by 1 to 3 years in the acquisition of object-control skills like catching, throwing and striking. As a whole, children who were deaf acquired skills in running, sliding and galloping at younger ages; skill in hopping and jumping at the same age, and skill in skipping and leaping at later ages. The researchers found that generally the difference in performance levels at any given age level were relatively small.

What It Means to You
The lower levels of performance of children who could not hear at same age levels and on same skills may indicate that the focus of instruction did not adequately emphasize development in these skills. It appears children who are deaf could benefit from improvement in the ways or the extent to which skills are taught in physical education classes.

More Information
Dummer, G.M., Haubenstricker, J.L, Stewart, D.A. (1996). Motor skills performances of children who are deaf. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 13, 400-414.

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