Motor development in deaf children based on Gallahue's model: a review study

As deaf children grow up, they face difficulties that can affect their physical, emotional, motor, and cognitive development. This study reviews the recent studies conducted on motor development of deaf children based on Gallahue's model.

Few studies have been conducted on deaf children's motor development stages; reflexive, rhythmic, rudimentary, and specialized movement. However, many studies investigated the fundamental movement stage with an emphasis on balance. They mostly reported the deaf children’s delay in developing gait velocity (during walking), postural control, static balance, dynamic balance, spatial-temporal coordination, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and motor skills learning, compared with their healthy peers.

Delay in motor development in deaf children is not necessarily the result of deafness or vestibular problems, but individual, environmental, and exercise factors are also involved. Providing appropriate educational opportunities for these children, training specia lized teachers and parents, and holding training courses for hearing specialists can help promote motor development in these children.