The effect of a gross and fine motor intervention program on Visual-motor integration in 4 to 6 years old children

Children in preschool are at an optimal time for the development of gross and fine motor skills. Visual-motor integration is an important perceptual-motor skill that children need to acquire in order to function successfully before formal schooling commences. In this study were investigated the effect of three motor intervention programs (gross, fine, & gross-fine)on visual-motor integration in 80 children who presented below average VMI skills scores. From these participants three experimental (n=60)and a control group (n=20)were randomly selected. The experimental groups participated in a 12 week intervention program of three 45 minutes sessions per week. The Beery- Buktenica developmental test of visual-motor integration 6th edition was used to measure the participants VMI skills. Mixed ANOVA with repeated measures and LSD post hoc test was used to analyze effects of motor intervention programs (P<0.05). The resulting pretest-posttest mean scores showed a statistically difference in the experimental and control groups (F(76,3)=2.831, P=0.044). The results of post hoc test showed that there are significant difference between fine and gross-fine intervention program groups with control group (P=0.038, P=0.014). So fine motor intervention program both alone and combining with gross motor skills cause to improve VMI in pre-school children. This study suggested that kindergartens and pre- schools teachers must be used targeted motor skills that included fine and gross motor skills to improve VMI in children before formal schooling.