The relationship between intelligence and motor proficiency in the intellectually gifted child

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Doris Anne Higgins Lauten (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Richard H. Klemer

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between motor proficiency as measured by the Lincoln Revision of the Oseretsky Tests of Motor Proficiency and intelligence as measured by the California Tests of Mental Maturity in the intellectually gifted child. Twenty gifted girls and twenty gifted boys comprised the experimental group. All of the I.Q.'s in the experimental group were 120 or higher. The control group was made up of twenty boys and twenty girls who had I.Q.'s of between 90 and 110. All subjects of both groups had passed their eighth birthday and had not yet reached their tenth birthday. All subjects were selected from upper middle-class neighborhoods. Low positive correlation coefficients were found between subjects' I.Q. and Lincoln-Oseretsky scores in both the gifted and normal samples. This was expected, due to the relative homogeniety of I.Q. of subjects within each sample. A t-test of significance for the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was computed for the combined samples and was found to be significant at the .01 level of confidence. The significant high positive correlation between I.Q. and Lincoln-Oseretsky scores for the combined samples supports Hypothesis I which stated that both gifted and average children should show a significant positive correlation between intelligence and motor proficiency. This study showed that gifted children had significantly higher motor scores than did normal children. This result supports Hypothesis II which stated that gifted children should demonstrate a definite superiority in motor proficiency when compared with average children of their own age. Within the limits of this study, intellectually gifted children are definitely superior to average children of the same chronological age when comparing their motor proficiency. An intellectually gifted child tends to have better control over his sensori-motor responses than do children of lower I.Q. It may be concluded that up to a point intelligence and motor proficiency are positively related, in so far as this study is concerned,, It is obvious that intelligence is more than just an I.Q. score on a so-called intelligence test. Many factors enter into the concept of intelligence. Certainly this study indicates that motor proficiency may well be one of these factors. The implications of this study should be of value to educators, guidance directors, and psychologists who have the responsibility of establishing or modifying the educational programs of school children. Further studies are needed in the area of motor proficiency. One of the more important would be the establishment of the concept of "motor age" so that a child's motor expectancy may be determined as a guide for the counselor and educator. It would also be desirable to shorten the administration time of the Oseretsky Scale if possible. As it now stands, the length of time it takes to administer the entire test and the fact that it is an individual test make it impractical to use in most classroom situations.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1968
Keywords
gifted children, motor skills in children, child psychology, intelligence in children
Subjects
Gifted children
Gifted children $x Intelligence levels
Motor ability in children

Email this document to