Background: Developmental coordination disorder is an obvious problem in school aged children which affects motor performance, educational achievement and self-esteem; so the aim of present study is investigating the effect of rhythmic motor games on Motor Proficiency, educational achievement and self-esteem of DCD children.
Methods: A semi-experimental method and a pre-posttest design with control was considered for this study. Sample was included of 36 children (18 experimental and 18 control group) which recognized as DCD and was chosen among students of elementary schools of rejoin 6 of Tehran city and in the range of 10 to 11 years old. Persian Version of Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (PMOQ-T) was used for recognition of DCD and average scores in Persian, mathematics, science and dictate lessons were used for educational achievement. Also a Cooper-smith self-esteem inventory for assessment of self-esteem and a Bruininks-Oseretsky test 2nd version (bot-2) for evaluating motor competence was used. Children in experimental group participated in rhythmic motor games for 12 weeks and 36 sessions while children in control group were inactive. After the end of intervention variables were assessed and were analyzed with descriptive statistics and covariance analyze test in a significant level of 0.05.
Results: Results showed that participation in rhythmic motor games has a positive significant impact on motor competence (F=1.93, P=0.000), educational achievement (F=61.64, P=0.000) and self-esteem (F=32.67, P=0.000) of DCD children (P<0.05).
Conclusion: according to the results it is suggested that in regard to improvement in motor competence, educational achievement and self-esteem of DCD children, rhythmical motor games can be used.
