అథ్లెటిక్ ఎన్‌హాన్స్‌మెంట్ జర్నల్

Investigation of the Effect of Educational Games on Balance and Coordination in Children with Learning Disabilities

Burcu Vahapoglu, Hayrettin Gumusdag*and Deniz Akdal

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the balance and coordination skills of these children by playing educational games for children diagnosed with learning disabilities, who are behind their peers in academic and social areas, have problems in learning basic academic skills, although there is no problem in their intelligence levels. Children with learning difficulties are behind in motor skills such as balance and coordination compared to their peers. This situation also negatively affects children’s social communication skills. Considering all these negative situations, it is predicted that educational games can be beneficial for these children both physically and psychologically. A total of 6 students, 4 girls and 2 boys, residing in Kirsehir province, diagnosed with learning disability and continuing inclusive education, participated in this study. A total of 24 educational games compiled from various sources were applied to these students, 12 of which were for balance and 12 for coordination skills. In this study, a single group pretest-posttest experimental model was used. In the educational game applications, each sense was planned as 40 minutes and by using the demonstration technique, it was ensured that the subjects played the educational games correctly and in accordance with its purpose. Lincoln Oseretsky Motor Development Test (LOMDT) and Motor Coordination Field Test (MCFT) were used to collect data on balance and coordination skills. In the study, data were collected with pre-test and post-test application. The data obtained as a result of the research were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 22.00 package program and analyzed with the “Wilcoxon Signed Ranks” test. As a result of the research, it was revealed that the educational games applied positively contributed to the balance and general body coordination skills of our subjects with learning disabilities, but did not contribute to the hand-eye coordination. This thesis study gives a local result due to the small number of subjects and being conducted in a single province. By using this study as a pioneer in the field, more studies can be carried out by diversifying the educational games with more subjects.