Developmental Patterns of Static Balance Ability and Their Relation to Cognitive School Readiness. Final Report.

To assess static balance ability in children 239 subjects (ages 5 to 9) were tested using a technique of electronic ataxiametry. Body weight displacement was measured for various postures. The scores correlated significantly with teacher's evaluation of school preparedness, basic math skills, and reading achievement in samples of normal children. Girls who ranked high in static balance ability in comparison to boys showed higher scores within sex group correlations between equilibrium control and between school and reading readiness. Thirty-three educationally handicapped students who had slightly lower static balance scores in postures with occluded vision were efficiently divided into balance impaired and balance unimpaired groups. Indications were that the study appears to add to the knowledge of the role of maturational and organismic factors in learning difficulties in both normal and educationally handicapped children in primary grades. Extensive tables of results are included. (Author/JM)