Perceptual and Motor Skilk, 2007, 105,207-214. O Perceptual and Motor Skills 2007 COMPARING CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT DYSLEXIA ON THE MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR CHILDREN AND THE TEST OF GROSS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT' ' NANCY GETCHELL, PRIYA PABREJA, KEVIN NEELD, AND VICTOR CARRlO Univrrtity of Delaware Summarl,.-Dyslexia is the most commonly occurring learn~ngdisability in the United States, characterized by difficulties with word recognition, spelling, and decod- ing. A growing body of literature suggests that deficits in motor skill performance exist in the dyslexic population. This study compared the performance of children with and without dvslexia on different subtests of the Test of Gross Motor Develovment and Movement Assessment Batterv for Children and assessed whether there were develo~- mental changes in the scores of the dyslexic group. Participants included 26 dyslexic children (19 boys and 7 girls; 9.5 yr. old, SD=l.7) and 23 age- and sex-matched typically developing (17 boys and 6 girls; 9.9 yr. old, SD= 1.3) children as a control group. Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that the dyslexic group performed significant- ly lower than the control group only on the Total Balance subtest of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children. Additionally, the young dyslexic group performed significantly better on the Total Balance subtest, compared to the older dyslexic group. These results suggest that cerebellar dysfunction may account for differences in per- formance. Learning disabilities affect an individual's ability to perceive, process, and express information and result in a disparity between intelligence and academic performance (Bergert, 2000). Dyslexia, a specific learning disability characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities, is the most commonly occurring learning disability in the United States (President's Commission on Excel- lence in Special Education, 2002'; U.S. Department of Education, 2002). Due to the relationship between dyslexia and academic performance, atten- tion focuses primarily on school-related measures such as reading deficits. However, a growing body of research suggests that deficits in motor skill performance exist in this population (Fawcett & Nicolson, 1995; Fawcett, Nicolson, & Dean, 1996; Lyytinen, Ahonen, Eklund, Guttorm, Laakso, Leio- 'Address correspondence to Ndncy Getchell, Department of Health, Nutrlt~on, and Exerclse Sciences, 157 Human Performdnce Laboratory, Unlverslty of Deldware, Nei~ark, DL 19716 or e-mail (getchell@udel.edu). 'This research was part of a Research Consortium grant from the American Alliance for Health, Phvsical Education, and Recreation awarded to the first author. Thanks to lean ~eddes-KC; for assisting ivith participant recruitment, and to all the partici~ants in the study. 'A new rra. revztali~inv cbecza education for children and thrir /amiliec. Washington. DC: U.S. - < , , Department of Education Office of Special Education and ~ehabilitative~cr;ices. Retrieved November 2004, from http://vmb~.ed.gov/inits/commissionsboards/whspecialeducation/reports/ index.htm1.