132 ABSTRACT Background Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) is currently recognized as one of the most widely used diagnostic instruments regarding developmental coordination disorders. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the suitability of the MABC in re- gard to the assessment of Greek children. Given that Greek chil- dren are engaged in a different school environment compared to American children, the aim of the present study was to take a pre- liminary look at the suitability of the MABC. Methods Two hundred Greek children between the ages 9 years and 11 years were compared with 247 children of the same age, from USA, who took part in the standardisation process of the MABC. All Greek sample children were of a common ethnic origin and were randomly recruited from 32 public schools located in nine dif- ferent areas of Greece. Results The analysis of the individual test items revealed significant differ- ences in eight out of 21 comparisons. Five of these were obtained for the items of Age Band 3 and three for the items at Age Band 4. American children performed significantly better in manual dex- terity and static balance items, whereas Greek children were bet- ter in dynamic balance items. Conclusions The above cross-cultural differences suggest that either the norms or some of the items of the MABC may need some ad- justment in order to be usable within Greek school population. Given the fact that the present study regarded Age Bands 3 and 4, further research seems essential for Age Bands 1 and 2 to complete the evaluation of the MABC test items and published norms in Greece. Theodoros Ellinoudis 1 , Thomas Kourtessis 2 , Michael Kiparissis 2 1 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Serres, Greece 2 Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Komotini, Greece , ,. .. .# #/ /- -, ,+ +" "’ ’+ +% % 1 10 0& &, ,. . &#,",.,/ ))’+,1"’/ & &5/’!) "1!0’,+ -#!’)’/0.’/0,0)# +’2#./’05 ,$ &#//),+’(’ #-0 ,$ &5/’!) "1!0’,+ -,.0 !’#+!# +’2#./’05 *-1/ #..#/ .##!# #) 4 *’) 0#))’+,1-&#"/.10&%. Keywords: motor activity, motor skills, motor skills disorders, child, Greece, cross cultural comparisons INTRODUCTION Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) 1 is a norm- referenced battery especially designed to assess movement diffi- culties that determine, in a large degree, the child’s social integration, mainly in school. 1 The specific instrument is being used widely in the international literature that focuses in Developmen- tal Coordination Disorder. 2-6 Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) has been defined as a marked impairment in the develop- ment of motor coordination interferes with academic achievement or activities of daily living in DSM-IV. 7 The poor coordination is pres- ent in the absence of a known medical condition such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. 8 The condition has attracted the in- terest of scientists, not only because of its negative effects on motor performance of children, but also because of its direct rela- tion to various learning disabilities, academic failure and emotional problems. 1,9,10-12 It is estimated that the percentage of children ex- hibiting DCD is about 5% of the total school population. 7,13-15 This percentage though could reach up to 15%. 16 Therefore, there is an agreement regarding the urgent need for early and accurate identification, 1,9,17,18 as there is scientific evidence that early and spe- cific intervention has positive outcomes. 16,19,20 MABC has been developed to serve two main purposes. First, the test has a diagnostic function, offering a detailed picture of the child's motor weaknesses and strengths. 1 Second, it can be used in evaluating the efficacy of intervention programmes. 1,21 The battery has been implemented in many countries worldwide, such as Swe- den 22 , China 23 , Belgium 24 , Japan 25 , U.K. 26 , Thailand 27 , Netherlands 28 , as well as in Greece 29,30,31 . Furthermore, it has been translated into Danish, Dutch, Italian, Swedish and Japanese. During the efforts to standardize MABC in the above countries, several researchers have been presenting cross-cultural compar- isons between the original sample from North America and various samples from their own countries. 2,22,25,28 Despite the fact that the above findings seem to be rather controversial, researchers ac- knowledge that MABC still constitutes a quite useful tool for iden- tification, assessment and intervention. 32,33 However, other 1’0’)’05 ,$ 0&# ,2#*#+0 //#//*#+0 00#.5 $,. &’)".#+ ’+ .##!# ,*-.’/,+ #03##+ .##( /*-)# +" 0&# ,.0&*#.’!+ +,.*0’2# /*-)# ,$ +" 5#. ,)" !&’)".#+