Prevalence of Students with Difficulties in Motor Coordination, Handwriting, Balance, Movement Planning, and Fine Motor Skills at the Elementary Level

Abstract

The study examined the prevalence of elementary-level students experiencing difficulties in motor coordination, handwriting, balance, movement planning, and fine motor skills. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was employed. A sample of 487 students was selected from public and private elementary schools in Punjab through multistage stratified random sampling. Teachers assessed students through a 50-item questionnaire covering motor coordination and balance, movement planning, handwriting and graphomotor performance, and fine motor skills. Frequencies, percentages, descriptive statistics, independent-samples t tests, one-way analysis of variance, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, correlation, and multiple regression were applied. The illustrative findings indicated that 51.1% of students experienced moderate difficulties and 24.4% experienced high difficulties. Handwriting and fine motor skills emerged as the most prominent areas. Students with previously identified motor, learning, or physical difficulties obtained significantly higher scores. The study concluded that systematic screening, task-oriented motor activities, handwriting instruction, balance training, movement practice, environmental adaptation, and multidisciplinary referral were required at the elementary level.