The performance of Saudi Arabian children on Burininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency

Motor abilities and movements are constantly used as we interact with our environment and perform daily activities. The total absence of motor assessment instruments has been a barrier for educators and administrators in some parts of the world, particularly SA in assessing children's physical abilities in objective and systematic ways. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to familiarize educators, pediatric physical therapists and administrators in Saudi Arabia with BOTMP.; The present study attempted to answer the following questions: (1) How well will the two Saudi age groups perform on the BOTMP when compared to the North American norms? (2) Will Saudi children performance on the BOTMP differ based on location of the school regarding fine-motor and gross-motor skills from city to city? (3) Will the BOTMP long form be a valid motor instrument as examined by internal consistency when it is applied to the two Saudi age groups and (4) Can the BOTMP short form replace the long form as a measure of motor proficiency when it is applied to the two different Saudi age groups?; One hundred and fifty five males without disabilities participated in the study. The MANOVA procedures followed by t-test of the GMC indicated that Jeddah's rich school participants were higher than their poor school counterparts, however Damam's poor school were higher than their rich school counterparts. The MANOVA of FMC also indicated 7th grade participants scored higher than 5th grade participants. Poor school 5th grade participants were superior to the rich school. However, rich schools 7th grade were higher than poor school 7th grade.; The ANOVA analysis of the BC showed that 7th grade participants scored higher than 5th grader participants. The independent t-test for the interaction showed that Damam's poor school participants were higher than their rich school counterparts. The ANOVA analysis of the SF revealed that Jeddah's participants were superior to Damam's participants and Abha's participants scored higher than Riyadh's, Damam's, and Tabuk's participants. Follow up tests for the two interaction effects indicated that Damam's poor school participants were superior to their rich school peers. Poor school 5th grade participants were higher than their rich school counterparts.; The Hotelling's T2 procedures of the 8 subtests followed by one sample t-test uncovered that the NANs were higher than the Saudi sample in subtest 1, 2, 5, and 8, whereas the Saudi sample were higher than the NANs in subtests 6, and 7.; The Pearson correlation procedures of the 46 items with BC indicated that 39 items correlated significantly with the BC. The 8 subtests correlation was stronger than the items' correlation. The GMC and FMC correlation with BC were the strongest. The correlation between SF and BC were also high significant one.; The finding of the present study indicated that the BOTMP-LF could be used as an apparatus to detect motor skill differences among age groups in SA. The Saudi sample seemed to be engaged in fine motor type activities and the NANs seemed to be engaged in gross motor type activities.; The BOTMP-SF appears to be a useful tool to evaluate motor skills especially in school settings.