Recognizing the importance of body scheme for the overall development of the child, our goal, in this work was to investigate the development of body scheme for students aged 6 to 10 years with complaints of learning difficulties, referred to the Division of Motor Assessment and Intervention - NAIM / LADEHU / UDESC. The study included 39 children, 24 boys and 15 girls from public schools of Florianopolis, Southern Brazil. The body scheme was assessed by the Scale of Motor Development - EDM. All participants showed delayed development of General Motor Age and Motor Age of Body Scheme. The deficit increased with the chronological age of the participants and the classification of General Motor Quotient and Motor Quotient of Body Scheme was much lower. The data suggest that the development of motor skills, body scheme in particular, are fundamental to the development of essential skills to academic learning.
Motor development; body schema; learning disabilities
