Abstract

CABRA MARTINEZ, Cristhian Alberto; HINCAPIE GARAVINO, Sandra Milena; JIMENEZ MARTINEZ, Diana Isabel  and  TOBON RESTREPO, Mauricio. Descriptive study of the effects dogs have as pets in the development of gross motor skills in 5 years old healthy infants. Rev. Lasallista Investig. [online]. 2011, vol.8, n.1, pp.82-89. ISSN 1794-4449.

Introduction. Gross motor is oneof the elements that make up the integral development of children. It gets structured since the child is born until its consolidation when they are somewhere between 12 and 15 years old. Many factors influence it, such as genetics plus social, psychological and environmental situations. Among the latter, the relations the child has with other living beings, among which pets (ands especially dogs) can be highlighted for research purposes, are included. Objective. To describe the effects dogs have, as pets, on the development of gross motor skills among 5 years old healthy children from educational institutions in Itagüí, by comparing those children with others who do not own dogs. Materials and Methods. A survey was made to gather information. It had the allowance of parents or tutors, so the children could be a part of the case and control groups in this research. For assessing the children's motor skills, Vitor Da Fonseca's psychomotor battery was chosen. It evaluates 7 psychomotor factors: Tone, balance, laterality, body notion, space - time structures and global and fine praxis. The battery produces a numeric assessment of the motor condition of the children, thus establishing if their profiles are eupraxic, dispraxic, hyperpraxic or apraxic. Results. 58 children conformed the sample, among which 29 (50%) have a dog at their homes. They were the case group. Another 29 (50%) do not have a dog, and they were the control group. From observing motor skills of the children and from the data obtained when Vitor Da Fonseca's battery was applied, it was established that the well valued factors were laterality, body notion and space-time estructure among children who have dogs (CD). They achieved a media above 3 in a 1 to 4 scale. Tone, balance and global and fine praxis showed a difficulty in the execution of activities. The latter is the one with the lowest value. Conclusion. From revising the literature, evaluating the children and confronting data, it could be concluded that children that own a pet have a relatively better performance in activities related to laterality, body notion and space-time structure, which can also mean better results for their psychomotor profiles, keeping in mind that the difference with children who do not have dogs at their home is not very significant.

Keywords : motor development; gross motor skills; psychomotor profile; Vitor Da Fonseca's psychomotor battery; dog.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )