The effect of dramatic play on motor creativity and its relation to executive functions of kindergarten children with developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia

Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the effect of dramatic play on motor creativity among kindergarten children with developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia, and to study the relationship of motor creativity to executive functions (retention, working memory, planning), and to estimate the contribution of executive function in predicting motor creativity. The study was conducted on 20 children with developmental coordination disorder aged 5-6 years, who were randomly distributed into two groups: experimental and first control group, in addition to 10 normal children of the same age who represented the second control group. The following tools were used to measure the study variables: the motor creativity test , the gift delay task , the working memory test , and the Tower of Hanoi test. The study reached the following results: 1) There were differences in motor creativity between the children of the experimental group and the first and second control groups in favor of the second control group (typical developing children). 2) There is a very high effect size of dramatic play on the motor creativity of children with developmental coordination disorder in the experimental group. 3) Positive significant correlation were found between executive function and both motor fluency and motor creativity. 4) Planning predicted motor creativity among kindergarten children with developmental coordination disorder. The results were discussed in light of theoretical evidence on the common neural activation of executive function and motor performance. The study recommended conducting interventions based on dramatic play with children with developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia.