Unigym

Directed by Dr Dawne Larkin and coordinated by Kerry Smith, UNIGYM is a movement education program for children aged 5 to 10 years, who have difficulty learning and performing fundamental movement skills at an age appropriate level. The program is designed for children who have motor learning difficulties; those with developmental coordination disorder, dyspraxia, perceptual-motor dysfunction or motor impairment, and is conducted within the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health at The University of Western Australia.

Fundamental movement skills including locomotor, object control, balance, body awareness and aquatic skills are included in the program and where necessary and appropriate, manipulative skills. Teaching, by final year undergraduates completing a Bachelor of Science, (Exercise and Health Science), is specific, intensive and according to the needs of each child.

The children attend the program for one session of one and a half hours a week and at the conclusion of each semester have their movement skills reassessed and parents are provided with a report on the child's progress.

Ongoing research under the direction of Dr Dawne Larkin aims to:

• further the understanding of the development of motor control and variations that constrain the normal acquisition of movement skills.
• identify secondary problems, both physical and psycho-social, that can interfere with motor learning.
• develop identification and remediation procedures to better identify motor learning difficulties in children and enhance motor development.