Nur Sakinah

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between coping skills and psychosocial adjustments among parents of children with LD. Method: A cross-sectional study with a convenience sampling method was applied to a total of 87 parents of children with LD from four non-government community rehabilitation centers. They were measured using a validated Malay version of the Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale (F-COPES) for coping skills. The Modified Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self-Report (PAIS-SR) was used to measure parents' psychosocial adjustments. Results: A Spearman's rho showed a correlation between total coping skills and psychosocial adjustments scores among parents (r s =-0.43, p<0.01). The analysis showed that seeking social support (r s =-0.33, p<0.05), reframing (r s =-0.25, p<0.01), seeking spiritual support (r s =-0.30, p<0.05), and mobilizing to acquire and accept help (r s =-0.33, p<0.05) have significant correlations to the total score of PAIS-SR. Conclusion: The study suggested that parents with better psychosocial adjustment develop better coping skills. Therefore, strategies to improve coping skills and psychosocial adjustment should be considered for parents of learning disabilities.

Children with dyslexia are commonly associated with gross motor difficulties. However, this non-literacy symptom is often overlooked as an important feature of dyslexia. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine gross motor skills status among children with dyslexia and to compare the gross motor skills between younger and older children. A crosssectional study was conducted on children with dyslexia from government schools and Dyslexia Association Malaysia. The participants were divided into two groups, namely younger (4 to 10 years) and older children (11 to 17 years old), and were recruited randomly. The gross motor skills were measured using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2) (subtests: Body Coordination, and, Strength and Agility) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (MABC-2) (subtest: Aiming and Catching). Standard scores and percentile rankings were used for statistical analysis. A total of 82 children with dyslexia were recruited for this study, consisted of younger (n = 57) and older groups of children (n = 25). The younger children were found to have a significantly lower performance in gross motor skills in Body Coordination (Mdn = 48, IQR = 26-63), compared to the older children, (Mdn = 54, IQR = 30-77), with a small effect size (r =-.25). There were no significant different for other findings. The older children were found to demonstrate the highest level of gross motor skills. This study may suggest the need for an early intervention program for young age children with dyslexia. Future studies that assess gross motor skills using longitudinal design are recommended to investigate the changes in gross motor performance over time.