זריזות ומיומנות ידים בגילאי 5-6 בקרב ילדים להורים יוצאי אתיופיה וילדים להורים ילדי הארץ

The purpose of the study was to compare the hand skills and dexterity of 5-6 year old children of Israeli Ethiopian immigrants parents versus children of Israeli born parents. Diffrernces in the sensorymotor function of Immigrant children from Ethioia and Israeli born children aged 6-8 were found in previous study. As a result of the cultural differences and previous studies in which differences were found in the motoric function among cultures, it was assmpt that differences would be found in hand skills and dexterity between these two groups. The sample consisted of 60 five year old children studying in a regular preschool educational program, living in Haifa and other northern regions of Israel. 30 were children of Ethiopian immigrants parents and 30 were children of Israeli born parents. All subjects underwent two separate evaluations: The Jebsen Hand Function Test and The Purdue Pegboard Test. The study results strengthen the primary assumption of the existence of cultural differences. Obvious differences between the two groups were found in most of the Jebsen subtests and in one of the Purdue subtests with the children of Israeli born parents showing the better performance. In light of these findings, consideration of cultural background differences should take place while interpreting the results of the tests and when planning treatment. In addition, an in depth evaluation of the test results must be done in order to create Israeli norms for both populations.