132 deaf boys and girls were evaluated on development for catching and static and dynamic balance proficiency. Additional information was obtained relative to age and hearing loss in decibels. Mature form in catching was related to chronological age and proficiency of balance. Sex and hearing loss do not appear to affect level of development as measured for catching.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of age, sex, etiology, and degree of hearing loss on the static and dynamic balance performance of hearing impaired children and youth (N = 132), ages 3 to 14 yr. The subjects were individually assessed on Items 2 and 7 of Subtest 2 of the Short Form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. As expected, performance on both tasks improved with chronological age. In comparing the performance of subjects by etiology, only one significant difference emerged; those with genetic deafness were superior on static balance to those whose deafness was idiopathic. However, the mean scores for the genetic group were superior for both balance tasks. The sex of the child as well as extent of hearing loss did not affect performance in either task.

This article addresses the issue of fitness assessment for use with individuals who are severely mentally retarded. An overview of The Ohio State University’s Project Transition is accompanied by a detailed review of its assessment system with a particular emphasis upon scoring. Some notable features of the system are contrasted with those of the three related published assessment systems in physical education. The most significant characteristic of the Project Transition assessment system is its score sheet, which yields specific information related to percentage of task completion, level of prompting required for subtasks, whole skill performance, task-analyzed step descriptions, and reinforcement strategy. Assessment systems for individuals who are severely handicapped rarely provide all of these measures. An assessment system of this type is claimed to be useful for both the practitioner and the researcher.

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