Aim: Assess whether school-based teacher-led screening is effective at identifying children with motor difficulties.
Methods: Teachers tested 217 children aged between 5 and 11 years old, after a one hour training session, using a freely available tool (FUNMOVES). Four classes (n = 91) were scored by both researchers and teachers to evaluate inter-rater reliability.
Background: A large proportion of children are not able to perform age-appropriate fundamental movement skills (FMS). Thus, it is important to assess FMS so that children needing additional support can be identified in a timely fashion. There is great potential for universal screening of FMS in schools, but research has established that current assessment tools are not fit for purpose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) play a critical role in ontogenesis. Many children have insufficient FMS, highlighting the need for universal screening in schools. There are many observational FMS assessment tools, but their psychometric properties are not readily accessible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcross the lifespan the ability to follow instructions is essential for the successful completion of a multitude of daily activities. This ability will often rely on the storage and processing of information in working memory, and previous research in this domain has found that self-enactment at encoding or observing other-enactment at encoding (demonstration) improves performance at recall. However, no working memory research has directly compared these manipulations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Research suggests that children identified with impaired motor skills can respond well to intensive therapeutic interventions delivered via occupational and physical therapy services. There is, however, a need to explore alternative approaches to delivering interventions outside traditional referral-based clinic settings because limited resources mean such health services often struggle to meet demand. This review sets out to systematically assess the evidence for and against school-based interventions targeted at improving the motor skills of children aged between 3 and 12 years old.
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