The relationship between physical fitness and motor competence in children

Background This study examined the relationship between physical fitness and motor competence in children aged 9–10 years. Methods A sample of 67 children (mean age 9.7, SD 0.3 year) participated in the study. To assess motor competence, each child completed the Movement Assessment Battery for Children. Physical fitness was measured by the Test of Physical Fitness, comprising nine different tasks including running, jumping, throwing and climbing. Results The results show a strong and significant correlation between motor competence and physical fitness within the sample. Conclusions These results are relevant to the work of maintaining and developing both sufficient physical fitness and motor competence in children as these factors are important contributors to their health and well‐being.     

The relationship between perceived physical competence and fundamental motor skills in preschool children

Background The purpose of this investigation had two folds. First, it aimed to discover the relationship between perceived physical competence and fundamental motor skills in preschoolers. Secondly, it examined the effect of sex on perceived physical competence and fundamental motor skills within the sample. Methods A total of 119 children (mean age 4.00, SD 0.55 years) participated in this study. The Test of Gross Motor Development – 2nd Edition was used to assess fundamental motor skills and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance was used to assess perceived physical competence. Results The results show a moderate and significant correlation between perceived physical competence and fundamental motor skills. Sex differences were also found with boys demonstrating more proficient motor skills and reporting higher perceived physical competence compared with girls. Conclusions The findings provide relevant information to the child development literature and suggest that a positive relationship exist between preschoolers' self‐perceptions of the physical ability and fundamental motor skills.     

The effect of residence area and mother's education on motor development of preschool-aged children in Greece

Development occurs according to the rhythm that is established by the genetic potential and the influence of environmental factors. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the child's residence area and maternal education on child's motor development. Eight hundred children (384 boys and 416 girls, aged 37-72 months), randomly selected from daycare centres and kindergartens of rural and urban areas of Northern Greece, were tested on the two motor subscales (A, locomotor; and D, eye-hand coordination) of the Griffiths Test No II. With respect to their residence, 610 children lived in urban and 190 lived in rural areas. In terms of education, 530 mothers were formally educated and 270 were highly educated. The results of this study suggest that motor development of preschool-aged children is associated with both factors examined. Children who lived in urban areas had better performance on fine motor abilities than children who lived in rural areas. In contrast, rural children had a higher developmental quotient than urban children on the locomotor scale. With regard to mother's education, children of highly educated mothers had a higher mean developmental quotient on both scales. The findings reinforce the need for a safe and opportunity-rich environment, which ensures that children reach their full developmental potential.     

Quality of motor performance in preterm and full-term 3-year-old children

BACKGROUND: A combined assessment of motor performance and behaviour (CAMPB) was introduced previously for use in a longitudinal study of children who needed neonatal intensive care (NIC) and were born very preterm (n = 68), moderately preterm (n = 81) and full-term (n = 77) and in a reference group of neonatally healthy full-term children (n = 72). Aim To follow up the quality of motor performance at 3 years of age in the above groups of children. METHOD: A detailed assessment of motor performance and an assessment of co-ordination were performed according to the CAMPB protocol. The results were compared between the different groups of children, and the relation between the two ways of assessing quality of motor performance was examined. RESULTS: The detailed assessment showed that the very preterm children had a significantly higher total score of deviations than any of the other gestational age groups of children. Also, some types of deviations were much more frequently observed in the very preterm children than in the other three groups. Some types of deviations were more often seen in children with pronounced incoordination than in children with no incoordination. The results from the two ways of assessing motor performance were strongly correlated. CONCLUSION: At 3 years of age, NIC children born very preterm have a lower quality of motor performance than NIC children born at a higher gestational age and healthy children born at term. The two ways of assessing quality of motor performance proved useful in identifying children with deviations indicating minor motor impairments.     

Development of a global motor rating scale for young children (0–4 years) including eye–hand grip coordination

A comparative study of the eight motor rating scales available in Western countries demonstrated methodological differences in the choice of items and standardization. We have developed a global motor rating scale that includes items which measure postural-motor, locomotor (PML) and eye-hand grip coordination (EHGC), and which allows the assessment of an average of motor function level (MFL), PML and EHGC development. Scores obtained were used to define the acquisition of motor age based on the skills completed. The items were selected on the basis of the average age at which the function developed in two populations of healthy full-term French infants, followed from birth to 4 months (n = 60) and from 4 months to 4 years (n = 63). Recent French developmental standards (mean age and standard deviation) of acquisition allow the identification of neuro-psychomotor deviations from normal motor behaviour. This includes both static and dynamic motor coordination sequences. Inter-examiner correlations (n = 3) for 15 randomly selected children indicated a coefficient of 0.90. The scale revealed a sequence in the organization of learned postural-motor, locomotor and eye-hand gripping skills which can contribute to the understanding of brain areas implicated in this maturation process.     

Mothers' questionnaire of preschoolers' language and motor skills: a validation study

Objective Parent questionnaires of child motor and language skills are useful in many contexts. This study validates one such measure, the Preschool Child Development Inventory (PCDI), a mother‐answered standardized measure of motor (fine and gross) and language (expression and comprehension) skills of 3–6‐year‐old children. Methods Eighty‐one mothers answered the inventory and their children were concurrently tested on six verbal subtests of WPPSI‐R^IS. Results The six language and motor subtests of the PCDI revealed the predicted convergent and divergent correlations with the verbal subtests of the WPPSI‐R^IS. As predicted, the motor subtests diverged and the language subtests converged with the expected WPPSI‐R^IS subtests. Principal components analysis of all the measures (the PCDI and the WPPSI‐R^IS subtests) revealed two components, verbal and motor in content. Conclusions The findings support the validity of a mother‐answered inventory to assess language and motor development. It is pointed out that such inventories are a viable brief and cost effective alternative to individual testing, both to supplement such measures in clinical practice and as main information in research, for example on determinants of development. Some suggestions are made for future research and applications.     

Clumsiness in children: a defect of kinaesthetic perception?

Summary Abnormal clumsiness in otherwise normal children has been recognized for many years, but the causes of this disorder are heterogeneous or unknown. Although equivocal, there is some evidence from reaction time studies suggesting that clumsiness is associated with a defect in perception of movement in the kinaesthetic modality and of motor programming. In this experiment clumsy children and matched controls performed simple and choice kinaesthetic reaction time tasks with either simple or complex responses. The requirement to discriminate between kinaesthetic stimuli was found to increase reaction time more for clumsy than for control children, but increasing response complexity had no significant effect on the reaction time of either group. These results were interpreted as suggesting that clumsiness is associated with a perceptual defect in the kinaesthetic modality, but providing no support for an association of clumsiness with a defect of motor programming.     

动作技能干预对智力障碍儿童青少年基本动作技能影响的系统综述

目的 系统分析国内外动作技能干预对智力障碍儿童青少年基本动作技能影响的方法学特点和效果。方法 对CNKI、Wan Fang Data、EBSCO-SPORT、Web of Science、PubMed 5个数据库进行检索,检索日期从建库到2021年6月3日。对纳入文献的国家和地区、实验设计、样本、干预、测评和结果等信息进行提取,并使用PEDro对纳入文献进行方法学质量评价。结果 共纳入11篇文献,有效干预为100%;干预内容集中于平衡、力量和协调;游戏形式的低强度干预,单次干预时间40~60 min,每周2~3次,6~8周的干预较为适宜;测评工具以BOTMP使用数量最多,测评维度多集中于平衡技能。结论 动作技能干预可以有效提高智力障碍儿童青少年的基本动作技能。建议丰富干预内容,提高研究质量,加强我国样本的相关研究,并研制科学有效的智力障碍儿童青少年基本动作技能测评工具。     

Peabody运动发育量表结合配套运动训练方案在运动发育迟缓儿童中早期干预效果

目的 探讨Peabody运动发育量表(PDMS-2)结合配套运动训练方案在运动发育迟缓儿童中的早期干预效果,为运动发育迟缓儿童的早期干预提供科学依据。方法 选取2019年6月—2020年6月湖州市妇幼保健院儿童保健科康复中心收治确诊为运动发育迟缓且符合标准的患儿101例,按不同训练方案分为干预组51例和对照组50例,两组均进行常规早期运动干预训练。根据PDMS-2评估结果,干预组患儿在常规早期干预训练下进行相应Peabody配套运动训练,而对照组仅进行常规早期干预训练。训练1个疗程后采用PDMS-2对两组患儿的运动能力进行再次评估,比较两组的运动评估结果。结果 干预前干预组粗大运动商(GMQ)、精细运动商(FMQ)、总体运动商(TMQ)与对照组之间差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05),干预后的评估显示干预组患儿较治疗前GMQ、FMQ、TMQ均显著提高,差异有统计学意义(t=4.00、3.17、3.97,P＜0.01),且干预组GMQ、FMQ、TMQ评分均显著大于对照组(t=2.13、2.04、2.44,P＜0.05)。干预前,两组精细运动或粗大运动偏移率比较,差异无统计学意义(χ²=2.60,P>0.05)。干预组干预前后比较差异有统计学意义(χ²=7.71,P<0.01),对照组干预前后差异无统计学意义(χ²=3.73,P>0.05)。结论 在运动发育迟缓儿童早期干预训练中使用PDMS-2及其配套运动训练方案,能够有效改善运动功能的发育。     

Preschool children's fundamental motor skills: a review of significant determinants

Fundamental motor skills (FMS) affect children's physical, social, and cognitive development. To plan successful interventions when promoting the development of children's FMS, the underlying positive determinants for the acquisition of FMS competence during preschool years need to be identified. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify positive determinants of FMS such as stability, locomotor, and manipulative movements in children between the ages of three and six. Five electronic databases (ERIC, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, and Physical Education Index) were used for the systematic search and in our final analysis there were 29 articles. Four categories of determinants were identified: (1) individual characteristics (gender, ethnicity, age, physical activity, physical fitness, and playfulness), (2) education-related (programmes promoting physical activity and motor skill, attendance of physical education lessons, practice schedules), (3) social environments (parent- and family-related variables, older siblings, and sport club participation), and (4) physical environment (population density, size of preschool area, clothing). Age, gender, physical activity, and preschool-based programmes were positive determinants of FMS in preschool-aged children.     

学龄儿童基本动作技能发展水平及其相关影响因素的研究

目的 分析学龄儿童基本动作技能发展水平与体质指数和功能动作测试结果的相关性,为促进儿童青少年运动技能的发展提供理论与实验依据。方法 以240名学龄儿童为研究对象,通过大肌肉动作发展测试(TGMD-2),观察学龄儿童基本动作技能发展水平,并分组采用体质指数(BMI)和功能动作筛查(FMS)测试,比较不同组别儿童基本动作技能水平、BMI指数、FMS的特点及其相关影响因素。结果 1) 学龄儿童基本动作技能发展为距离完全成熟还有差距;2)学龄儿童样本TGMD总分、控制项得分与其BMI指数无相关,TGMD移动项得分与BMI指数负相关,而FMS得分受BMI指数负影响;3)TGMD总分与FMS得分正相关,反映TGMD总分高度依赖FMS测试结果。结论 儿童运动技能的发展需要系统的科学培养过程。     

Asking the tough questions: a guide to ethical practices in interviewing young children

This paper discusses challenging features of interviewing young children for a range of purposes. Research with young children is discussed as well as other forms of interviewing by practitioners in a range of fields. Processes in establishing the interview purpose include defining some ground rules for the young client, managing the physical setting for the interview and examining the complex nature of confidentiality and consent in interviewing young children. In terms of interviewing style, the emphasis is on encouraging the young child's free narrative within an ethical context using a range of empathic response cues to promote this. Age-appropriate projective techniques, including art work and the use of dolls and puppets, are examined for their value in managing interviews and research with young children although cautions are expressed about interpreting findings from these.     

Asking the tough questions: a guide to ethical practices in interviewing young children

This paper discusses challenging features of interviewing young children for a range of purposes. Research with young children is discussed as well as other forms of interviewing by practitioners in a range of fields. Processes in establishing the interview purpose include defining some ground rules for the young client, managing the physical setting for the interview and examining the complex nature of confidentiality and consent in interviewing young children. In terms of interviewing style, the emphasis is on encouraging the young child's free narrative within an ethical context using a range of empathic response cues to promote this. Age‐appropriate projective techniques, including art work and the use of dolls and puppets, are examined for their value in managing interviews and research with young children although cautions are expressed about interpreting findings from these.     

情景式运动训练对运动发育迟缓儿童的治疗效果研究

目的 分析情景式运动训练对运动发育迟缓儿童的康复效果。方法 通过前瞻性随机对照试验设计,选取运动发育迟缓儿童80例,随机分成2组,每组40例。两组均进行综合早期干预,治疗组在综合早期干预的基础上加情景运动训练,并分别于治疗前及1个大疗程后对其运动功能及平衡功能进行评估。结果 治疗前,两组患儿的粗大运动功能量表(GMFM-88)、Peabody量表中的大运动及精细运动DQ及Berg平衡量表评分比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。两组内治疗前后比较显示,GMFM-88量表中的D区及E区、Peabody量表的大运动及精细运动DQ评分及Berg平衡量表评分较治疗前明显提高(P<0.05);治疗后,两组间比较显示,观察组的GMFM-88量表中的D区及E区、Peabody量表的大运动及精细运动DQ评分及Berg平衡量表评分较对照组明显提高(P<0.05)。结论 情景式运动训练对运动发育迟缓儿童的早期干预具有良好的效果。     

A study on fine motor skills of Iranian children with attention deficit/hyper activity disorder aged from 6 to 11 years

The aim of this study was to compare the fine motor skills of two groups of Iranian children. Of the 55 male Tehranian children aged 6 to 10 years, 29 children were typically developing and 26 were identified as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. All children were assessed using the Raven Intelligence Test and nine fine motor tasks. There were no significant differences between the groups based on intelligence. In eight of the fine motor tasks, there was a significant difference between the groups. These tasks were cutting, placing dots in a grid pattern without direction, threading beads, drawing a line within 1 and 2 minutes, finger movements and Purdue pegboard. Boys who have been identified as ADHD have poorer fine motor skills compared to typically developing boys of the same age. Children aged 6 to 10 years who have been identified as ADHD will require more attention to their fine motor skill performance to enable greater participation in daily living tasks in Tehran such as writing, fine arts and dressing which require fast and quick hand motor skills. There are still limitations in this area; therefore, research in fine motor skills and ADHD children are recommended for future research.     

早产低出生体重婴幼儿智力和运动发育纵向随访研究

【目的】 探讨早产低出生体重对6~24月龄儿童智力和运动发育的影响及随年龄而变化的趋势。 【方法】 观察组:早产低出生体重儿86例;正常对照组115例,采用纵向随访方法,在儿童6月、12月、18月和24月龄时,应用Bayley婴幼儿发育量表进行评估,结果用智力发育指数(mental development index,MDI)和运动发育指数(psychomotor development index,PDI)、以及校正年龄后的智力和运动发育指数(MDIJ和PDIJ)表示。 【结果】 早产组在6月、12月、18月及24月龄时MDI及PDI均低于正常对照组,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05)。经校正年龄后,与对照组相比,早产组6月龄MDIJ略高(P=0.017),差异有统计学意义,其余年龄段差异无统计学意义;校正后的PDIJ在多数年龄段仍然落后于对照组,差异有统计学意义。24月龄时早产组MDI、PDI仍＜85者各有9例(10.5%)、10例(11.6%)。 早产组24月龄MDI与父母亲文化水平、MDIJ6、PDIJ6和PDIJ12呈显著相关(r=0.387~0.664,P＜0.05),运动发育与母亲年龄、父亲文化、MDIJ6、PDIJ6、MDIJ12和PDIJ12呈显著相关(r=0.473~0.672,P＜0.05)。 【结论】 早产低出生体重对婴幼儿的智力和运动发育有明显的不利影响,但随年龄的增长智力发育指数与正常儿童的差距缩小。     

精细运动发育落后幼儿视觉运动整合与视诱发电位关系探讨

目的 研究精细运动发育落后幼儿其视觉运动整合能力与视诱发电位潜伏期之间的相关性,为发育落后患儿的早期诊断和干预提供科学依据。方法 2015年1月-2016年12月选择71例经PDMS-Ⅱ测试精细运动发育落后并符合纳入标准的患儿,同时进行闪光视觉诱发电位检测,将闪光视诱发电位P100潜伏期(LP100)均值分别与视觉-运动整合能力(VMI)和精细运动发育商(FMQ)均值进行统计学检验及相关性分析。结果 精细运动发育落后幼儿视诱发电位潜伏期与视觉-运动整合及精细运动发育商存在相关关系(r=-0.859和-0.844,P<0.001),潜伏期越延迟,其视觉-运动整合标准分及精细运动发育商越低。结论 视知觉功能可影响精细运动发育落后幼儿视觉运动整合能力,视诱发电位可作为早期诊断、早期干预提供重要线索和电生理依据。     

幼儿园儿童生长发育调查分析

目的了解乍浦社区幼儿园儿童生长发育现状，为改进儿童保健工作提供依据。方法对西街幼儿园198名2～6岁儿童按照标准化方法测量身高、体重，并用上海市市区0～6岁儿童体格发育评价标准进行评价。结果本组儿童体重均超出上海市儿童体重评价标准，并反映其生长发育指标高于上海市评价标准，身高≥P50者有140人，占70．7％；体重≥P50者有158人，占79．79％。超重儿达23．23％，肥胖儿达4．5％。结论虹口区乍浦社区幼儿园儿童生长发育情况良好．存在营养过剩现象，应引起重视。     

Relations between playing activities and fine motor development

Children’s fine motor skills (FMS) are being increasingly recognized as an important aspect of preschool development; yet, we know very little about the experiences that foster their development. We utilized a parent-administered children’s fine and gross motor activities questionnaire (MAQ) to investigate links with FMS. We recruited a sample of 225 preschool children (aged 5;9) and assessed FMS and vocabulary. Additionally, parents completed the MAQ and a questionnaire on home literacy environment (HLE) to test two competing accounts. According to a differential account, fine motor activities lead to greater FMS, whereas according to an epiphenomenal account, a generally more educative home environment fosters FMS alongside other skills. Findings were highly differential: FMS linked to the fine-MAQ but not to the gross-MAQ or the HLE, whereas vocabulary linked to the HLE, but not the fine- or gross-MAQ. The data underscore fine motor activities as a distinct factor in the preschool period.     

学前儿童大肌肉动作发展水平年龄和性别特征研究

目的 评价3~6岁学前儿童大肌肉动作发展水平的年龄和性别特征,为学前儿童动作教育提供理论参考依据。方法 采用大肌肉动作发展(TGMD-3)测量工具对119名学前儿童大肌肉动作发展进行测量,比较不同年龄组和性别分组大肌肉动作发展水平的差异。结果 3、4、5~6岁三组儿童,大肌肉动作发展测试总分(33.24、43.11、52.09),操作性技能得分(14.79、19.57、24.94),移动性技能得分(18.45、23.54、27.15)均随年龄增长不断提高,差异均有高度统计学意义(P＜0.01)。3岁~组大肌肉动作发展总分女童(32.29)高于男童(29.5)(P＜0.01),4岁~与5岁~组男童总分均高于女童(P＜0.01)。操作性技能得分男童均高于女童(P<0.05),移动性技能得分3岁~组女童(18.60)高于男童(13.69)(P＜0.01),4岁~与5岁~组男童均高于女童(P＜0.01)。结论 学前儿童大肌肉动作发展水平随年龄增长不断提高,其中移动性技能发展较好,操作性技能则较差;同龄组中男童操作性技能优于女童,移动性技能男童亦优于女童(除3岁~低龄组外)。