The Assessment of the Psychomotor Profile in Children: Preliminary Psychometric Analysis of the Portuguese Version of the Batterie d’Evaluation des Fonctions Neuropsychomotrices de L’enfant (NPmot.pt)

Abstract

Psychomotor assessment is an expanding research field. A deep knowledge of the typical development will allow for better child-centered planning. Due to the scarcity of psychomotor assessment instruments validated in Portugal, our research aims to perform a preliminary analysis of the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Battery for Neuropsychomotor functions evaluation (NPmot.pt). The NPmot.pt was translated and adapted to the Portuguese language/culture and applied to 200 children, 4–12 years old (6 y 10 m ± 0 y 4 m), with (n = 150) and without developmental disorders, attending regular school. For content validity, nine experts classified all items according to their relevance, clarity, simplicity and ambiguity. All indexes (IVC > 0.78) pointed out the representativeness of indicators, corroborated by experts proportion agreement (>0.42), and Cohen’s kappa scores (0.02 > k < 0.95). Reliability was confirmed through internal consistency, with Cronbach alphas/split-half (α > 0.45) and temporal reliability (test-retest technique, 0.45 > r < 0.99). Construct validity was analyzed through domains and domains-total correlations, tending to moderate to strong (0.31 > r < 0.92); exploratory factor analysis pointed out an eight-factor solution, explaining 88.5% of the total variance. For discriminant validity, we conducted a comparative study between children with and without developmental disorders that revealed significant differences (p < 0.05). The NPmot.pt seems to confirm validity and reliability for Portugal; however, more studies are needed.

Developing Students' 4C Skills (Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking): Psychomotor Assessment Techniques in Visionary Schools

“…According to Amorim et al, (2022) and Dudung (2018), the communication ability of learners is the skill of expressing thoughts, articulating clearly and sharply opinions, communicating coherent instructions, and motivating others through strong speech. The elements of communication include articulating thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and non-verbal in various forms and situations, listening effectively to decipher meaning (knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions), using communication for various purposes (e.g.…”

“…Critical thinking is a reflective thinking process that focuses on deciding what to believe or do. Critical thinking skills include the ability to access, analyze, and synthesize information that can be taught, trained, and mastered (Amorim et al, 2022;Dudung, 2018;Yoshida et al, 2022b). The definition of critical thinking according to (Sd et al, 2012) that critical thinking includes components of skills to argument analysis, make conclusions using inductive or deductive reasoning, assessment or evaluation, and make decisions or solve problems (Fitriani et al, n.d.) teacher learning strategies to strengthen the character of critical thinking through observation, application and discussion to make meaningful learning, that the critical thinking ability of learners is the skill of comparing, classifying, inductive and deductive reasoning, error analysis, and decision making.…”

Child Psychomotricity: Development, Assessment, and Intervention

“…studies focused on the psychometric properties of three instruments of assessment, the first two for Portuguese children and the third one for Kurdish. Amorim et al [8] contributed to a deeper understanding of typical development using a psychomotor assessment instrument: Battery for Neuropsychomotor functions evaluation (NP-MOT), which was also applied to children with developmental disorders. Similarly, Samadi et al [10] highlighted the importance of the Gilliam autism rating scale-third edition (GARS-3)-widely used to diagnose children with ASD, developing their research in typically developing children and children with intellectual disabilities with communication disorders.…”