The feasibility of fundamental movement skill assessments for pre-school aged children

Abstract

Fundamental movement skill (FMS) assessment in preschools allows for early intervention; however it is unclear what assessments are feasible. The purpose of this review is to systematically review the feasibility of FMS assessments for pre-school aged children. The search was conducted across four databases, MEDLINE, Scopus, ERIC and SportsDiscus. Search terms included synonyms of "fundamental movement skills" and "pre-school children". Inclusion criteria were: (i) FMS assessment; (ii) feasibility data; (iii) assessment of children aged three to six years; (iv) assessment of typically developing children; and (v) peer reviewed full text publications in English. Feasibility concepts (administration time, equipment, space, assessment type, item, training, qualification) were each coded as 'poor = 1', 'average = 2' and 'good = 3'; potential total of 21. A total of 330 full text articles were considered but a quarter (n = 86) were excluded due to no feasibility data. Sixty-five studies using 13 different FMS assessments were included. The Athletic Skills Track and DEMOST-PRE assessments were most feasible (18/21) and the Test of Gross Motor Development and Movement Assessment Battery for Children were common but among the least feasible (12-14/21). This review allows pre-school staff to choose a FMS assessment based on feasibility. Future studies need to present feasibility of assessments.

Fundamental Movement Skills and their Assessment in Primary Schools from the Perspective of Teachers

“…Additionally, while the majority of schools possessed basic equipment that could be used to assess FMS (e.g. beanbags), it is important to note that current assessment tools are burdensome on already pressured school budgets (24), often costing £500-1000 to purchase speci c copyrighted resources. As these factors are unlikely to change within schools, the physical requirements of FMS assessment tools will need to be modi ed (18).…”

Relationships between Motor Competence, Physical Activity, and Obesity in British Preschool Aged Children

“…The strengths of this study include the use of a sensitive process-orientated measure of MC (TGMD-2) [23], and objective and validated measurement of PA in children aged three to five years. Additionally, the TGMD-2 is a commonly used and investigated MC assessment measure present in a large proportion of MC studies [28]. It focused on three-to-five-year old children, an understudied but possibly significant age group, particularly given the closeness to adiposity rebound in children.…”

Development and Validation of a Checklist to Assess Proficient Performance of Basketball Straight Speed Dribbling Skill

“…Recent research compared the feasibility of fundamental movement skill assessments for preschool aged children (Klingberg et al, 2018).…”

“…These may be resolved by increasing the training set. Qualitative assessments require more training than quantitative ones (Klingberg et al, 2018;Stodden et al, 2008) and here the examiners were trained assessing only 10 children before the actual validation process. The third possibility is a statistical artifact.…”