Motor Skill Performance In Children Research Articles

Effectiveness of an Eight-Week Fundamental Skills Intervention Programme on the Motor Skills of Children with Visual Impairment, Nairobi City County, Kenya

Physical activity has been included in early intervention programmes involving fundamental motor skills among children with differing disabilities. Though research has documented improved motor skills performance generally, few have focused on intervention programmes as a means towards improving motor skill performance in children with visual impairment (VI). This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of an eight-week fundamental motor skills intervention programme on motor skills of children with visual impairment in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study targeted children with VI aged between six to eleven years. Out of the two public integrated primary school with special unit for VI, the school with the highest number of children with VI was purposively selected. Twelve out of the 20 targeted children with VI in grade one and two met the inclusion criteria. Ethical clearance and consent were acquired before the study. One group pre and post-test quasi experimental design was used. The study utilised Test of Gross Motor development which include two subsets: locomotor and object manipulation skills. The motor skills were assessed before and after the intervention programme. The results showed significant improvement of both the locomotor and object control skills. The study therefore recommends implementation of motor skill intervention programmes for children with VI at an early age

Using 2 Versions of the Test of Gross Motor Development to Classify and Screen Young Children's Motor Skills: A Comparison Study.

The purpose of this study was to examine comparability between 2 editions of the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-second and TGMD-third edition) on (1) how children's motor skills were categorized as average or below average, and (2) how children are screened for being at-risk for motor delay or with delayed motor skills. Participants were 226 children (Mage = 53.4mo, 125 boys). All children completed full TGMD-2 and TGMD-3. Children were classified as average or above (>25th percentile) or below average (≤25th percentile) and, when applicable, as developmental delay (≤5th percentile) or at-risk for developmental delay (6-25th percentile). We compared children's classifications across TGMD editions using percent agreement and chi-squared tests. The TGMD-2 and TGMD-3 had moderate agreement when categorizing children as below average (72.2% for total skills, 76.0% for locomotor skills, and 73% for ball skills). The TGMD-3 was significantly more likely to categorize children's motor skill performance as average or above (all P < .01). TGMD-2 and TGMD-3 similarly screen children who demonstrate below average skills (≤25th percentile), but not for specific skill level classifications, including above average, at-risk for delays, and delayed.

Executive and motor function in children with autism spectrum disorder.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between executive function, mainly attention and impulse control, and motor function impairment in children with ASD. Fifteen children with ASD (ages 8-14years) were examined on their executive function using the Conners continuous performance test-3 and motor function using the movement assessment battery for children-2 (MABC-2). It was found that children with ASD were delayed on executive and motor function. This means that those effects were also observed in male children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who had similar characteristics as the participants in the study. This study may have practical implications in the relationship between executive function and motor performance in children with ASD and for clinicians and educators working with children with ASD. Furthermore, the findings suggest that variability in reaction time may be a useful predictor of motor skill performance in children with ASD and may reflect underlying difficulties in executive function and future research is suggested.

IoT-Based Instrumented Bicycle Handlebar for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Common symptoms detected by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include having problems with their fine and gross motor skills. One of the parameters usually associated with the development of ASD children's motor skill performance is Handgrip Strength (HGS). In healthcare, data gathering for the purpose of rehabilitation and therapy are usually conducted manually by the trainer or therapist for multiple candidates in a continuous intervention plan over days, weeks, or even months. This traditional and restrictive approach might not result in prompt, effective, and accessible health services or care that is centred on the needs of the patient. This creates a gap in the adoption of digital transformation-based solutions, particularly in giving the benefit of having a therapist, trainer, or guardian who can track the progress of treatment interventions online via a web application. Hence, this study aims to develop a bicycle handlebar with monitoring systems technology such as an IoT module, hand grip sensor, and heart rate to be used as an intervention tool for ASD children during the physical therapy session. The bicycle handlebar is customized and designed in SolidWorks software. It is 3D Printed to integrate the usage of sensors such as load cells and heart rate sensors to track the motor skill condition of ASD children. The handlebar is designed at a diameter of approximately 30 mm to enable an optimum reading of children's handgrip strength. The data logging system uses the TTGO T-Display with ESP32 microcontroller to allow a wireless and seamless data reading and transfer. Data from the sensors are sent via Wi-Fi to a custom website, Smart Fi-cycle IoT Website, allowing users to access through devices such as mobile phones and PC/Laptop. This system will enable patients and interventionists to track their motor skill performance through a systematic monitoring system.

A Critical View on Motor-based Interventions to Improve Motor Skill Performance in Children With ADHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Objective: To map the effect of motor-based interventions on motor skills in children with ADHD. Method: A systematic literature search was performed in Pubmed, Web of Science, and the SCOPUS database (last search: October 30th 2022). Methodological quality was assessed using the PEDro-scale and the quality of evidence was determined with the GRADE-method. Meta-analysis was performed when at least five studies were available. Results: Thirteen studies (7 RCTs) satisfied the inclusion criteria, five of which were eligible for meta-analysis. Only one of the included studies reached the low risk of bias threshold. Comparing different motor-based interventions to any non-motor control intervention showed large motor skill improvements (SMD = 1.46; 95% CI = [1.00;1.93]; I² = 47.07%). The most effective type of motor-based intervention and the optimal treatment parameters could not be determined yet. Conclusion: Motor-based interventions in general seem to improve motor skills in children with ADHD. Additional RCTs are needed to increase current low GRADE confidence.

Reliability and minimal detectable change of the Challenge, an advanced motor skills test for children with cerebral palsy, Danish version

Purpose To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Challenge, and investigate the reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC) of the Danish Challenge in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Materials and methods A Danish version of the Challenge was created through a standardized translation process. Four physiotherapists evaluated face validity. Independently ambulatory children with CP were tested. Live performance rating was conducted by assessors independently scoring the Challenge. Video-rating was undertaken for a subset of assessments. Same day assessment test–retest reliability was estimated. The Challenge’s Best Score Total was of primary interest. Results Forty-five children (5–18 years: mean 10 years 9 months; 19 girls) in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I and II were tested. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for live assessments (n = 45) ICC = 0.998 (95% CI 0.998–0.999) and video assessments (n = 15) ICC = 0.991 (95% CI 0.963–0.997) and intra-rater reliability was excellent for live versus video-recorded assessments (n = 10) ICC = 0.977 (95% CI 0.895–0.994). Test–retest reliability (n = 22) was excellent with ICC = 0.991 (95% CI 0.979–0.996) and minimal detectable change (MDC90) of 4.7 points. Conclusions The Danish Challenge showed excellent reliability in this testing context when physiotherapists scored from live- or video-recorded assessments. The Challenge’s ability to detect 4.7 points change seems a clinically realistic target for progress. Clinical trial registration: This trial has been approved by the Data Protection Agency, Central Region Denmark, Ref nr.: 615216, Case nr.: 1-16-02-46-16. Registration date: 01-01-2016. Implications for rehabilitation The Challenge remained reliable and maintained a promising minimal detectable change of less than five points after translation and cultural adaptation. The Danish version of the Challenge 20-item version can be used to measure advanced motor skill performance in children with cerebral palsy, GMFCS level I and GMFCS level II. Challenge live scoring is as reliable as the more time-consuming video-recorded scoring, meaning that physiotherapists can choose the method that fits best with their clinical context and preference.

Pedagogical support for the Test of Gross Motor Development – 3 for children with neurotypical development and with Autism Spectrum Disorder: validity for an animated mobile application

ABSTRACT Background: Motor skill assessment is time-consuming and some difficulties are inherent in the administration of motor tests, especially in children with neurodevelopment disorders. Purpose: This study aimed to develop and investigate the face, content, and criterion validity of a Motor Skills Sequential Pictures (MSSP) for the Test of Gross Motor Development – 3 (TGMD-3) to be animated and used in a mobile application (App). Methods: The MSSP was created representing each of the 13 TGMD-3 skills, performance criteria and accuracy was assessed by 23 experts, 52 undergraduate students, and 66 children (range 3–10 years; n = 48 with neurotypical development, n = 18 with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD). We conducted two rounds of MSSP expert evaluations to improve the MSSP accuracy. Content validity was conducted with the experts’ results using percentage of agreement, content validity coefficient (CVC), kappa, and Chi2 tests for the first and final version of the MSSP. University students participated in the face validity evaluation of the MSSP final version using percentage of agreement. Further content validity was conducted with experts and university students’ scores using Chi2. Children participated in the last phase of the study and were requested to identify and perform the skills, and if unsuccessful, they received verbal support based on the motor performance criteria. Results: For content validity results associated with the experts’ agreement, scores were high and increased from the first to the second round (CVC from 87.0% to 96.1%; Kappa coefficient >.60, p > .0001). High agreement was obtained for the face validity of all skills (range 94.1–100%). Further, significant associations were found for experts and university students scores for the MSSP final version (p ≤ .002), providing further evidence for the MSSP content validity. The results for children with neurotypical development showed that children aged 3–4 had more difficulties in identifying the skills compared to older children. Developmental criterion validity was found for several skills (hop, jump, slide, one-hand strike, two-hand strike; p values from <.0001 to .50); the MSSP was a more robust support as children age. In the ASD group, identifying skills was difficult for all ages, but mainly in locomotor skills. Furthermore, an inverse trend was found for the developmental validity criteria for children with ASD for several skills (sSkip, jump, slide, catch, kick; p values from .016 to .050), younger children relied more on the MSSP support to identify the skills. Conclusion: The MSSP, mainly ball skills, proved to be valid to illustrate the TGMD-3 motor performance criteria and may be useful as a visual pedagogical support for children to facilitate skill understanding. Future directions will be to evaluate whether the MSSP animation, in an app-based program, will improve children's motor skill performance.

Effects of Physical Activity on Children's Motor Skill Development: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective This systematic review synthesized current randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining casual evidence regarding the effects of traditional and exergaming-based physical activity (PA) interventions on motor skill development in typically developed children (i.e., those aged 6-12 years). Methods We adhered to the PRISMA-P statement and searched electronic databases (Medline, PsycInfo, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, Scopus, and SportDiscus) from inception through July 2020. We screened for peer reviewed RCTs published in English between 2000 and 2020 examining the effect of PA on motor skill development in healthy children. Results A total of 25 RCTs were included, 20 (80%) of which reported significant improvements in children's motor skill performance. Specifically, 18 studies examined traditional PA interventions and 7 studies examined exergaming-based PA interventions, 83% and 71% of which observed statistically significant improvements in children's motor skill development, respectively. Conclusions Findings support the causal evidence regarding the effects of PA on motor skill development in children. Notable limitations of this review included heterogeneity of measurement protocols and assessment tools used to test children's motor skills across studies, a wide range of PA intervention dose across studies, and the lack of power analyses and long-term follow-up assessments in individual studies to discern appropriate sample sizes and long-term effectiveness, respectively. To further strengthen the evidence in this emerging field, we advocate for future RCTs to employ a priori power analyses, long-term follow-up measurements, and more exergaming-based interventions to allow for comparisons with traditional PA interventions, to explore the dose response and moderating relationships between PA and motor skill development in childhood, and to utilize homogenous assessment instruments to allow for more rigorous, quantitative syntheses.

The Effectiveness Of Physical Activity On Motor Skills In Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Researchers of epidemiological studies in recent years have witnessed the expansion of children with neurodevelopment disorders (NDDs), particularly of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome (DS), developmental coordination disorder (DCD), Cerebral palsy (CP). Noticeable motor deficits are among common characteristics of children with NDDs, which indicate the need for interventions to promote optimal motor and overall development. While physical activity (PA) has been widely used in the rehabilitation of children with NDDs to improve their motor performance, questions remain whether or not the beneficial effects of PA are conclusive. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematical review and metal analysis of the studies investigating the effects of PA on motor skill performance in children with NDDs. METHODS: Relevant articles were sourced from PubMed, the Web of Science, EBSCO, the Cochrane Library, CNKI and Wanfang data. RESULTS: Twenty studies with 269 subjects met inclusion criteria for this review and were included. Compared with pre-interventions, there was a significantly improve in motor skills(Fig.1 & 2), the gross motor skills (SMD [standardized mean difference] = 0.64, 95%CI [coefficient interval]: 0.29 to 0.99), fine motor skills (SMD = 1.33, 95%CI: 0.57 to 2.09) respectively. CONCLUSION: PA could effectively improve gross and fine motor skill performance in children with NDDs. Although the findings were based on a small number of studies, the results of this meta-analysis still suggest that researchers and clinicians should consider including PA in their rehabilitation programs for children with NDDs. Future studies should clarify which type and what intensity of PA intervention might be most effective in promoting motor development based on individual children’s needs and treatment characteristics.

Gross motor skill performance in children with and without CHARGE syndrome: Research to practice

BackgroundCHARGE syndrome is a multifaceted syndrome of complex birth defects. The heterogeneous nature of children with CHARGE syndrome brings unique issues and challenges affecting the overall motor development of the child, often resulting in developmental delays including motor delays. AimsThe purpose of this research was to assess children with CHARGE Syndrome on locomotor and object control skills to better understand their motor development. This information is relevant to adapted physical education teachers, paraeducators, vision teachers, health care professionals (occupational therapists, physical therapists, and physicians) and parents and family members of children with CHARGE Syndrome. Methods and ProceduresThirty-seven children with CHARGE syndrome and thirty peers without disabilities participated in the study. Each participant was assessed on two object control and three locomotor skills with modifications, if necessary. In addition, the age of onset of independent walking was recorded for each participant. Outcome and resultsChildren with CHARGE syndrome performed significantly behind their same age peers in most gross motor skills with the biggest deficits found in the run and kick. Age of onset of walking was associated with performance in jumping, running, and throwing. Conclusions and implicationsEarly intervention services should focus on gross motor skills such as throwing, kicking, as well as walking at an early age.

Efectos del entrenamiento de la aptitud muscular sobre la adiposidad corporal y el desempeño motriz en niños y jóvenes: un meta-análisis.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of resistance training on percentage body fat and motor skill performance in children and adolescents who do not participate in professional competitive sports. Systematic searches were undertaken in seven electronic databases. The studies under review consisted of controlled trials evaluating the effect of resistance training on body fat (Body Mass Index BMI, Total Body Fat TBF and central adiposity) and motor skill performance (standing long jump SLJ and medicine ball toss MBT) in children and adolescents. Two reviewers performed eligibility assessment independently, establishing that twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria for meta-analysis (n= 697). The effect size (ES) was calculated using Cohen’s d. Overall weighted ES for BMI was small with a confidence interval upper limit >0 (n= 7, d= -0.12, CI 95% -0.35 to 0.10). ES for body fat was moderate (n= 8, d= -0.37, CI 95% -0.58 to -0.17). The same occurred with jumping performance (n= 12, d= 0.54, CI 95% 0.36 to 0.72) and throwing (n=4, d= 0.49, CI 95% 0.22 to 0.76). Resistance training seems to be effective to reduce body fat and enhance motor skill performance in children and adolescents who do not participate in competitive sports.

Relationship between children's performance-based motor skills and child, parent, and teacher perceptions of children's motor abilities using self/informant-report questionnaires.

Occupational therapists often assess the motor skill performance of children referred to them as part of the assessment process. This study investigated whether children's, parents' and teachers' perceptions of children's motor skills using valid and reliable self/informant-report questionnaires were associated with and predictive of children's actual motor performance, as measured by a standardised performance-based motor skill assessment. Fifty-five typically developing children (8-12 years of age), their parents and classroom teachers were recruited to participate in the study. The children completed the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) and the Self-Perception Profile for Children. The parents completed the Developmental Profile III (DP-III) and the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire, whereas the teachers completed the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire and the Teacher's Rating Scale of Child's Actual Behavior. Children's motor performance composite scores were determined using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2). Spearman's rho correlation coefficients were calculated to identify if significant correlations existed and multiple linear regression was used to identify whether self/informant report data were significant predictors of children's motor skill performance. The child self-report scores had the largest number of significant correlations with the BOT-2 composites. Regression analysis found that the parent report DP-III Physical subscale was a significant predictor of the BOT-2 Manual Coordination composite and the child-report questionnaire PSDQ. Endurance subscale was a significant predictor of the BOT-2 Strength and Agility composite. The findings support the use of top-down assessment methods from a variety of sources when evaluating children's motor abilities.

English

Mosston and Ashworth's (2008) reciprocal style of teaching gives learners the opportunity to work in pairs to support each other's learning (one practices a task and the other gives feedback). The effects of pairing learners by companionship (friend and nonacquaintance) on 8-year-old children's motor skill performance and comfort levels were explored in this study. The participants (N = 52) were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n = 40) or a control group (n = 12). Prior to the study, learners in the treatment group were paired by companionship (partners who were friends and partners who were not friends). The same dribbling tasks were taught to the learners in all groups (eight 30-min sessions). A soccer dribbling test and a 7-point semantic differential scale were employed to evaluate the dribbling skill and how comfortable the learners felt giving and receiving feedback, respectively. The results show that learners paired with friends felt more comfortable in giving and receiving feedback than learners paired with nonacquaintances. Also, motor skill development was greater in learners paired with friends than learners paired with nonfriends or learners in the control goup. The study supports certain tenets set forth by Mosston and Ashworth (2008) for the reciprocal style.

Determinants of gross motor skill performance in children with visual impairments.

Children with visual impairments (CWVI) generally perform poorer in gross motor skills when compared with their sighted peers. This study examined the influence of age, sex, and severity of visual impairment upon locomotor and object control skills in CWVI. Participants included 100 CWVI from across the United States who completed the Test of Gross Motor Development II (TGMD-II). The TGMD-II consists of 12 gross motor skills including 6 object control skills (catching, kicking, striking, dribbling, throwing, and rolling) and 6 locomotor skills (running, sliding, galloping, leaping, jumping, and hopping). The full range of visual impairments according to United States Association for Blind Athletes (USABA; B3=20/200-20/599, legally blind; B2=20/600 and up, travel vision; B1=totally blind) were assessed. The B1 group performed significantly worse than the B2 (0.000 ≤ p ≤ 0.049) or B3 groups (0.000 ≤ p ≤ 0.005); however, there were no significant differences between B2 and B3 except for the run (p=0.006), catch (p=0.000), and throw (p=0.012). Age and sex did not play an important role in most of the skills, with the exception of boys outperforming girls striking (p=0.009), dribbling (p=0.013), and throwing (p=0.000), and older children outperforming younger children in dribbling (p=0.002). The significant impact of the severity of visual impairment is likely due to decreased experiences and opportunities for children with more severe visual impairments. In addition, it is likely that these reduced experiences explain the lack of age-related differences in the CWVI. The large disparities in performance between children who are blind and their partially sighted peers give direction for instruction and future research. In addition, there is a critical need for intentional and specific instruction on motor skills at a younger age to enable CWVI to develop their gross motor skills.

Group Randomized Trial of a Novel Physical Education Program to Increase Physical Fitness and Motor Skills in Children

Group Randomized Trial of a Novel Physical Education Program to Increase Physical Fitness and Motor Skills in Children The aims of the present pilot study are three-fold, (a) to test the efficacy of the intervention by comparing schools allocated to the interventions vs. control school and (b) to investigate whether an elementary school based, structured physical education program could improve physical fitness and motor skill performance and decrease adiposity in children, (c) to examine the physiological health effects, and motor skill improvement, in an 8-week teacher lead novel school based physical activity intervention compared to a physical education specialist group. Methods: 8-week single blinded group randomized trial, 224 children (age 9.93 ± 2.09) were randomly assigned to 1) Control (C; n= 47); 2) Teacher Led (TL; n=76), or 3) Physical Education specialist led (PESL; n=94). TL and the PESL groups received 100 minutes of physical activity per week, and C received standard curriculum. Movement skills, physical Fitness, BMI percentiles and waist/hip circumference were measured pre and post intervention. ANCOVA with post-hoc pair wise comparisons assessed across intervention group effects. Results: A significant overall intervention effect was found for trunk lift (P<0.01), sit and reach (P<0.01), kick (P=0.008), ball bounce (P=0.007), leap (P=0.004), punt (P<0.001), and Two - hand strike (P=0.039). Conclusion: The program appears promising as a populationbased approach to increasing physical fitness and enhancing motor skills performance in children.

Young children's motor skill performance: relationships with activity types and parent perception of athletic competence.

The aims were to examine the relationship between children's motor skill levels and types of physical activities performed during preschool attendance, and to examine the relationship between motor skill performance and parent perception of athletic competence. Cross-sectional. Participants were 264, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children from 22 preschools. Locomotor and object control skills were assessed with a standardized motor skill protocol. Direct observation (OSRAC-P) was used to record activity types: walk, run, jump/skip, dance, and throw. Parents rated their child's athletic competence. Children were categorized into tertiles for locomotor and object control scores. Mixed models were used to test for differences across motor skill tertiles for each aim. Models controlled for sex, age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and parent education, with preschool as a random variable. Children in the highest locomotor tertile engaged in more dancing than children in the lowest tertile (p = 0.04). Children in the highest object control tertile engaged in throwing more frequently than children in lower tertiles (p < 0.05). Parents of children in the highest locomotor tertile perceived their children's competence as higher than parents of children in lower tertiles (p < 0.05). Parents of children in the lowest object control tertile perceived their children's competence as significantly lower than parents of children in higher tertiles (p < 0.05). These findings point to the need for policy and practice research to help parents and child care professionals provide opportunities for young children to learn and practice motor skills.

Relationships Among Assessment Time, Time on Task, and Motor Skill Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Twenty-two children (age range of 3.5-10.92 years old) with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development (Second Edition; TGMD-2) using three different protocols. The total duration of assessment time and the percentage of time engaged in on-task behavior during the assessments were measured and analyzed using within-subjects repeated measure ANOVA designs to compare performance across the three protocols. Significant differences emerged across the duration of assessment time by assessment protocol, while no significant differences emerged for time on-task during the assessments by protocol used. In addition, correlations were calculated between the TGMD-2 scores and the duration of assessment time and the percentage of time on-task. An inverse relationship was found between TGMD-2 scores and total duration of assessment time by protocol used, (r = .726, .575, .686), while a positive relationship was found between the TGMD-2 scores and time on-task (r = -.570, -.535, -.798). These results suggest a direct relationship between skill proficiency and contextually appropriate behaviors.

Gross motor skill performance in children with and without visual impairments—Research to practice

The aim of this study was to provide an empirical basis for teaching gross motor skills in children with visual impairments. For this purpose, gross motor skill performance of 23, 6-12 year old, boys and girls who are blind (ICD-10 H54.0) and 28 sighted controls with comparable age and gender characteristics was compared on six locomotor and six object control tasks using the Test of Gross Motor Development-Second Edition. Results indicate that children who are blind perform significantly (p<.05) worse in all assessed locomotor and object control skills, whereby running, leaping, kicking and catching are the most affected skills, and corresponding differences are related to most running, leaping, kicking and catching component. Practical implications are provided.

Sensory Processing and Motor Skill Performance in Elementary School Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research to examine both sensory processing and motor skill performance in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited. This study assessed whether children with ASD would show sensory and motor delays compared to typically developing children and examined the relationship between sensory processing and motor performance. 32 children diagnosed with ASD were assessed using the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) and the Movement ABC-2 (MABC-2). The SSP measures children's sensory processing in daily life and the MABC-2 measures children's fine and gross motor skill performance. Overall, the samples' scores on the SSP indicated atypical sensory processing and scores on the MABC-2 showed poorer fine and gross motor performance as compared to age-matched norms. Furthermore, the samples' scores for sensory processing were positively correlated with their motor performance. The results suggest that fine and gross motor difficulties of children with ASD may be related to their delayed sensory processing to visual, auditory, tactile, and movement stimuli, and that this hypothesis needs to be tested in future research.

Top-down and bottom-up approaches to motor skill assessment of children: Are child-report and parent-report perceptions predictive of children's performance-based assessment results?

Background/Aim: Therapists use different types of tests, scales, and instruments to assess children's motor skills, including those classified as being top-down and bottom-up. The aim of the study was to investigate the ability of measures of children's motor skill performance from the perspectives of children and parents (a type of top-down assessment) to predict children's performance-based motor ability test results (a type of bottom-up assessment). Methods: A convenience sample of 38 children and parents was recruited from Victoria, Australia. Motor skill performance was evaluated from a top-down perspective using the Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children – Second Edition (MABC-2) Checklist to measure children's and parents' perspectives respectively. Motor skill performance was also evaluated from a bottom-up approach using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency – Second Edition (BOT-2). Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis to determine whether the PSDQ or MABC-2 Checklist was predictive of the children's BOT-2 performance results. Results: Two predictive relationships were identified based on parents' perspectives, where the total score of the MABC-2 Checklist was found to be a significant predictor of the BOT-2 Manual Coordination motor composite score, accounting for 8.35% of its variance, and the BOT-2 Strength and Agility motor composite score, accounting for 11.6% of its variance. No predictive relationships were identified between the children's self-report PSDQ perspectives and the BOT-2 performance scores. Conclusions: Therapists are encouraged to utilize a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches and purposefully to seek parents' and children's perspectives when evaluating children's motor skill performance.