Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period

The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ab...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Piek, Jan, Hands, B., Licari, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer New York LLC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30178
_version_ 1848753014322495488
author Piek, Jan
Hands, B.
Licari, M.
author_facet Piek, Jan
Hands, B.
Licari, M.
author_sort Piek, Jan
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ability in children. The aim of the current paper was to discuss the issues related to the assessment of motor ability in young pre-school children and to provide guidelines on the best approach for motor assessment. The paper discusses the maturational changes in brain development at the preschool level in relation to motor ability. Other issues include sex differences in motor ability at this young age, and evidence for this in relation to sociological versus biological influences. From the previous literature it is unclear what needs to be assessed in relation to motor functioning. Should the focus be underlying motor processes or movement skill assessment? Several key assessment tools are discussed that produce a general measure of motor performance followed by a description of tools that assess specific skills, such as fine and gross motor, ball and graphomotor skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on the best approach in assessing motor function in pre-school children.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T08:17:47Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-30178
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T08:17:47Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Springer New York LLC
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-301782017-09-13T16:08:47Z Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period Piek, Jan Hands, B. Licari, M. preschool children motor ability grapho-motor skills gross motor fine motor movement skill motor assessment The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ability in children. The aim of the current paper was to discuss the issues related to the assessment of motor ability in young pre-school children and to provide guidelines on the best approach for motor assessment. The paper discusses the maturational changes in brain development at the preschool level in relation to motor ability. Other issues include sex differences in motor ability at this young age, and evidence for this in relation to sociological versus biological influences. From the previous literature it is unclear what needs to be assessed in relation to motor functioning. Should the focus be underlying motor processes or movement skill assessment? Several key assessment tools are discussed that produce a general measure of motor performance followed by a description of tools that assess specific skills, such as fine and gross motor, ball and graphomotor skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on the best approach in assessing motor function in pre-school children. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30178 10.1007/s11065-012-9211-4 Springer New York LLC fulltext
spellingShingle preschool children
motor ability
grapho-motor skills
gross motor
fine motor
movement skill
motor assessment
Piek, Jan
Hands, B.
Licari, M.
Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title_full Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title_fullStr Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title_short Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
title_sort assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period
topic preschool children
motor ability
grapho-motor skills
gross motor
fine motor
movement skill
motor assessment
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30178