Review article - (2009)08, 154 - 168
Movement Skill Assessment of Typically Developing Preschool Children: A Review of Seven Movement Skill Assessment Tools
Wouter Cools1,, Kristine De Martelaer1, Christiane Samaey1, Caroline Andries2
1Department of Movement Education and Sport Training, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy,
2Department of Developmental and Lifespan Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium

Wouter Cools
✉ Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy (Faculty LK), Department of Movement Education and Sport Training (BETR), Pleinlaan 2 / L209, B-1050 Brussel, Belgium
Email: wcools@vub.ac.be
Received: 27-03-2008 -- Accepted: 06-02-2009
Published (online): 01-06-2009

ABSTRACT

The importance of movement is often overlooked because it is such a natural part of human life. It is, however, crucial for a child’s physical, cognitive and social development. In addition, experiences support learning and development of fundamental movement skills. The foundations of those skills are laid in early childhood and essential to encourage a physically active lifestyle. Fundamental movement skill performance can be examined with several assessment tools. The choice of a test will depend on the context in which the assessment is planned. This article compares seven assessment tools which are often referred to in European or international context. It discusses the tools’ usefulness for the assessment of movement skill development in general population samples. After a brief description of each assessment tool the article focuses on contents, reliability, validity and normative data. A conclusion outline of strengths and weaknesses of all reviewed assessment tools focusing on their use in educational research settings is provided and stresses the importance of regular data collection of fundamental movement skill development among preschool children.

Key words: Early childhood, psychomotor performance, motor development, validity, reliability.

Key Points
  • This review discusses seven movement skill assessment tool’s test content, reliability, validity and normative samples.
  • The seven assessment tools all showed to be of great value. Strengths and weaknesses indicate that test choice will depend on specific purpose of test use.
  • Further data collection should also include larger data samples of able bodied preschool children.
  • Admitting PE specialists in assessment of fundamental movement skill performance among preschool children is recommended.
  • The assessment tool’s normative data samples would benefit from frequent movement skill performance follow-up of today’s children.








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