New Insight on Motor Behavior: The Link Between the Hopping Task and the Tracing Performance as Hint of Gross and Fine Motor Functions

Fine motor skills and motor control networking in developmental age

Objectives

We investigated the relationships between fine motor skills, fitness, anthropometrics, gender and perceived motor performance in school beginners. The aim of our study was to delineate whether and to what extent fine motor control would show meaningful synchrony with other motor variables in the age of onset of handwriting in school.

Methods

A sample of N = 239 of 6‐to‐8‐year‐old children were tested with an array of tasks measuring fine motor (i.e., dexterity and speed) and grapho‐motor performance (tracing on a tablet screen), anthropometric indexes, and fitness (shuttle run) measures. A subset of 95 children was also tested for perceived motor competence.

Results

In spite of an overall poor anthropometric condition, our participants were relatively fit. As expected, older children performed better in both, fine motor tasks and the shuttle test. The girls were better in fine motor skills, and an original speed‐quality trade‐off in the drawing was found. However, the magnitude of difference by grade was greater for boys' fine motor skills than those of girls'. A network analysis revealed three specific clusters, (1) perceived competencies, (2) fitness, and (3) fine motor skills.

Conclusions

Given the relative independence of these areas of physical performance, we suggest focusing on these three clusters as distinct areas of physical education. Fine motor skills deserve further consideration, especially at an early school age. We have demonstrated that network analysis and technology devices used to evaluate motor development are useful and meaningful tools.

Fine Motor Skills and Unsystematic Spatial Binding in the Common Region Test: Under-Inclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Over-Inclusivity in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: The Common Region Test (CRT) is useful for predicting children’s visual memory as individual object-place binding predicted better object memory while objects-region coding predicted better place memory. Aim: To test children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with regards to spatial binding in the CRT. Methods: 19 children with ASD and 20 children with ADHD were gender-matched with 39 typically developing children by chronological age and with another 39 children by verbal mental age as control groups (N = 117) and tested with the CRT and Bender Gestalt test. Results: Children with ASD and ADHD showed more unsystematic coding than typically developing children. This was due to lower fine motor skills, and in children with ADHD also because of reduced verbal naming. Almost all children with ASD presented the less mature under-inclusive Type I unsystematic coding which included object-place binding, while children with ADHD showed the over-inclusive Type II unsystematic coding that was overriding the Gestalt-like properties of proximity and similarity. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that the CRT is a useful screening instrument for ASD and ADHD that shows that their spatial categorization varies in their unsystematic visuo-spatial classification due to fine motor skill deficiencies.

Laterality in Children: Evidence for Task-Dependent Lateralization of Motor Functions

The behavioral preference for the use of one side of the body starts from pre-natal life and prompt humans to develop motor asymmetries. The type of motor task completed influences those functional asymmetries. However, there is no real consensus on the occurrence of handedness during developmental ages. Therefore, we aimed to determine which motor asymmetries emerged differently during childhood. A total sample of 381 children in grades 1 to 5 (6-11 years old) of primary school were recruited and tested for two fine coordination tasks (Floppy, led by dexterity, and Thumb, led by speed-dominated skills) and handgrip strength (HS). Data about their handedness, footedness and sports participation were also collected. Children performed better with their dominant side, especially for the Floppy and HS tests. The asymmetries were more marked in right-handed children and did not differ by age, gender or type of sport. Our findings support the thesis of a functional lateralization in complex coordinative tasks and in maximal strength during developmental ages. Furthermore, our findings extend the evidence of a stronger lateralization in right-handed individuals, demonstrating it at a functional level in primary school children performing motor tasks. Fine motor skills allow a "fine" understanding of developmental trajectories of lateralized behavior.

Monitoring physical and motor traits in primary school: a local harmful situation for older children

BACKGROUND

Health-related testing in school environments may be led by PE lessons facilities, which represent an optimal context. Aiming to investigate the developmental trajectories of physical and motor traits during PE lessons, we recruited 381 children in grades 1, 2, 4 and 5 of primary school in Abruzzo, Italy.

METHODS

We included anthropometric indexes (Body Mass Index and Waist-to-Height Ratio) and fitness tests, i.e. 4×10 m Shuttle Run test (4×10 SR), handgrip strength test, and standing long jump test (LJ). We also included two fine motor skills (FMS) tests and collected data about sports participation.

RESULTS

Gender differences were found about sports participation (boys were more involved in open-skills sports) and motor skills, with girls outperforming boys in FMS and vice versa in fitness measures, even if with small evidence. There was an increment in all the tests with age, with the most robust evidence about handgrip strength and FMS. School clustering had a significant random effect on some fitness measures (4×10 SR and LJ). Despite high sports participation, an impairment in older children was detected, with a special alarm in older boys about metabolic risk.

CONCLUSIONS

The small-to-moderate correlations between parameters suggest that there are similarities in the developmental trajectories, but also that it should be assessed a wide range of motor skills and anthropometric indexes. In conclusion, we support the assessment of gender-and-context-related developmental trajectories in the school setting, by the mean of fitness measures, anthropometric indexes, and FMS, to be compared with local and general references, as evidence-based planning of PE interventions.