Motor skill intervention for pre-school children: A scoping review

Association between parent-proxy-reported and child-self-reported perceptions of children's motor competence and children's performance-based motor skill abilities

BACKGROUND

When assessing motor skills, occupational therapists are encouraged to seek the perspectives of children and their parents to promote the delivery of client-centered care.

AIM

To investigate whether 9-12-year-old children's views and their parents' proxy views of the children's motor skill competence and their performance on a standardized, performance-based assessment are associated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty 9-12-year-old children completed the Perceived Motor Competence Questionnaire in Childhood (PMC-C) and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence - version 2 (PMSC-2), while their parents completed the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition Checklist (MABC-2 Checklist). Children's objective motor skills were measured by the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2nd Edition (BOT-2). Spearman's rho correlations were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Significant associations were found between the BOT-2 total motor composite and the PMC-C. A significant association was found between the MABC-2 Checklist and the BOT-2 Strength and Agility composite, as well as the PMC-C total score.

SIGNIFICANCE AND CONCLUSIONS

Occupational therapists are encouraged to include children and their parents in the therapeutic process to capture individual perspectives and deliver client-centered care.

Assessment of everyday functioning in visually impaired children from a developing country1

PURPOSE

To assess the functional capabilities and performance in children with visual impairment who live in a developing country.

METHODS

This was a case-control study, including binocular and monocular visually impaired children and non-visually disabled controls aged between 4 and 12 years. All participants underwent a basic ophthalmic exam and caregivers answered the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI). The results were compared among the groups with ANOVA.

RESULTS

The sample included 35 children with visual disability (21 binocular and 14 monocular) and 23 age-matched controls. The groups did not differ in age, gender, and ethnicity. For the functional skills scale, binocular impaired children had lower scores than children from the monocular group and controls in all three domains - self-care (59.6±33.0, P < 0.001), mobility (38.5±26.6, P < 0.001), and social function (61.0±28.2, P < 0.001). For the caregiver assistance scale, children from the binocular group presented lower scores in the self-care (64.7±29.6, P = 0.002), mobility (50.6±36.3, P < 0.001), and social function (65.9±33.4, P = 0.008) domains as compared to monocular and controls. Children with monocular visual disability presented very similar scores to controls (all P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Children with binocular visual impairment presented some degree of difficulty with everyday functioning whereas monocular visual impairment did not cause any limitation in function.