The identification and assessment of young children with movement difficulties

The focus of this research study is the identification and assessment of children
aged 3 to 5 years with movement difficulties. It is concerned with the
construction of the Early Years Movement Skills Checklist, which is an
assessment instrument designed to be used flexibly by teachers and parents to
identify and assess young children with movement difficulties. The Checklist is
in five sections: four sections contain activities which are functional in nature
relating to the child’s everyday life. The thinking behind this involves a belief
supported by the relevant literature that both assessment and intervention should
be as close as possible to the child’s daily experiences and interests. A fifth
section considers movement-related behaviours.
The collection of data involved Checklists being completed by teachers in 34
randomly selected schools for 420 3 to 5 year old children. Analysis reveals that
the Early Years Movement Skills Checklist identifies movement difficulties in
this age group and significant differences are found between children who display
movement difficulties and those who do not. A reliability study involving
measures for interrater and test-retest reliability was completed. The overall
interrater reliability correlation coefficient for the Checklist was 0.96 and the
overall test-retest reliability correlation coefficient for the Checklist was 0.94;
both highly significant. A validity study focusing on the predictive validity
compared data collected from the Checklist with data from a normative motor
skills test from the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson &
Sugden, 1992). A significant correlation coefficient value of 0.76 was returned
for the whole of the selected sample.
The relationship between movement skill difficulties and movement-related
behaviours was investigated. Children with movement difficulties were found to
display a higher incidence of social and affective disorders than children without
movement difficulties. This finding is in line with current views on movement
difficulties and associated or concomitant difficulties.
The Early Years Movement Skills Checklist was found to be an efficient, speedy
and accurate assessment instrument to aid in the identification of young children
with movement difficulties.