Relevance for school sport, talent identification and ...Early childhood development Relevance ... Relevance for school sport, talent identification and ... them to carry out more

Early childhood development

Relevance for school sport, talent

identification and youth development

Catherine Draper, MA, PhDDivision of Exercise Science and

Sports Medicine, UCTMRC/Wits Developmental Pathways

for Health Research Unit

Outline• Development of gross motor skills / fundamental

movement skills in early childhood – highly relevant for school sport, talent id, and youth development

• Gross motor skills –

– What are they?

– Why are they important?

– How are they developed?

– How are they measured?

• Factors associated with gross motor development

• Take home messages

What are gross motor skills?• Object control skills – hit, kick, bounce, roll, throw

and catch an object

• Locomotor skills – run, gallop, hop, leap, jump, slide

• Balance – static and dynamic

• Strength – trunk, upper and low body

• Coordination –

– Influenced by core strength, awareness of the two sides of the body, and crossing the midline

Why are they important for young children?

The physical activity perspective• More emphasis on measuring physical activity

• Less focus on how learning to move is a necessary skill underlying physical activity

• Gross motor skills form the foundation for future movement and physical activity

– The ‘base camp’ from which children climb the mountain of motor development to achieve context-specific motor skills

– Children follow different trajectories, depending on individual constraints and environmental opportunities

Stodden DF, Goodway JD, Langendorfer SJ, Robertson MA, Rudisill ME, Garcia C, et al. A developmental perspective on the role of motor skill competence in physical activity: an emergent relationship. Quest. 2008;60:290–306.

The physical activity perspective• Physical activity in early

childhood drives the development of gross motor competence

• Increased physical activity provides more opportunities to promote neuromotordevelopment, which promotes the development of gross motor skills


The sport / athletic perspective• Youth Physical Development Model

• Builds on Long-term Athlete Development Model

– Critical ‘windows of opportunity’ when children are more sensitive to training-induced adaption

– Failure to use these windows will result in limitation of future athletic potential

– Criticised for being too theoretical and not substantiated by longitudinal empirical evidence

• But sensitive periods / windows of opportunity are not unfamiliar terms in child development

Lloyd RS, Oliver JL, Faigenbaum AD, Howard R, De Ste Croix MBA, Williams CA, et al. Long-term athletic development-part 1: a pathway for all youth. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 May;29(5):1439–50.

The sport / athletic perspective• Fundamental movement skill development helps to

ensure that children master the right movement patterns in a safe and fun environment to enable them to carry out more complex sports movements later in childhood and adolescence

– Fundamental movement skills = building blocks for sport-specific movement patterns

• Physical development programmes in early childhood should focus on the development of fundamental movement skills


The sport / athletic perspective• Physical qualities –

– Fundamental movement skills

– Strength– Mobility, agility, speed, power

– Sport-specific skills, endurance and metabolic conditioning

– Hypertrophy

• Training should be unstructured


A developmental perspective• Early sensorimotor experiences form the foundation

for the development of higher order cognitive processing skills

• Opportunities to explore the environment (developing understanding of oneself in space and in relation to other objects) and later to manipulate objects (developing understanding of relationships between them) are especially important in development

• Relates to the concept of learning through play and physical activity

Sigelman C, Rider E. (2003). Lifespan human development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Developing gross motor skills• Misconception that children naturally learn them

– Many children are not proficient, e.g. in low-income US settings

• Context of physical activity / gross motor development in early childhood should be fun and enjoyable, non-competitive, and inclusive

• Differences in experience lead to different levels of competency –

– E.g. environment, SES, structured activities, parental influences, climate

• Constraints can compound in later childhood


What about free play?

GMS levels in SA low-income settings• Low-income rural (Agincourt, MP) –

– 17% superior

– 28% above average

– 46% average

– 9% below average & poor

• Low-income urban (Masiphumelele, Cape Town) –

– 3% superior

– 20% above average

– 72% average

– 5% below average & poor

• But what about compounding constraints?

Measuring gross motor skills• Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency –

– ‘Gold standard’?

– Gross motor skills assessed:• Upper limb coordination

• Bilateral coordination

• Balance

• Running speed and agility

• Strength

– Score number of correctly executed skills / time taken

– Used in clinical research

– Complete: 40-60 minutes (incl. fine motor skills)

– Short: 15-20 minutes

Measuring gross motor skills• Movement Assessment Battery for Children –

– Designed to assist professionals helping children with movement difficulties

– Manual dexterity

– Aiming and catching a beanbag

– Static and dynamic balance

– Score number of correctly executed skills + 10-14 qualitative observations per skill

– Standard score (for each age group) classifies child as normal, ‘at risk’, or having definite motor impairment

– 20-40 minutes per child, depending on age

Measuring gross motor skills• Test of Gross Motor Development –

– Object control: hit, kick, bounce, roll, throw and catch ball

– Locomotor: run, gallop, hop, leap, jump, slide

– Assessed according to observed and scored performance criteria (±4 per skill) on how skill is executed

– Can be video recorded and scored later

– Frequently used in research

– Used in South African studies of preschool children

– 30-45 minutes for group of 5 children

What would work in your setting?• Time available

• Human resources

• Ceiling effects?

– Leave room for improvement

• Why are you testing?

– Picking up developmental delays

– Establishing levels of proficiency

– Documenting changes over time

Factors associated with gross motor skill development

Physical activity• Increased physical activity has been associated with

greater gross motor competence

– Cause and effect not yet demonstrated

– Do those who are more active develop skills more easily (especially structured physical activities for children)? OR

– Do those who have better skills (or higher perceptions of their skills) participate in more activity?

• Childhood gross motor proficiency is predictive of physical activity in adolescence

Holfelder B, Schott N. Psychology of Sport & Exercise. 2014 Jan 1;15(4):382–91. Barnett LM, van Beurden E, Morgan PJ, Brooks LO, Beard JR. J Adolesc Health. 2009 Mar;44(3):252–9. Lubans DR, Morgan PJ, Cliff DP, Barnett LM, Okely AD. Sports Medicine. 2010;40(12):1019–35. Williams HG, Pfeiffer KA, O'Neill JR, Dowda M, McIver KL, Brown WH, et al. Obesity. 2008 Apr 3;16(6):1421–6. Timmons BW, LeBlanc AG, Carson V, Connor Gorber S, Dillman C, Janssen I, et al. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2012 Aug;37(4):773–92.

Fitness• Greater gross motor competence associated with

higher levels of fitness, incl. cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal fitness (boys and girls)

• Preschool gross motor scores shown to be strongly predictive of all fitness measures in adolescence

– 1.5m run, sit-up, sit-and-reach, body fat %

– Object control skills more predictive of overall physical fitness than locomotor skills (boys and girls)

– Locomotor skills may be developed as a by-product of object control skill development

Cattuzzo MT, et al. J Sci Med Sport. 2016 Feb;19(2):123–9. Haga M. Child Care Health Dev. 2008 May 1;34(3):329–34. Lubans DR, Morgan PJ, Cliff DP, Barnett LM, Okely AD. Sports Medicine. 2010;40(12):1019–35. Vlahov E, Baghurst TM, Mwavita M. Percept Mot Skills. Ammons Scientific; 2014 Aug;119(1):279–91.

Sedentary behaviour• Poor gross motor skills have

been linked to increased sedentary behaviour

• TV time inversely associated with absolute and relative strength measures (taking into account age, sex, physical activity and BMI)

Wrotniak BH, Epstein LH, Dorn JM, Jones KE, Kondilis VA. The relationship between motor proficiency and physical activity in children. PEDIATRICS. 2006 Dec 1;118(6):e1758–65. Edelson LR, Mathias KC, Fulgoni VL, Karagounis LG. Screen-based sedentary behavior and associations with functional strength in 6-15 year-old children in the United States. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1):116.

Overweight and obesity• Higher levels of physical activity associated with

healthier body weight in early childhood

• Poor gross motor skills have been associated with overweight and obesity in childhood, including in early childhood

• Overweight and obese children tend to struggle with assessments of relative or functional strength (what they can do with their body, e.g. push-up)

– More relevant to their mobility and quality of life

Cattuzzo MT, et al. J Sci Med Sport. 2016 Feb;19(2):123–9. Morano M, Colella D, Caroli M. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity. 2011 Oct;6(S2):42–6. Edelson LR, Mathias KC, Fulgoni VL, Karagounis LG. BMC Public Health. 2016;16(1):116. Okely AD, Booth ML, Chey T. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2004 Sep;75(3):238–47.Truter L, Pienaar AE, Toit Du D. South African Family Practice Journal. 2012;54(5):429–35.

Executive function• Mental processes are required when you need to pay

attention and concentrate

– Inhibition: inhibitory control, including self-control and interference control

– Working memory: working with info kept in mind

– Cognitive flexibility: ability to shift between tasks, related to creativity

– Attention

• Predicts –

– Lifelong achievement, health, wealth and quality of life

– Academic achievement and school readiness

Diamond A. Executive functions. Annu Rev Psychol. 2013;64(1):135–68.Becker DR et al. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 2014;29:411–24.

Executive function• Why is executive function relevant here?

– Positively associated with physical activity

– Negatively affected by poor physical fitness

– Structured activities that are cognitively engaging can improve executive function

– Tasks requiring gross motor movement also been shown to predict better math and emerging literacy scores

• Sport participation that involves social skills that promote complex, higher-level cognitive skills may be the most beneficial for executive function

Best JR. Developmental Review. 2010;30(4):331–51.Diamond A, Lee K. Science. 2011;333:959–64.Guiney H et al. Psychon Bull Rev. 2013;20:73–86.Becker DR et al. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 2014;29:411–24.Howie EK, Pate RR. Journal of Sport and Health Science. 012;1(3):160–9.

Perceptions of motor competence• Younger children have limited capacity for perceiving

their levels of competency, ability and effort

– Tend to overestimate their abilities

– More relevant in older children

• BUT: young children may keep trying to master skills that they believe they are good at, and hence foster proficiency in these skills

• If young children are already beginning to make self-judgments, we should encourage opportunities to help them feel and become physically competent

Stodden DF, Goodway JD, Langendorfer SJ, Robertson MA, Rudisill ME, Garcia C, et al. Quest. 2008;60:290–306.LeGear M, Greyling L, Sloan E, Bell RI, Williams B-L, Naylor PJ, et al. IJBNPA; 2012;9(1):29.

Take home messages• Whatever your perspective, early childhood is a

crucial time for gross motor development

• The context of this development is important –young children should PLAY

• Provide and promote opportunities for structured and unstructured activity

– Use the right building blocks to build a good foundation

– Allow for exploration and learning through play

• Assess GMS from early on to identify areas of strength to build on, and areas of weakness to strengthen

Beware the lure of the screen…

Thank [email protected]

Documents

Relevance for school sport, talent identification and ...Early childhood development Relevance ... Relevance for school sport, talent identification and ... them to carry out more