Gross motor skill development of kindergarten children in Japan.
Thanda Aye, Tsugumi Kuramoto-Ahuja, Tamae Sato and 3 others
PMID 29765187WHAT IT FOUND
Girls had higher locomotor and overall gross motor scores, while boys had higher object control scores, among 60 healthy Japanese 5-year-olds from one kindergarten.
Key findings
01Girls had higher locomotor scores than boys, including galloping, hopping, locomotor raw scores, and the Gross Motor Quotient.
02Boys had higher scores for striking, kicking, and throwing, and higher object control raw scores.
03The Gross Motor Quotient ratings were average in 25 children, above average in 22, superior in 9, very superior in 2, and below average in 2, and no child was rated poor or very poor.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small: 60 children, and the authors state the subjects were only from one local private kindergarten school. The authors state that the children cannot represent all children in Japan. Convenience sampling was used, so participants may not represent the wider population. The study was cross-sectional and did not test an intervention, so it cannot show that any treatment changes gross motor skills. Only 5-year-old third-year kindergarten children were assessed, so the results do not describe younger or older children. All video recordings were rated by the same researcher.
Declared interests
No funding and no conflict of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these scores as national norms or conclude that one sex has better overall gross motor development. The study included 60 children from one private kindergarten, and it found different patterns for locomotor and object control skills rather than a tested treatment effect.