Pilot Implementation of an Intervention Program to Promote Fine Motor Skills in Preschoolers: Feasibility and Acceptability.

One group measured before and after, with no control or comparison group. The authors state this limits their ability to infer a strong cause-and-effect relationship between the program and the children's fine motor improvement. Small sample of 30 children and seven teachers in one community child development centre in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which the authors say limits how far the results generalise. 8 of the 30 children (26.67%) did not improve, which the authors describe as an adverse or nonresponsive outcome, so the program may not suit every child. Feasibility depended on a single screening tool, the DSPM, which the authors say may not capture all aspects of fine motor proficiency. The program ran over a relatively short period, and long-term effects on fine motor skills and overall development are unknown. The feasibility outcome was reduced to two categories (improved or still delayed), which the authors say was necessary because with 30 children finer categories would be too small and unstable to analyse.

Funded by a matching fund from the Department of Occupational Therapy and Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Do not read the improvement in most children as proof that the program works. Every child was in the same program with no control or comparison group, and the authors say the design cannot show that the program caused the children's progress.