What Motor Skills Do Children Perceive as Important? A Child-Centred Exploration Using the Motor Coordination Questionnaire.
Marisja Denysschen, Rosemary Xorlanyo Doe-Asinyo, Dané Coetzee and 3 others
PMID 41457962WHAT IT FOUND
Children in Ghana and South Africa consistently rated self-care, writing neatly, and household chores as very important.
However, boys valued kicking a ball and team sports more, while girls valued dancing more. Children with motor difficulties rated many activities as less important.
Key findings
01Self-care, writing neatly, and household chores were rated as very important by children in both countries, with 75.6% rating self-care as very important.
02Boys were significantly more likely than girls to rate kicking a ball, playing team sports, and riding a bicycle as very important, while girls rated dancing higher.
03Children with probable developmental coordination disorder (pDCD) rated the importance of motor activities lower than typically developing children, particularly in the Ghanaian cohort.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Different tools were used to identify motor difficulties in the two countries (performance-based MABC-2 in South Africa vs parent-reported DCDQ in Ghana), making direct comparison of prevalence and groups difficult. The study did not account for school-based differences between the two countries, which may influence activity opportunities. The Ghanaian sample was smaller than the South African sample, which may limit statistical power for that group. The correlation between the motor competence tests and the importance ratings was low, suggesting that perceived importance is distinct from actual ability.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest and received no specific funding for this work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lower importance ratings by children with motor difficulties as a lack of capability or potential. The study found that children with probable DCD rated activities as less important, which may reflect avoidance of failure or embarrassment rather than a true lack of value. Clinicians should explore whether these low ratings stem from perceived difficulty before excluding activities from goal setting.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →