Crawling is considered an important motor skill for infants. Although infants show variations in their crawling, the association between crawling variations and subsequent development is unexplored. This study investigates the difference in amount of crawling variation between infants with and without subsequent developmental delays. This…

This was a cross-sectional study that aimed to evaluate the association between breastfeeding and motor development of infants at 3-4 months of age in the city of Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. The outcome, infant motor development, was evaluated through the Bayley Scale of Infant Development (Bayley III). The prevalence of infants that stopped…

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to compare acceleration outputs of the parkour-style "tic tac" action with those of the drop jump and the lay-up shot in youth basketball players. A total of 25 participants (17 boys, 13.80 ± 1.30 years of age; and eight girls, 15.00 ± 0.80 years of age) completed three trials of each action…

This study examined the effect of a 12-week fundamental movement skills (FMS) intervention on the motor skills of 20 boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (ages 3-10 years) in an Asian country and whether the intervention effect would persist for at least 12 weeks after the intervention. In Part I, 10 boys with ASD (Group 1) received the…

Background: Early childhood development (ECD) practitioners are essential in governing foundational aspects, such as gross motor development and participation in physical movement. Aim: This study aimed to determine ECD practitioners in Vanderbijlpark's awareness of gross motor milestone acquisition and movement guidelines for children birth to 4…

The home environment is a significant factor that greatly influences the motor development of children. This study aims to examine the cultural adaptation validity and reliability of the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development (AHEMD-SR) for Turkish children aged 18--42 months. The study included 103 Turkish children (mean age =…

The dynamics of mastering the degrees of freedom in motor learning are still far from being understood. The present work explored coordination dynamics in a redundant task, relating it to performance and adaptation in a serial stimulus tracking task. One hundred and sixty-three children (10-14 years of age) continuously responded to sequential…

This study's objective was to examine whether the relationship between actual motor competence and physical activity (PA) in children is mediated by perceived motor competence (PMC) and physical activity enjoyment. The participants consisted of a total of 167 students (male = 92, female = 75) in 10 different schools in the fourth grade of primary…

Purpose: To analyze associations between physical activity (PA) during school hours and fundamental movement skills (FMS) of young children with and without PE classes. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined 201 children of both sexes (102 girls, 50.7%), aged 3-5 years old (4.51 ± 0.79), who were engaged (n = 129) or not (n = 72) in physical…

Gender stereotype threat is a sociocultural variable that has received significant attention over the past two decades. We explored whether presenting a task as a practical and challenging activity would reduce the negative impact of implicit activation of gender stereotype threat on motor learning in adolescent girls. Forty-five adolescent girls…

The first years of life are an optimal time for developing motor competence. However, the evidence regarding motor competence in early childhood is fragmented and needs to be clearly synthesized and presented. To establish effective evidence-based decision making in research, practice, and policy for the early years, this expert statement, on…

Background: Motor competence is the ability to perform goal directed human movements in a co-ordinated, accurate and error free manner. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of coaches' perceptions of children's motor competence with their actual motor competence. Method: This study examined the motor competence of children with…

The main aim of the present study was to identify motor difficulties in Greek preschoolers. Secondary aims were to identify possible differences in prevalence of motor difficulties related to gender, age, body mass index, place of residence, and hand preference. 302 preschoolers were assessed using the first age band (3-6 years) of the Movement…

The worldwide increase in childhood overweight and obesity underscores the need to study variables like fundamental movement skill (FMS) levels from early childhood. This study investigated the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between body mass index (BMI) and process-oriented FMSs, including locomotor skills and object control skills in…

Due to the lack of tools that can be easily used by practitioners, there is a need to develop acceptable embedded ways to assess children's fine motor skill development within early childhood education and care settings. This study examined the validity and reliability of a brief and ecologically valid fine motor assessment tool for preschool-aged…