Preschool children who are disadvantaged have been found to be delayed in their fundamental motor skills (FMS) (Goodway & Branta, 2003; Robinson & Goodway, 2009). Early motor skill intervention provided by motor development experts shows that children significantly improve their FMS and can remediate their FMS delays (Goodway & Branta, 2003; Robinson & Goodway, 2009). However, motor experts are not common in preschool settings within the USA and little is known about the ability of in-service preschool teachers to teach FMS (Logan et al., 2011). Therefore, this study examined the influence of a motor skill intervention (MSI) taught by in-service preschool teachers on the FMS of preschool children.
Method:
Participants (N=57) were assigned to either a MSI (n=28) or a comparison group (n=29). The MSI group received 2, 30-minute intervention sessions per week for six weeks delivered by their classroom teacher. Teachers were provided with 30 minutes of pre-intervention orientation, an Apple iBook containing all intervention materials, and were also coached during each session. The training and coached was based on the previously validated, Successful Kinesthetic Instruction for Preschoolers (SKIP) curriculum (Goodway & Branta, 2003; Robinson & Goodway, 2009). Motor competence was determined by the locomotor (LC) and object control (OC) subscales of the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (Ulrich, 2000) during both the pretest and posttest.
Analysis/Results:
An ANOVA on pretest measures yielded no between-group differences (p=.37). A 2 Group X 2 Time ANOVA with repeated measures on revealed a significant Group X Time interaction (F(52)=44.61, p=.02, η2=.608). Follow up analyses revealed significant differences for the SKIP group in OC (p<.001) but not LC (p=.354) from pretest to posttest.
These findings demonstrate that trained/coached, classroom teachers can deliver a motor skill intervention that may impact the object control skills of their students. The results of this study will serve as pilot data for a multi-site study. These pilot results and hypothesized future results may have implications for training pre-service preschool teachers and on future policy decisions.