Comprehensive Motor Assessment: Tests, Criteria, and Instruments

Profile: Graphic Depictions

A profile provides graphic depictions of the results from a battery of tests or different individual tests.

Control List: Developmental Milestones

A control list refers to a set of tasks or minimal evidence of development expected at a given age.

Evaluating Motor Development

Why Evaluate Motor Development?

Motor development evaluation serves several key purposes:

• Determines an individual's current motor situation and tracks its evolution over time.
• Helps understand the processes that influence an individual's motor responses and how to intervene effectively.
• Enables the determination of appropriate interventions and provides feedback on the effectiveness of pedagogical actions.
• Assists individuals in understanding and diagnosing their own motor situation.

Criteria for Test Selection

When selecting a motor assessment test, consider the following criteria:

• Reliability (Precision): The stability of results when a test is administered on multiple occasions. This includes internal consistency.
• Objectivity: Ensures that different examiners obtain consistent results when applying the same instrument.
• Validity: The extent to which a test measures what it purports to measure.
• Sensitivity: The ability of an instrument to detect minimal differences in performance.
• Standardization: Provides norms for comparing the results obtained by different individuals.
• Integration: The capacity to combine information from various sources concerning the same individual.
• Economic Cost and Time: Practical considerations regarding the resources required for test administration.

Kinometric Assessment Instruments

Piaget-Head Left-Right Orientation Test

This test assesses an individual's understanding of left-right notions concerning themselves, others, and objects. It is a verbal measurement included in the Zazzo Psychomotor Test Manual (1971).

Berges-Lezin Gesture Imitation Test

In this test, the individual imitates gestures demonstrated by the examiner. It presupposes a foundational knowledge and mastery of one's body, along with the ability to use it in accordance with motor development.

Kinometric Evaluation Tools (Continued)

Schilling Lateral Dominance Test (TDL)

The Schilling Lateral Dominance Test (TDL) assesses lateral dominance through a task involving 150 dotted circles. The individual completes the task sequentially, once with each hand. Two trials are conducted. Evaluation criteria focus on completion and accuracy (absence of errors).

Perret Duck and Rabbit Test

This test aims to detect ocular dominance. The interpretation of results, such as identifying a "rabbit" or a "duck," indicates the dominant eye.

Gesell Scale of Infant Development

The Gesell Scale of Infant Development covers four key areas: adaptive, verbal, motor, and social development. This scale is applicable up to an age ceiling of six years.

Kinometric Assessment Instruments (Continued)

Ozeretsky Motor Battery for Children

The Ozeretsky Motor Battery for Children is designed for an age range of 2 to 14 years. It explores various motor behaviors, including:

• Dynamic coordination of hands
• Static coordination
• Dynamic coordination of the lower limbs
• Speed of movement
• Simultaneous movement
• Synkinesias (involuntary associated movements)

This battery allows for the determination of a motor age and a motor ratio, which can then be related to the child's chronological age.