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Building From a Stable Foundation? Understanding Stability Skill Proficiency in British Children in the First Year of School.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Building From a Stable Foundation? Understanding Stability Skill Proficiency in British Children in the First Year of School.
Authors: Duncan, Michael J. (AUTHOR), Crotti, Matteo (AUTHOR), Davies, Katie Fitton (AUTHOR), Africa, Eileen (AUTHOR), Martins, Ricardo (AUTHOR)
Source: Child: Care, Health & Development. May2026, Vol. 52 Issue 3, p1-5. 5p.
Subjects: Motor ability, British people, Logrolling (Medical procedure), T-test (Statistics), Psychology of school children, Research evaluation, Descriptive statistics, Child development, Data analysis software, Postural balance, Video recording, Inter-observer reliability, Children
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom
Abstract: Objective: Stability skill proficiency is purported to be below the norm in children. However, no process‐oriented proficiency data are available examining this issue. This study assessed stability skill proficiency in British children. Materials and Methods: Stability skill proficiency of 243 (116 boys and 127 girls) English children aged 4–5 years was assessed using the Test of Stability Skills. Stability skill proficiency was classed as proficient, near proficient and poor. Results: Approximately 60% did not achieve proficiency in any of the three stability skills. Only three children (1.2%) were proficient in all three stability skills. Individual skill proficiency was poor, with proficiency of the roll, rock and back support being 10.3%, 4.9% and 8.2%, respectively. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary normative data for process‐oriented stability skill in British children aged 4–5 years. As stability skill is a prerequisite for the development of other gross motor skills, such information is important in effective targeting for stability skill intervention. Summary: Stability skills are a key, but often overlooked, aspect of fundamental movement skills, with the predominant approach in the literature focusing on locomotor and object control skills.Although some product‐oriented approaches to motor competence assessment include balance subscales, to date, no studies have reported process‐oriented data relating to stability skills in children aged 4–5 years.This study presents preliminary process‐based data on stability skill, using the Test of Stability Skills, for Reception‐aged children living in high deprivation in England. The results suggest that stability skill proficiency is poor, at approximately 10%, 5% and 8% for the roll, rock and back support skills, respectively.Future work may want to document stability skill proficiency in a more representative sample of children in England to verify the claims of low proficiency suggested in the current work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Description
Abstract:Objective: Stability skill proficiency is purported to be below the norm in children. However, no process‐oriented proficiency data are available examining this issue. This study assessed stability skill proficiency in British children. Materials and Methods: Stability skill proficiency of 243 (116 boys and 127 girls) English children aged 4–5 years was assessed using the Test of Stability Skills. Stability skill proficiency was classed as proficient, near proficient and poor. Results: Approximately 60% did not achieve proficiency in any of the three stability skills. Only three children (1.2%) were proficient in all three stability skills. Individual skill proficiency was poor, with proficiency of the roll, rock and back support being 10.3%, 4.9% and 8.2%, respectively. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary normative data for process‐oriented stability skill in British children aged 4–5 years. As stability skill is a prerequisite for the development of other gross motor skills, such information is important in effective targeting for stability skill intervention. Summary: Stability skills are a key, but often overlooked, aspect of fundamental movement skills, with the predominant approach in the literature focusing on locomotor and object control skills.Although some product‐oriented approaches to motor competence assessment include balance subscales, to date, no studies have reported process‐oriented data relating to stability skills in children aged 4–5 years.This study presents preliminary process‐based data on stability skill, using the Test of Stability Skills, for Reception‐aged children living in high deprivation in England. The results suggest that stability skill proficiency is poor, at approximately 10%, 5% and 8% for the roll, rock and back support skills, respectively.Future work may want to document stability skill proficiency in a more representative sample of children in England to verify the claims of low proficiency suggested in the current work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:03051862
DOI:10.1111/cch.70270