Background
Children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) are characterised by deficits in fundamental movement skills (FMS). In youth with typical development, motor skill ...interventions have been recognised as an efficient means to improve FMS. However, the effects of these interventions among youth with ID have not yet been systematically reviewed.
Purpose
The purpose of the present systematic review was to summarise the findings from studies pertaining to the effects of motor skill interventions designed to improve FMS in children and adolescents with ID.
Method
A systematic literature search (without year restriction) was performed in 12 databases. Studies in press or published in English in a peer‐reviewed journal were included if: (1) participants were youth with ID aged 5 to 22; (2) motor skill interventions aimed to improve one or several FMS; and (3) they were experimental, quasi‐experimental or pre‐experimental. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale was used to assess the quality of the studies.
Results
Through the search strategy, 1083 articles were identified, and 14 studies published between 1969 and 2018 met the inclusion criteria. In studies with children, motor skill interventions successfully improved balance skills and overall FMS, whereas mixed and inconclusive results were found for locomotor skills. In studies with adolescents, motor skill interventions were shown to successfully improve balance skills. However, none of the motor skill interventions reviewed focused on locomotor and object control skills.
Conclusions
The reviewed motor skill interventions were effective in improving balance skills in both children and adolescents with ID as well as overall FMS in children with ID. Conversely, the effects of motor skill interventions targeting locomotor and object control skills remain unclear. Therefore, given the relatively small number of studies and their limitations, the present findings need to be interpreted with caution, and further rigorous studies are necessary.
With increased interest in the early diagnosis and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), more attention has been called to the motor skills of very young children with ASD. This ...study describes the gross and fine motor skills of a cross-sectional group of 162 children with ASD between the ages of 12 and 36 months, as well as a subset of 58 children followed longitudinally. Gross motor and fine motor age equivalent scores were obtained for all children. A ‘motor difference’ variable was calculated for each child’s gross and fine motor skills by taking the absolute difference of the children’s age equivalent motor score and their respective chronological age. In Study 1 (the cross-sectional analysis), ANCOVA (co-varied for nonverbal problem solving) revealed significant group differences in the gross motor and fine motor age difference variables. Post-hoc analysis revealed that gross motor and fine motor differences became significantly greater with each 6-month period of chronological age. In Study 2, 58 children were measured twice, an average of 12 months apart. Results indicate that the gross motor and fine motor difference scores significantly increased between the first and second measurements. The importance of addressing motor development in early intervention treatments is discussed.
This article extends the literature on 21st-century learning skills needed for workplace success by providing an empirical examination of employers' direct communication to potential employees via ...job advertisements. Our descriptive analysis of 142,000 job advertisements provides two contributions. First, this is one of the first studies to empirically rank-order skill demand. In doing so, it is clear that oral and written communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are in high demand by employers, with particular emphasis on the pairing of oral and written communication. Furthermore, it is apparent that many of the skills suggested in the literature as being critical for workplace success are in very low demand by employers, and some were not found to be mentioned at all (e.g., social responsibility). Second, this study explicitly examined whether 21st-century skill demand varied by job characteristics, which was found to be the case, with differences being noted for both education level and degree field requirements. Results were replicated with a sample of roughly 120,000 job advertisements collected 1 year from the initial data collection. Implications for developing educational standards around 21st-century skill development are discussed.
This study brings attention to the determinants of 21st-century skills and 21st-century digital skills. The following skills are investigated: technical, information, communication, collaboration, ...critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. To understand differences in the level of these skills among workers, we need to know the factors that determine an individual’s skill level. A systematic literature review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of empirical studies measuring skill determinants. The results show that there is strong need for research on determinants of communication and collaboration skills. In a digital context, determinants for creativity and critical thinking are hardly studied. Furthermore, the identified determinants of 21st-century skills studies are limited to personality and psychological determinants, neglecting, for example, social determinants such as social support. Although digital skills studies show more variety, they mostly cover demographic and socioeconomic determinants.
Executive function is foundational for cognitive development. Previous research has shown both gross motor skills and physical activity to be related to executive function. However, evidence for ...these relationships in the preschool years, as well as in low‐ and middle‐income countries is lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between components of executive function (inhibition, shifting and working memory) and gross motor skills (locomotor skills and object control skills) in a sample of preschool children from urban and rural low‐income settings in South Africa. Results revealed that inhibition and working memory, but not shifting, were associated with gross motor skills. More specifically: inhibition was associated with both locomotor β = 0.20, p = 0.047 and object control skills β = 0.24, p = 0.024, whereas working memory was only associated with locomotor skills β = 0.21, p = 0.039. Physical activity was not associated with inhibition and shifting but was negatively associated with working memory. These results elaborate a growing evidence base linking executive function and gross motor skills in the early years, and it is the first to look at specific associations of locomotor and object control skills with executive function in the South African context (a low‐ and middle‐income country).
The first study to measure executive function in preschool children from low‐income South African settings revealed associations with gross motor skills, but not physical activity. These results elaborate a growing evidence base linking executive function and gross motor skills in the early years, and it is the first evidence from a South African context, a low‐ and middle‐income country.
Gross anatomy education utilizing body donors and human specimens assists the acquisition of non‐traditional, discipline‐independent skills (NTDIS) such as teamwork, communication, and leadership. ...Alterations to anatomy curricula, such as those resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic, likely impact NTDIS acquisition, yet how this manifests is unclear. This study, therefore, explored anatomy educator perspectives on NTDIS acquisition as a response to changes in teaching delivery. Gross anatomy educators across different countries were recruited and took part in one‐on‐one, semi‐structured interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using the framework method. Basic statistical analyses were performed on demographic and categorical data. Fifteen educators from five continents were interviewed (average length 32.5 min, range 17–51 min). Educator experience ranged from 0–4 years (n = 3) to 20+ years (n = 7). Most taught using dissection (n = 14) with prosection use (n = 13) also common. Themes relating to NTDIS included expected content (respect for donors, teamwork, communication skills, humanistic values), assessable content, assessment challenges, and impact of curriculum changes; NTDIS unique to anatomy education included cultural, ethical, and social considerations around dead bodies, including boundaries, and social norms. Informed by curriculum alterations during the COVID‐19 pandemic, this first empirical study of anatomy educator perspectives on NTDIS highlights the potentially adverse educational impacts of decreased interaction with body donors and human specimens on NTDIS acquisition and difficulties with NTDIS assessment. Findings support gross anatomy education as unique in providing NTDIS that cannot easily be replicated elsewhere. Recommendations around NTDIS‐specific educator competencies and promoting NTDIS are provided.
Hard skills are the technical expertise and knowledge needed for a job. Soft skills are interpersonal qualities, also known as people skills, and personal attributes that one possesses. Business ...executives consider soft skills a very important attribute in job applicants. Employers want new employees to have strong soft skills, as well as hard skills. This study identified the top 10 soft skills as perceived the most important by business executives: integrity, communication, courtesy, responsibility, social skills, positive attitude, professionalism, flexibility, teamwork, and work ethic.
Concerns over the supply of skills in the U.S. labor force, especially education-related skills, have exploded in recent years with a series of reports not only from employer-associated organizations ...but also from independent and even government sources making similar claims. These complaints about skills are driving much of the debate around labor force and education policy, yet they have not been examined carefully. In this article, the author assesses the range of these charges as well as other evidence about skills in the labor force. Very little evidence is consistent with the complaints about a skills shortage, and a wide range of evidence suggests the complaints are not warranted. Indeed, a reasonable conclusion is that overeducation remains the persistent and even growing condition of the U.S. labor force with respect to skills. The author considers three possible explanations for the employer complaints and the associated policy implications.
People differ in their social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills: their capacities to maintain social relationships, regulate emotions, and manage goal- and learning-directed behaviors. In five ...studies using data from seven independent samples (N = 6,309), we address three key questions about the nature, structure, assessment, and outcomes of SEB skills. First, how can SEB skills be defined and distinguished from other kinds of psychological constructs, such as personality traits? We propose that SEB skills represent how someone is capable of thinking, feeling, and behaving when the situation calls for it, whereas traits represent how someone tends to think, feel, and behave averaged across situations. Second, how can specific SEB skills be organized within broader domains? We find that many skill facets can be organized within five major domains representing Social Engagement, Cooperation, Self-Management, Emotional Resilience, and Innovation Skills. Third, how should SEB skills be measured? We develop and validate the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI) to measure individuals' capacity to enact specific behaviors representing 32 skill facets. We then use the BESSI to investigate the nomological network of SEB skills. We show that both skill domains and facets converge in conceptually meaningful ways with socioemotional competencies, character and developmental strengths, and personality traits, and predict consequential outcomes including academic achievement and engagement, occupational interests, social relationships, and well-being. We believe that this work provides the most comprehensive model currently available for conceptualizing SEB skills, as well as the most psychometrically robust tool available for assessing them.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been shown to benefit from parent-implemented interventions (PIIs). This meta-analysis improved on prior reviews of PIIs by evaluating RCTs and ...multiple potential moderators, including indicators of research quality. Fifty-one effect sizes averaged moderately strong overall benefits of PIIs (
g
= 0.553), with studies having lower risk of research bias yielding lower estimates (
g
= 0.47). Parent and observer ratings yielded similar averaged estimates for positive behavior/social skills (
g
= 0.603), language/communication (
g
= 0.545), maladaptive behavior (
g
= 0.519), and to a lesser extent, adaptive behavior/life skills (
g
= 0.239). No other study, intervention, or participant characteristic moderated outcomes. PIIs with children with ASD tend to be effective across a variety of circumstances.
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