What are Fundamental Movement Skills and why do they matter for OTs and PTs?
If you're an occupational or physical therapist, you probably spend a lot of your day thinking, talking, and reading about motor skills. But have you ever come across the term “Fundamental Movement Skills”? Until recently, I hadn't, but it turns out there is a whole body of literature devoted to studying and discussing this construct that is, well, fundamental to children's ability to engage in play, recreation and activities of daily life. Sounds pretty relevant to what we do, right?
Fundamental Movement Skills (or FMS for short), encompass basic locomotor, object control, and stability movements and serve as the cornerstone upon which more complex physical activities are built. FMS therefore play a pivotal role in the development of functional life skills and physical literacy. From running and jumping to catching and throwing, FMS lay the groundwork for an individual's ability to engage in various physical activities with competence and confidence.
Mastery of FMS not only enhances physical performance but also fosters a lifelong appreciation for physical activity, thereby promoting overall health and well-being by empowering individuals to lead active lives, reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes, and other lifestyle-related conditions.
While the specifics vary across different sources, FMS commonly described in peer-reviewed literature include:
Locomotor Skills including walking, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, and leaping
Object Control Skills such as catching, throwing, kicking, striking (e.g. with a bat or racquet), dribbling with hands or feet, rolling and bouncing a ball
Stability Skills involving static and dynamic balancing, turning, bending, stretching, landing (from jumps or falls), and bracing (e.g., preparing the body for impact or sudden changes in direction)
"So what?” I hear you say! “I work on skills like these in my intervention sessions every day!” Yes, of course you do, but now you have some new language you can use when describing why these skills are so important to teachers, parents and other members of the multi-disciplinary team who either already uses (or can identify with) the term and concept of Fundamental Movement Skills.
Assessing and monitoring Fundamental Movement Skills
If you look at the list of skills above, you'll notice many of them are part of the motor proficiency assessments we all know and love. The Movement ABC-3, while not specifically intended to be a measure of FMS, consists of three domains — Manual Dexterity, Aiming & Catching, and Balance & Locomotion — that overlap considerably with the three domains of FMS. The BOT™-2 and BOT™-3 both encompass tasks that are recognised FMS.
The development of FMS typically follows a predictable trajectory, and by the age of 12, most children have achieved a high level of competency in FMS, although this varies by the individual. For younger children, it's useful to track the development of these skills to ensure that FMS are being acquired appropriately or to indicate opportunities for further evaluation if they are not.
When an individual's motor development is atypical or delayed, having a way to quantify FMS can facilitate goal setting, intervention planning, and progress monitoring. To help support these activities, the BOT-3 features a new criterion-referenced score, the Movement Fundamentals Score, which is ideal for these purposes. The Movement Fundamentals Score is derived from select items from across five BOT-3 subtests (Upper Limb Coordination, Bilateral Coordination, Balance, Strength, and Dynamic Movement). Examiners can use this score to measure and monitor FMS by assigning performance into descriptive categories of Emerging, Developing, or Proficient.
Promote participation through the development of FMS
Fundamental Movement Skills, considered the building blocks of physical literacy, are useful to assess and monitor as a discrete construct. By recognising the significance of FMS and collaborating across health and education professions to promote their development, OTs and PTs can empower individuals to participate in active, healthy, and fulfilling lives.