Children Observation
The group of 10-year-old boys and girls currently participating in an after-school program in a low-income urban neighborhood is the target audience for the motor development program I have created. The pupils’ motor abilities and interests are varied and come from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. While some students are quiet and reserved, others are gregarious and active.
The children’s range of motor skills and abilities is considerable. While some are good at running, jumping, and throwing, others find these activities difficult. The students desire to pick up new talents, notably in sports such as volleyball, basketball, and soccer.
However, due to financial limitations and a lack of resources in their community, they only have limited access to organized sports programs. Additionally, the students have demonstrated behavioral difficulties, including difficulty focusing, impulsivity, and a low threshold for frustration. These habits may hamper their capacity to learn and use motor skills successfully.
Description of the Five Behaviors Targeted
Running
The five core motor abilities that the motor development program aims to improve are running, jumping, throwing, catching, and kicking. Each skill is divided into manageable parts, as suggested by Fourdain et al. (2021). Body position, stride length, arm swing, and foot strike are all factors in running.
Students are instructed to maintain an upright stance, take lengthy strides, coordinate their arm swing, and land on the balls of their feet to improve their running technique (Fourdain et al., 2021). Students will, in addition, learn to change their pace and direction to increase their agility and speed. While some of the group’s students can easily run, others have trouble maintaining proper form.
Jumping
The next ability that needs improvement is jumping, which has teachable elements such as body position, arm swing, knee bend, and landing form. Students will learn to maintain a balanced body position and create momentum by swinging their arms. Additionally, they will understand how to bend their knees to create force and land with good technique to lower the chance of injury and increase their jumping abilities (Goodway et al., 2019). Students in the group demonstrate varied degrees of skill when jumping.
Throwing
Throwing is a crucial motor skill for many sports. Its components include the grip, body position, wind-up, arm motion, and follow-through. Students will learn how to hold the ball properly to produce the most force and accuracy from their throws.
In addition, they will comprehend how to maintain the perfect body position, wind up their throwing arm, employ a smooth and fluid arm action, and follow through with their throw (Goodway et al., 2019). Students will grasp how to adjust their throws’ distance and speed to increase their overall throwing ability. Some of the group’s students can throw confidently, while others need help maintaining good form.
Catching
Another crucial athletic motor skill is catching, which requires using the body, hands, eyes, and hand-eye coordination. To catch the ball properly, students must learn to maintain a balanced body stance, place their hands correctly, watch the ball’s flight with their eyes, and synchronize their hand actions (Goodway et al., 2019). Students in the group demonstrate varied degrees of catching skills.
Kicking
The final essential skill for football and soccer is kicking, which may be taught by paying attention to body position, approach, foot placement, foot contact, and follow-through. Students will learn to maintain proper body position, approach the ball at the proper angle, place their planted foot correctly, and make contact using the right part of their kicking foot. Additionally, they will continue with their kick to produce the most power and accuracy possible to improve their kicking ability (Fourdain et al., 2021). Students in the group exhibit varied degrees of kicking competence.
Suggestions/Activities for Improving Targeted Skills
Some specific activities that one could perform to improve running include obstacle courses, relay races, hill runs, games with direction changes, and partner runs. When it comes to jumping, individuals can engage in jump rope, hurdle jumps, long jumps, events with jumping, and embracing partner jumps. Regarding throwing, it is important to consider target practice, wall throws, overhead throws, activities that involve throwing, and participating in partner throws (Moron et al., 2022). In terms of catching, a person can do balloon toss, mirroring the skill, juggling scarves, crazy catch, and blindfold catching. Lastly, kicking could be enhanced through cone kicks, target practice, obstacle courses, scooter kicks, and balance board kicking.
Special adaptations or equipment may be required to enable participation in a program for students with disabilities that affect their mobility, vision, or hearing. It may be necessary for students with mobility challenges to use adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, or canes. Brightly colored balls or beanbags can help children with visual impairments by enhancing their ability to track the ball with their residual vision (Moron et al., 2022). Instructions and feedback can be conveyed visually to students with hearing difficulties using hand signals or written instructions. Certain modifications and tools are crucial to guarantee that students with disabilities may engage completely and gain from the program.
Specific Teaching Suggestions
Having a productive rather than reproductive teaching style is crucial when working with pupils with difficulties. Instead of just having pupils follow instructions, effective teaching methods emphasize assisting them in creating their answers to challenges. It is crucial to be adaptable when it comes to categorizing the kids based on their specific demands. While whole-group work can promote teamwork and collaboration, small-group or partner work can enable more individualized attention (Ferreira et al., 2021).
Working with students who have disabilities requires providing feedback and cues regularly. While demonstrations can help students understand what is expected of them, verbal cues can be used to give specific instructions. Although students can be assisted physically to help them with movements, respecting their comfort zone and independence (Ferreira et al., 2021). In addition, the teacher can provide hands-on assistance in reverse, following the student’s lead and adjusting their actions to fit the student’s.
Another crucial factor to take into account is practice scheduling. While distributed practice spreads out practice sessions over a longer period, massed practice involves repeatedly practicing a skill in a short amount of time. The distributed practice may be more advantageous when dealing with kids who have disabilities since it prevents weariness and promotes greater skill retention.
A skill-practice paradigm can be utilized to improve particular abilities and techniques while working with team sports such as soccer or volleyball (Ferreira et al., 2021). Once the students have a strong foundation in the ability to concentrate on strategy and gameplay, a tactical game model can be used. However, it is crucial to adapt the game to the student’s skills and make the necessary accommodations.
Implementation
The first step in the implementation is to seek ethical approval from the proper institutional review board before implementing this program with kids or adults. The next step after receiving approval is to begin recruiting study volunteers who fit the requirements. A pretest and posttest measurement should be a part of the study’s design to monitor advancement over time.
The data should be statistically examined to ascertain whether any notable changes have taken place (Mayra et al., 2022). It is crucial to record the teaching methods, grouping configuration, feedback, and cueing given, and practice schedule during the training sessions. When interpreting the study’s data, this information will be helpful.
After the study, the data should be examined using suitable statistical techniques to see if the participants’ performance changed significantly over time. If the program is successful, it is crucial to determine which components are the most advantageous and consider those features when planning future interventions (Mayra et al., 2022). It is crucial to pinpoint areas that could be improved if the program is ineffective.
For instance, the teaching approach, feedback, cueing, or practice scheduling may need to be changed to better fulfill the participants’ needs. The study design might also need to be changed to account for any restrictions or confounding variables that might have affected the findings (Mayra et al., 2022). Overall, implementing this program with individual participants and reviewing the data gathered can offer insightful information about its efficacy and possible areas for development. Research must be conducted rigorously and ethically to guarantee that the results are genuine and dependable.
References
Ferreira, T., Figueiredo, T. D. C., Bick, M. A., Langendorf, T. F., Padoin, S. M. D. M., & Paula, C. C. D. (2021). Opportunities in child motor development at home: Bibliometric and scientometric review. Journal of Human Growth and Development, 31(1), 125-144. Web.
Fourdain, S., Simard, M. N., Dagenais, L., Materassi, M., Doussau, A., Goulet, J., & Gallagher, A. (2021). Gross motor development of children with congenital heart disease receiving early systematic surveillance and individualized intervention: A brief report. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 24(1), 56-62. Web.
Goodway, J. D., Ozmun, J. C., & Gallahue, D. L. (2019). Understanding motor development: Infants, children, adolescents, adults. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Mayra, Z., Maulana, M. N., & Kushendar, K. (2022). The Effect of Emotional Social Development on Physical Motor Development in Early Childhood. Journal of Childhood Development, 2(2), 64-70. Web.
Moron, V. B., Barbosa, D. N. F., Sanfelice, G. R., Barbosa, J. L. V., Leithardt, D. R., & Leithardt, V. R. Q. (2022). Executive Functions, Motor Development, and Digital Games Applied to Elementary School Children: A Systematic Mapping Study. Education Sciences, 12(3), 164. Web.