General Information

The TGMD-3 assesses 13 fundamental motor skills, subdivided into two subscales: Locomotor Skills & Ball Skills

This is a direct observation, process-oriented skill assessment looking at 3-5 performance criteria per skill that reflects the most mature movement pattern.

Primary uses:

Identification & Screening
Instructional Programming
Assessment of an individual’s progress
Program evaluation
Research tool

Brief Administration Guidelines:

A researcher demonstrates the proper execution of the skill.
Children complete one practice and then two formal trials.
Coding is completed for only the two formal trials.

Scoring:

Each skill is evaluated on three to five performance criteria

0 = if a criterion was not performed.
1 = if a criterion was performed.
There are no half credits allocated for this administration.

Information to consider prior to testing and coding:

1. Standardization!

One of the most important components about using the TGMD-3, particularly for research purposes, is that the test be standardized in every way. This would include:

Proper demonstrations
Standardized feedback
Consistent coding

Without the consistency of administration and later coding, the results that may be used later would be unreliable.

2. Code what you see

Specifically for research purposes, although a child may exhibit certain performance criteria during the practice trial or in between trials, you can only code the behaviors that you see during the two formal trials.
This plays into the standardization part of this project and is important that you don’t assume a child can or cannot perform certain criteria. If a child is not performing the skill during the formal trials, it is possible that they can not consistently exhibit the appropriate behaviors.
This test is designed to test children between the ages of 3 – 10.9 years. Generally speaking, you would expect that as children age, their mastery of certain aspects of skills would improve linearly as they age – however this is not always the case. A 5 year old can exhibit very mature behavior patterns and a 10 year old can demonstrate very poor behavior skills. Proper motivation is needed to ensure that children are performing their best to get an accurate assessment of their motor skill competence.