Italian validation and standardization of tgmd-3: a tool for assessing and planning teaching

INTRODUCTION: Gross motor skills play a crucial role in the growth and development of children. These skills refer to goaldirected movement patterns involving locomotion, large whole-body movements and stretches. By evaluating a childs gross motor skills, it is possible to detect any potential delays and implement effective programs. The purpose of this research was to validate and standardise the Test of Gross Motor Development-3 (TGMD-3) in a large sample of Italian pre-school and primary school students. METHODS: The study included 8,500 children (250 males and 250 females in each group) aged 3-11 years in 17 age groups (6-month intervals except last group with 9-month interval). The study included children over the age of 11 years to encompass the entire primary school cycle and provide a benchmark of gross motor skills for the incoming assessment in secondary school. The TGMD-3 assesses gross motor skills across two domains: locomotor skills and ball skills. Participants completed one practice trial and two formal trials, observed by two testers (agreement rate over 95%). The study evaluated the validity and reliability of the TGMD-3 and investigated gender differences through ANOVA analysis (p<.05). RESULTS: The results of both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure of the TGMD- 3, with all factor loadings being significant at p < .001. Additionally, the study found strong positive correlations between the test and retest of the TGMD-3s sub-scale, with ICC values ranging from .979 to .997 for each age groups. The oneway ANOVA analysis revealed significant differences for most of the age groups. As a result, the table converting raw scores into percentile ranks, scalar scores, and confidence intervals was divided by gender for both subtests, in contrast to only the "Ball skills" subtest in the American version. This study was published by Erickson (2023) in an academic book that includes a digital platform (TEO-Test Erickson Online) that provides support in the notation and scoring process through a "Wizard" feature. The platform generates a final report for each child evaluated, including descriptive terms for standard scores. The manual offers guidance for interpreting evaluation data, to identify strengths and weaknesses to design effective learning environments. CONCLUSION: The TGMD-3 has strong validity and reliability for measuring gross motor skills in children across age groups. It assesses childrens competence in specific skills, sub-scales, and overall, and can aid in creating personalized educational programs and informed curricular decisions.