The aims of this chapter is to offer education professionals an assessment proposal that will help them to know the motor skills of children from 3 to 5 years old. The authors also propose to offer a methodological alternative for the creation of psychomotor intervention plans. Committed to the importance of psychomotor development for the global development of the human being, they offer an evaluation proposal using the McCarthy Aptitude and Psychomotor Skills (7th edition) as a tool. This work begins by making a chronological review of the concept of psychomotor skill and its importance in child development. It is supported by the evolutionary, psychopedagogical, psychoanalytic, and neuropsychiatric theories that have shown this aspect throughout the times, and highlighting the aptitudes and stages of motor development that children under 3, 4, and 5 years old must reach. The authors hope to provide practical knowledge that will contribute to the optimization of educational work and benefiting children´s development.
TopIntroduction
Evaluation is used by health and education science professionals as a tool to help collect information about the subject's condition, compare, discriminate, inform family members and professionals, analyze data and create intervention plans.
At the age of 3 to 5 years, a stage that coincides with the 2nd cycle of Infant Education, there is a maturative advance of the bone and muscle system that enables the development of motor skills.
The large muscles develop notably and give way to other skills that require more precise coordination (Cañizares & Carbonero, 2016).
The anatomical, physiological, affective and intellectual structures that make up the unit of the human being are developed and the necessary aspects in the personal, family and societal aspects add variations to that development. In addition, the learning that will be the basis for achieving basic competencies is internalized
Although there is information in this regard, there is insufficient knowledge that actually exists about the motor skills of 3-5 year olds. This aspect is indispensable to contribute to the cognitive and personality development of children, since it is the basis of the global development of the human being. This is one of the reasons why the curriculum gives priority to activities that help children develop through psychomotor skills. Thus contributing to the development of the necessary competences for instrumental learning.
Knowing the psychomotor profile of the minors, we will not only obtain information about the state of each individual, but also the observation of those areas where there is a delay or any difficulty that could condition their development.
Heron-Flores et al., (2018), argue that psychomotor skills affect the development of people regardless of their age. Therefore, it is a relevant aspect for any health professional: neurologists, rehabilitators, educators, etc.
Cuesta et al., (2016), highlight the importance of working on motor and social skills together in children in Infant Education, with the aim of providing them with a base that helps consolidate motor patterns in their interaction with other people outside the family environment.
Human development is a long and gradual process that requires overcoming stages in order to make way for others (Palacios & Mora, 1991). It is important to obtain information on children's development in order to create more objective plans of action or intervention that help to optimize child's development.
Solís-Gutiérrez et al., (2019) indicate that neurodevelopment and child development go hand in hand. They are processes that have their expression in the interactions of the child and the environment around him, whose result is the maturation of his nervous system for motor skills, language, sensory and social skills acquired through learning and experience.
Since the beginning of psychomotor development, several authors have talked about the importance of psychomotor development for the human being and the involvement it has in the cognitive, affective and personal areas of people (Ajuriaguerra, 1983; Aucoutier & Lapierre, 1985; Berruezo, 1995; Gessell, 1981b; Le Boulch, 1962; Piaget, 1969; Picq & Vayer, 1969; Wallon, 2000). In line with this, Aliaga and Figueroa (2018) argue that assessment allows and provides essential information about the subject being assessed and is a tool that guides professionals and teachers in the therapeutic or teaching process.
In order to achieve or facilitate an integral, global and harmonious development, it is first necessary to know the child's level of development, the evolutionary moment and the stage he or she is in. In this way, any educational program will be carried out in an objective and coherent way, increasing the possibilities of success. In the case of psychomotor development, this is a priority aspect, since a skill cannot be achieved if the previous one has not been overcome a priori (standing, walking, jumping, etc.).
Knowing the psychomotor profile of children, families, teachers and professionals can obtain quality information on the child's development leveis, as well as states, which in the Early Education stage are equally important. In reference to the aspects where children present delay or lag. Knowing this allows us to estimate the possibility or not of risk factors in the development of children. In this way, we can design a work plan in which we find adequate activities focused on the maturity of the most immature traits in order to later advance in different ones.
This is the reason why there is a growing interest nowadays to understand the child and his psychomotor development better and better, and how the evaluation of psychomotor skills in children becomes indispensable.