Poor co-ordination in 5 year olds: a screening test for use in schools

A simple standardized screening test (South Australian Motor Co-ordination Screening Test, SAM Test) was developed to screen for poor co-ordination in 5 year olds. This SAM Test, which can be used by teachers, nurses and doctors, has explicit pass/fail criteria and has classified correctly 90% of children. The McCarthy Motor Scales, which are time consuming and limited to use by psychologists, were used to categorize 60 poorly co-ordinated and 60 normal children. The 120 children thus selected were tested on 19 items covering gross and fine motor skills. Statistical analysis to determine which items best discriminated between the two groups found the following five gross motor items to be most effective: one leg balancing, hopping, heel-toe walking on line, jumping over ribbon and dropping ball and catching.