Gross Motor Coordination

Students gain a strong sense of self-esteem in being able to participate in Physical Education (PE) activities.

Not only do students feel a sense of achievement in being able to participate in a game or mastering a skill, but they also gain approval from their peers.

Differences in skill levels are typical among all students; some are fast and do well in track and on the court, others have good eye-hand coordination required for ball games, and still others have good balance so they may shine in gymnastics or hockey. Students also learn how to interact with each other and learn how to play as a team: PE is more than just gross motor (GM) coordination – it can also involve a high level of social interaction.

Keys to Success

• Slot in 5 minute gross motor activities throughout the day.
• Use GM activities during movement breaks.
• Emphasize participation over competition.

Everyday Opportunities

• Slot five minute movement breaks into the daily routine.
• It is particularly useful to fit them when students have to attend for long periods of time (see section on Attention and Focus).
• There are also natural breaks, for example, transitions between lessons.

What Do GM Activities Involve?

• Mobility: able to move body from one spot to the other using different parts of the body; e.g. walking, hopping, walking on hands and feet, or creeping on tummy.
• Flexibility: ability to fully move joints to allowing positioning of the body into different postures; relies on range of motion of the joints.
• Balance: able to maintain a position against gravity while the body is still (sitting at the table or desk, standing at the board, freeze statue games, gymnastics) or moving (walking on a balance beam, dancing, skating, climbing stairs).
• Coordination: moving different parts of the body (arms, legs, hands, eyes) together to perform a task (jumping jacks, dancing, playing hopscotch, skipping). Some activities also involve holding and manipulating an object, and coordinating its actions with that of the body (hockey, any ball game, baton twirling).
• Endurance: muscle strength required to perform actions for the duration of the activity; also involves cardiovascular or cardio-respiratory fitness – the ability of the heart and lungs to supply enough oxygen and fuel to enable the muscles to keep contracting.
• Core strength: strong abdominal and back muscles, is particularly important for gross and fine motor activities. Core strength helps stabilize the body to maintain a position (sitting at the desk while doing a fine motor task), or to provide a strong base while the arms and legs are moving (jumping jacks). 

Of course, rarely do any of these components occur in isolation

Riding a bike involves joint flexibility to get on a bike, balancing the upper body while moving the lower body, coordinated leg movements to turn the pedals, coordinated arm movements to steer the bike, and having the strength to control a large object such as a bike. Cardiovascular/respiratory fitness is also needed to ride distances.

GM Struggles
In every class there is an individual or a small group of students who particularly struggle with gross motor activities.

You may notice differences are seen in the quality of their movement and the effort taken to learn movement patterns. Some of these students can be considered to be "late bloomers", while others ore often described as clumsy; the latter group sometimes receive a diagnosis of Developmental
Coordination Disorder (DCD).

Late Bloomers
These students, usually due to a poor skill base and consequently disinterest, are reluctant to participate, and often do not do as well as their peers. Later as adults, following their interests, and perhaps in a less competitive environment, they improve their GM skills and enjoy a range of physical activities. One of the goals for all students is to engage in a healthy lifestyle which includes physical activities. For the late bloomers, helping them discover and follow their interests may be key to participation in a healthy lifestyle.

Developmental Coordination Disorder
Students with DCD can have low self-esteem from their inability to participate (particularly in team sports), their poorer skills, and their difficulties with social interaction and peer acceptance.  Sometimes these students may also have difficulties with motor planning.

Motor planning is a multi-stage process:

• IDEA: knowing what to do (e.g., ride bike around the pylons)
• PLAN: having a plan about the actions (movement patterns) required (get on bike, pedal, steer bike around pylons, maintain balance through out)
• EXECUTE: carrying out the plan (ride bike without falling off or colliding with a pylon)

Students can face difficulties at any one or a combination of these stages. Performance is further compromised if the student faces challenges in mobility, flexibility, balance, coordination and/or cardiovascular/respiratory endurance.

Supporting Students with Motor Planning Difficulties

The Cognitive Orientation to Daily Occupational Performance Approach (CO-OP) can be useful in providing support for these students.  The aim is to help students find a plan that works to achieve their task. For example, they need to identify:

• What they are wanting to do (Goal: shoot a basket)
• How they are going to do it (Plan: stand, look, throw ball)
• Try it out (Do: stand, look, throw ball)
• And finally they check to see if their plan worked (Check: did the ball go into the hoop?)

The plan is unique to each student. In the example above, another student also wanting to shoot baskets may need a different plan altogether. The aim is to help each student discover which plan works for them.

Strategies

• Emphasize participation over performance with all students. In team games, place emphasis on team skills instead of competition. Consider giving a grade based on effort instead of achievement.
• Clearly show or outline the boundaries used in the game (the number of lines on the gym floor can be fairly confusing). Use pylons or ropes, or other similar objects to mark areas.
• Ensure students understand the rules of the game. Have students sit down before instructions are given. Consider using boundaries such as hoops or carpet mats.
• Team Selection – use a lottery system to pick team members; this way the student with difficulties won't be picked last all the time. Or have the student with poor coordination select the team members.
• Consider where the student is in line (front, middle or back).
• Encourage students to talk about what they like about a particular GM or PE activity.

The activities below serve as movement breaks which can also offer the opportunity to fit in GM activities during the day.

• Silly Walks or Animal Walks:
   
• encourage students to come up with an idea; rotate leaders during month; walk between stations in the room or to the door before recess/lunch breaks.
• Obstacle course: encourage student to design the course; assign a leader for the day or week to design and lead.
• Action Songs: appealing to all ages if the musical interests of the students are met; e.g., use of appropriate playground songs.
• Stretches at the desk: use different positions; encourage students to come with the ideas and/or lead the session.
• Following a line: have the leader trace out a path in the room with tape; can be over chairs, under tables. Have the other students follow the leader. Use different ways to move (backward, sideways, hopping, crawling; fast or slow; use music if appropriate). 
• Simon Says: use more complex actions and postures for older students.

Devices & Tools 

• Beach ball, weighted ball, bean bag or balloon (with supervision)
• Painter's Tape or flagging tape (easily removed from surfaces)
• Small hoops or carpet mats
• CD with action songs

Links:

Health Canada
Can Child