Assessment & Research

Concurrent validity of Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale with Test of Gross Motor Development-2.

Sun et al. (2011) · Research in developmental disabilities 2011
★ The Verdict

PGMQ is a quick, valid swap for TGMD-2 when you need fast preschool motor data.

✓ Read this if BCBAs screening Israeli preschoolers or running motor-based inclusion programs.
✗ Skip if Clinicians working with school-age or non-Israeli populations.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

Researchers tested a new preschool motor scale called PGMQ. They compared it to the well-known TGMD-2 in 102 Israeli preschoolers.

Kids did both tests on the same day. The team checked if scores matched.

02

What they found

PGMQ total scores lined up almost perfectly with TGMD-2 scores (r = 0.92). Sub-scores for running, jumping, and balance also matched well.

This means PGMQ gives the same answers as the older test, but faster.

03

How this fits with other research

Patton et al. (2020) adds wrist accelerometers to the toolbox. Their real-world arm-use data tracked with MA-2 scores, just like PGMQ tracked with TGMD-2.

Rihtman et al. (2026) did the same job for coordination. They showed the free LDCDQ also works for Israeli preschoolers, giving you two quick screeners instead of one.

Liang et al. (2026) looks negative at first—kids with NDDs move less—but it actually supports using short, cheap tools like PGMQ to catch delays early.

04

Why it matters

You now have a 5-minute, culturally friendly scale that replaces a 20-minute battery. Use PGMQ during intake to spot motor delays fast, then decide if full TGMD-2 or accelerometry follow-up is needed.

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Time a TGMD-2 session and a PGMQ session with the same kid—note the minutes saved.

02At a glance

Intervention
not applicable
Design
other
Sample size
135
Finding
positive
Magnitude
large

03Original abstract

Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale (PGMQ) was recently developed to evaluate motor skill quality of preschoolers. The purpose of this study was to establish the concurrent validity of PGMQ using Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) as the gold standard. One hundred and thirty five preschool children aged from three to six years were recruited from three kindergartens in central Taiwan. Two independent evaluators who were unaware of each other's results evaluated all the children separately in their kindergartens using standardized setting and procedures. Concurrent validity was examined using correlation analysis with Pearson-Production Moment correlation coefficient. The results show that the total scores (r = .86, p < .001) and subscale total scores (r = .82 for locomotion, r = .76 for object manipulation, p < .001) of the two tests correlated well. Analysis of similar items in the locomotion subscale found significant but weak correlations in the running, jumping and galloping items of the two tests (r = .23-.25, p < .001). There were moderate to high correlations in hopping, sliding and leaping between the two tests (r = .52-.70, p < .001). Low to moderate correlations (r = .37-.54, p < .001) were found between the similar items in the object manipulation subscale of PGMQ and TGMD-2. Total scores of TGMD-2 also showed a high relation between the sum of the locomotion and object manipulation scores of PGMQ (r = .83, p < .001). The total scores of similar items in the locomotion subscale of PGMQ and TGMD-2 showed a similar high relation (r = .79, p < .001) likewise in the object manipulation subscale (r = .75, p < .001) The PGMQ proved to have adequate concurrent validity with TGMD-2.

Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.01.007