Development and initial validation of the Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale.
The PGMQ is a quick, PDMS-II-linked scale that captures preschool gross-motor quality in just 17 items.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sun et al. (2010) built a new 17-item scale called the PGMQ. It rates how well preschoolers walk, run, throw, and balance. The team checked the tool against the well-known PDMS-II in a group of 174 preschoolers.
What they found
The new scale lined up well with the PDMS-II. Scores were moderately to highly related across locomotion, manipulation, and balance. The authors say the PGMQ gives a quick, valid picture of gross-motor quality.
How this fits with other research
Weiss et al. (2021) took the same idea into autism. Their SMFCS-ASD also uses PDMS-2 as a yard-stick, but it adds social-motor cues for children with ASD. The move shows the PGMQ logic can travel beyond general preschool rooms.
Siu et al. (2011) ran a mirror study for fine motor. They built an 87-item tool for Chinese preschoolers and followed the same check-against-PDMS recipe. Together the papers form a matched set: PGMQ for gross, HK-PFMDA for fine.
Reus et al. (2013) sound a caution note. Portuguese kids scored lower than U.S. norms on locomotion and object manipulation. So even if the PGMQ is valid, a low score may reflect culture, not true delay.
Why it matters
You now have a short, free gross-motor scale that lines up with the PDMS-II. Use it when you need a fast screen before writing goals or checking progress. Pair it with a fine-motor tool like the HK-PFMDA if you want a full motor snapshot. Always compare scores with local norms, not just U.S. ones, so you do not over-pathologize typical movement.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Motor skills have great impact on children in adapting to an environment and developing interpersonal interaction, cognition, and social behavior. Understanding what children can do and how they perform it is essential. Most motor tests seldom contain quality evaluation in the items or criteria. The purpose of this study was to develop and construct validity of the Preschooler Gross Motor Quality Scale (PGMQ) that included 17 items in three subscales to evaluate the quality of fundamental motor skills for the preschooler. The study designed PGMQ items and subscales according to well-described procedures, and recruited 174 children, aged 3-6 (89 boys and 85 girls) from 17 kindergartens. Two independent evaluators who were unaware of each other's results evaluated all the children separately in their kindergartens using PGMQ standardized setting and procedures and Gross Motor Scales of Peabody Developmental Motor Scales II (PDMS-II). Results of this study found significant differences between different ages and genders (Wilks'Λ=0.221, p<.001 and Wilks'Λ=0.690, p<.001 respectively). Total scores and raw scores in three subscales of PGMQ increased as age increased. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three factors, including locomotion, manipulative ability and balance to explain 51.06% of the variance. The correlations between PGMQ and PDMS-II subscales were moderate to high (r=0.544-0.868, p<.01). The results showed satisfactory validity of PGMQ. PGMQ is useful to evaluate the development and quality of fundamental motor skills for the preschoolers.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.08.002