Paul Ogilvie

Full sensory integration is vital for young people to reach their potential. This can be regarded as a 3D jigsaw where the pieces are made up of effective sound and visual processing and performance of motor skills. However, factors such as traumatic experiences and retained primitive reflexes can impede full sensory integration during childhood. This is often presented as poor movement competence, low confidence and social skills and poor academic attainment. In turn, this can prevent young people from reaching their potential to learn and to become physically literate. To help address this, the Fit2Learn intervention was developed to improve young people’s sensory integration. Once assessed, an individualised, movement-oriented programme is provided to address the retained primitive reflexes and improve sound and visual processing. Using a case study design, this presentation reports the findings of a project delivered in two schools in the north of England. Young people (n-=8) aged 11-13 years were invited by their teachers to take part. Data will be reported to identify changes to sensory integration, actual and perceived movement competence and capacity to learn (teachers’ reported changes to classroom engagement and behaviour). The Fit2Learn programme has been shown to increase young people’s capacity to learn and improve performance of movement skills. Subsequently, this could unlock their academic potential and support them to live healthier lives by becoming more physically literate. This interactive session will engage educators and practitioners from any child-focused environment but especially schools, sports clubs and special educational needs provisions.

BACKGROUND Many children in the UK are trying to cope with the demands of the schooling system without full sensory integration. The includes: 1. Motor skills: postural control and bi-lateral integration of motor skills, which should be in place by 7 years old, are absent 2. 80% of children under 5 years old experience an inner ear infection (Berman, 1994) which suppresses the inner ear’s ability to process sound. This sound processing abilities are not checked or on the national agenda despite the impact on global development via the vestibular system 3. Binocular vision and visual processing skills are not checked or on anyone’s agenda 4. With the retention of primitive reflexes, a child may never reach their full cognitive potential (Berne, 2006). These are the foundation of proprioception (i.e. the sense of where one is in space) which can increase anxiety and sense of well-being. PURPOSE We worked with a small group of young people in alternative provision and secondary school settings who were recognised to be at risk from poor emotional and mental wellbeing, to improve their development and confidence, and subsequently, their capacity to learn. Within this project, the young people took part in a range of specific activities designed by Fit2Learn in school to help their motor-sensory development. By providing this targeted support to young people, this program was intended to improve their future opportunities by providing them with the readiness to learn, and improve their movement competence, self-confidence and motivation to make more positive life choices, influencing their future education and employment. The Fit 2 Learn program has proven to be successful in supporting children to overcome motor skill deficiencies and improve their sensory system. This has enabled the children to become more functional learners and engage better within a mainstream learning environment. RESEARCH AIMS The research objectives are three-fold: 1. Examine the relationship between completing the Fit2Learn program and children's readiness to learn. 2. Examine how completing the Fit2Learn program influences children's engagement in the classroom. 3. Evaluate the feasibility of the Fit2Learn program being implemented in school by teachers.

As the development of movement skills are so crucial to a child's involvement in lifelong physical activity and sport, the purpose of this study was to assess the motor proficiency of children aged 4-7years (range=4.3-7.2years), whilst considering gender and socioeconomic status. 369 children (176 females, 193 males, aged=5.96±0.57years) were assessed for fine motor precision, fine motor integration, manual dexterity, bilateral co-ordination, balance, speed and agility, upper-limb co-ordination and strength. The average standard score for all participants was 44.4±8.9, classifying the participants towards the lower end of the average score. Multivariate analysis of covariance identified significant effects for gender (p<0.001) and socioeconomic status (p<0.001). Females outperformed males for fine motor skills and boys outperformed girls for catch and dribble gross motor skills. High socioeconomic status significantly outperformed middle and/or low socioeconomic status for total, fine and gross motor proficiency. Current motor proficiency of primary children aged 4-7years in the UK is just below average with differences evident between gender and socioeconomic status. Teachers and sport coaches working with primary aged children should concentrate on the development of movement skills, whilst considering differences between genders and socioeconomic status.

Coaches can provide an appropriate environment for children to develop a range of movement skills, but there is a dearth of research exploring the creation of appropriate resources to support the coach in developing and assessing children’s Complex Movement Skills. There is also a lack of research around coaches’ perceived feasibility of the limited resources in this area. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design and then assess the feasibility of a Movement-Oriented Games-Based Assessment (MOGBA) for children aged 8–12 years, to be used by coaches within “Made to Play” programs. Thirteen coaches from across the United States and the United Kingdom used pilot materials to assess the feasibility of MOGBA over a 9-week period. Individual, paired, and focus group interviews were structured and data were thematically analyzed using Bowen et al.’s feasibility framework. Findings suggested that MOGBA provided a welcomed and much needed enhancement to their programs, with effective use of technology-enhanced coaching. Coaching involved notions of pedagogy and assessment, with issues emerging around class size and complexity of assessment. Coaches often used MOGBA covertly and flavored the resource to the sport being delivered, and this revealed to coaches the capability of children not viewed before.

School-based placements are often used as a way of preparing prospective teachers for the demands of their future role. However, little is known about the impact of such situated learning experiences on prospective PE teachers’ confidence and competence. To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first of its kind to explore prospective teachers’ views of, and experiences within, special schools in order to identify the experiential mechanisms that shape self-perceptions of competence and confidence when teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in PE. Thirty-two final year undergraduate students participated in focus group interviews and were selected on the basis that they: (1) were studying a Special Educational Needs and Disability in PE undergraduate module; (2) aspired to be a PE teacher; and (3) had attended six half-days of placement in a special school. All focus group transcripts were subjected to open, axial and selective coding in order to identify themes and sub-themes. The themes that were constructed from the analysis were: impact of placement role on confidence and competence; impact of knowing pupils’ needs and capabilities; conceptualising confidence and perceptions of its development; and conceptualising competence and perceptions of its development. We use these themes to discuss the usefulness of special school-based placements for preparing aspiring teachers for their role as inclusive educators.

The technical demands of games can be affected by changing the number of players, pitch size and rules. This controlled trial compared the frequency of technical skills between a 'traditional' and newly introduced systematically 'modified' game of primary rugby league. A total of 475 primary rugby league players (Under 7s - 9s) were filmed playing traditional (n=49) and modified (n= 249) formats. Notational analysis examined the frequency of technical skills (e.g., number of passes) within 'traditional' and 'modified' games. At each age category, multivariate analysis of variance indicated the clear superiority of the 'modified' game for the frequency of technical skills (e.g., Under 7s total skill opportunities - 'traditional' = 342.9±47.0; 'modified' = 449.4±93.3, d=1.44, p<0.001). Systematically modifying the competitive game is an effective way to increase skill opportunities for children within rugby league. Future research should examine the outcomes of modifying games in optimizing skill development in youth sport.