Measurement invariance of TGMD-3 in children with and without mental and behavioral disorders

This study evaluated whether the Test of Gross Motor Development 3 (TGMD-3) is a reliable tool to compare children with and without mental and behavioural disorders across gross motor skill domains. A total of 1075 children (aged 3-11 years), 98 with mental and behavioural disorders and 977 without (typically developing), were included in the analyses. The TGMD-3 evaluates fundamental gross motor skills of children across two domains: locomotor skills and ball skills. Two independent testers simultaneously observed children’s performances (agreement over 95%). Each child completed one practice and then two formal trials. Scores were recorded only during the two formal trials. Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis tested the assumption of TGMD-3 measurement invariance across disability groups. According to the magnitude of changes in Root Mean Square Error of Approximation and Comparative Fit Index between nested models, the assumption of measurement invariance across groups was valid. Loadings of the manifest indicators on locomotor and ball skills were significant (p < .001) in both groups. Item Response Theory analysis showed good reliability results across locomotor and the ball skills full latent traits. The present study confirmed the factorial structure of TGMD-3 and demonstrated its feasibility across normally developing children and children with mental and behavioural disorders. These findings provide new opportunities for understanding the effect of specific intervention strategies on this population

Reflections on the 'History and Historians' of the black woman's role in the community of slaves: enslaved women and intimate partner sexual violence

Taking as points of inspiration Peter Parish’s 1989 book, Slavery: History and Historians, and Angela Davis’s seminal 1971 article, “Reflections on the black woman’s role in the community of slaves,” this probes both historiographically and methodologically some of the challenges faced by historians writing about the lives of enslaved women through a case study of intimate partner violence among enslaved people in the antebellum South. Because rape and sexual assault have been defined in the past as non-consensual sexual acts supported by surviving legal evidence (generally testimony from court trials), it is hard for historians to research rape and sexual violence under slavery (especially marital rape) as there was no legal standing for the rape of enslaved women or the rape of any woman within marriage. This article suggests enslaved women recognized that black men could both be perpetrators of sexual violence and simultaneously be victims of the system of slavery. It also argues women stoically tolerated being forced into intimate relationships, sometimes even staying with “husbands” imposed upon them after emancipation

16 weeks of physically active mathematics and English language lessons improves cognitive function and gross motor skills in children aged 8–9 years

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of physically active lessons, implemented through the Mathematics and English Language curriculum, on cognitive function and gross motor skill development. Following ethical approval, 192 children aged 8–9 years were randomly allocated to an intervention group (n = 98) or a control group (n = 94). The intervention consisted of 8 h.wk(−1) of physically active lessons, equally split between Mathematics and English Language, for 16 weeks. Cognitive function (digit span, coding and arithmetic reasoning) and gross motor skill development (TGMD-3) were assessed at baseline and follow-up. The improvement in every domain of cognitive function was greater in the intervention group compared to the control group (group * time, p = 0.008–0.023, d = 0.34–0.42). Furthermore, total TGMD-3 score (group * time, p < 0.001, d = 1.16) and both sub-scales (locomotor, p < 0.001, d = 0.63; object control, p < 0.001, d = 1.29) also improved by a greater extent in the intervention group than in the control group. These findings suggest that 16 weeks of physically active lessons, taught in both Mathematics and English Language curriculum, synergistically improved cognitive function and gross motor skill development in primary school children aged 8–9 years