Screening in a Single PE Class: FUNMOVES Brings Early Motor-Skills Checks to Spanish Schools

Spotting Struggles Early: Why a Simple School Test Can Change a Child’s Day

Some children avoid playground games, dread team sports, or stumble over simple tasks like catching a ball or hopping on one foot. These are not just quirks. For many, they reflect real challenges with movement known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). DCD affects about 5% of children worldwide, yet it’s often missed. In Spain, the situation is especially tricky: there has been no routine, evidence-backed way to screen children in schools, and specialized assessments are hard to access and slow to schedule.

The Validation of FUNMOVES: A reliable tool for assessing motor skills in Spanish schoolchildren research paper addresses this gap by adapting and testing FUNMOVES, a simple, low-cost screening tool designed for schools. FUNMOVES checks core movement abilities—things like balance, coordination, and control—within a regular PE class. This matters because motor skills are tied to more than athletic performance. They influence confidence, social participation, and even mental health. Children who feel clumsy can become withdrawn, anxious, or reluctant to try new things. Early detection gives families and teachers a chance to act before struggles harden into self-doubt.

So what does the study reveal? It shows that Spanish FUNMOVES is reliable (it measures what it’s supposed to measure consistently) and has validity (it meaningfully captures children’s movement skills). Most importantly, it performs well enough to flag children who may need further assessment—without overwhelming schools or clinics. In short, it offers a practical way to open doors to help, right where kids spend their days: in school.

What the Numbers Say About a Gym-Class Screen That Works

The research team adapted FUNMOVES for Spain and tested it with 243 schoolchildren. Using a method called Rasch analysis—a way to check whether test items line up on a single difficulty scale—they found the Spanish version measured a coherent, single ability (often called unidimensionality) and that items weren’t redundantly overlapping (what statisticians call local independence). Some scoring categories needed tweaking, and once the team adjusted them, the model fit improved. Practically speaking, that means the tasks and scoring made sense and worked together.

To see how well FUNMOVES matched a gold-standard assessment, the team compared it with the MABC-2 (Movement Assessment Battery for Children) in a subsample of 50 kids. The results were encouraging. FUNMOVES showed moderate accuracy in identifying motor difficulties, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.78. At a cut-off around the 17th percentile, it reached 80% sensitivity (it correctly flagged 4 out of 5 children who truly had difficulties) and 68% specificity (it correctly reassured about two-thirds of children who did not have difficulties). Importantly, its negative predictive value was high (0.89), meaning most children who “passed” were indeed unlikely to have a motor impairment.

In daily life terms: a PE teacher can run FUNMOVES in a single class using existing equipment, and the results will be good at ruling out children who don’t need further evaluation. There will be some “false alarms,” but that’s expected in any school-wide screen. The benefit is catching children who otherwise would quietly struggle—whether that shows up in shying away from games, finding it hard to keep up on field trips, or feeling embarrassed during group activities.

Beyond the Score Sheet: Why Early Screening Shapes Confidence and Connection

Why does a school-based motor skills tool matter for psychology and mental health? Because movement is intertwined with identity, relationships, and motivation. Children who regularly feel “clumsy” often experience teasing, avoid physical play, and withdraw from social opportunities that depend on coordination. Over time, this can lead to lower self-efficacy—the belief that “I can do this”—and increase the risk of anxiety or negative self-concept. Early, supportive identification interrupts that cycle. When teachers can say, “We noticed this; let’s support you,” children are more likely to stay engaged, try again, and build competence.

Past research has shown that strong fundamental movement skills correlate with higher physical activity, better peer acceptance, and more positive mood. Conversely, undetected motor difficulties can make school feel like a daily performance test. The present study fits into that literature by providing a reliable, feasible school tool for early flagging. Compared with traditional assessments like the MABC-2, which require specialist time and resources, FUNMOVES is designed for everyday classrooms, reducing barriers to access. The high negative predictive value is particularly important: it keeps unnecessary referrals down, protecting limited clinical capacity for the children who truly need it.

Methodologically, the confirmation of unidimensionality through Rasch analysis matters. It suggests that the tool taps a single underlying trait—foundational coordination—rather than a jumble of unrelated abilities. That coherence gives educators and psychologists more confidence in the meaning of the total score. The finding that some item thresholds required rescoring is not a flaw; it shows the authors refined the measure to make it more intuitive and accurate in the Spanish context. When using percentiles, the choice of a 17th percentile cut-off reflects a thoughtful balance: favor catching more true difficulties (sensitivity) even if it means some over-identification, which is acceptable in a first-step screen.

In short, the study supports a practical idea: spot potential motor challenges early in school, offer timely help, and protect children’s motivation and social confidence before avoidant patterns take hold.

From Playground to Policy: Putting FUNMOVES to Work Now

For schools: A straightforward plan is to run FUNMOVES once a year in PE for grades most at risk (for example, early primary). Provide brief training for PE teachers—think an hour-long workshop with practice scoring—and standardize how results are stored and shared. Children below the set cut-off could receive a simple two-step support plan: targeted PE adaptations (e.g., slower-paced catching drills, balance stations, clear visual demonstrations) and a follow-up check after a few weeks to see if more help is needed.

For families and mental health professionals: Use results as a conversation starter, not a label. Explain that FUNMOVES is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. When a child screens positive, encourage a strengths-based plan: small, achievable goals that build mastery (such as hopping to a beat, throwing at progressively longer distances, or using playground “practice circuits”). Early wins bolster self-efficacy and reduce frustration—protective factors for mental health.

For healthcare systems: Create fast-track referral pathways for children who screen positive, prioritizing those with additional learning or participation challenges. Because the tool’s negative predictive value is high, clinics can trust that most children who screen negative truly don’t require specialist assessments—freeing up scarce time for the children who do.

For policymakers: Adopt FUNMOVES as a national school-based screen, with clear guidance on frequency, training, and data privacy. Use aggregated data to understand regional needs and to plan resources for occupational and physical therapy services. Consider pairing FUNMOVES with teacher professional development in adaptive PE, ensuring that screening leads to support, not stigma.

For researchers: Build on the current Validation of FUNMOVES: A reliable tool for assessing motor skills in Spanish schoolchildren by testing digital scoring, refining cut-offs for different ages, and exploring links with outcomes like self-esteem, participation, and classroom behavior. Longitudinal studies could show how early screening influences later health and wellbeing.

A Small Test, A Bigger Chance to Belong

The take-home message is simple: a quick, low-cost check in PE can spot many children who quietly struggle with coordination—and do so early enough to make a difference. By confirming that Spanish FUNMOVES is reliable and valid, this study opens the door to school-based screening at scale. The likely payoff is not just better movement skills, but better moods, stronger friendships, and greater confidence to join in. If we already screen vision and hearing in schools, why not give coordination the same attention? For many children, that small step could be the difference between avoiding the game and asking, “Can I play?”

Data in this article is provided by PLOS.

Tagged Academic skills, Age groups, Children, Cognitive psychology, Cognitive science, Education, Epidemiology, Ethnicities, European people, Families, Hispanic people, Medical risk factors, Mental health and psychiatry, Neuroscience, Population groupings, Professions, Psychometrics, Schools, Sociology, Spanish people, Teachers