Your Therapy Source Magazine for Pediatric Therapists May 2016 | Page 12

Feedback Frequency with Children

How often do you provide feedback for children when learning a motor task? Previous
research with adults indicates that providing feedback 100% of the time when learning a new
task is less effective than when less feedback is provided. In addition, previous research has
indicated that children with cerebral palsy benefit from less feedback whereas typical
developing children benefit from more feedback. Physical Therapy published research
where children threw beanbags for accuracy at an unseen target while walking or while
standing still. Knowledge of results was provided 100% of the time and 33% of the time.
Retention tests without feedback were performed 5 minutes later and then one-week later.
Also, transfer tests were completed to check the generalizability of learning.
The results indicated the following:
1. learning was improved on the easy version of the task when knowledge of results was
provided 33% of the time during practice.
2. learning was improved in the difficult version when knowledge of results was provided
100% of the time during practice.
The researchers suggest that when teaching motor skills to children one should provide
feedback based on the complexity of the task.
When you are teaching children new motor skills do you take into account how difficult the
task is and how often you provide feedback? In my opinion, I find it to be human nature –
when a child is struggling to learn a new task I provide more feedback and if the task is
easier you do not need to provide as much feedback.
Punch Cards and Reward Cards: Download of 40 punch cards and 10 reward cards for
motivation to complete pediatric therapy goals. Set goals for the student to achieve. When
the student completes an activity, punch a hole in the card. After 10 punches, the student
chooses a reward card (with free prize suggestions). Also included is a list of 30 free or low
cost rewards.
FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION http://www.yourtherapysource.com/punchcards.html
Reference: Sidaway B, Bates J, Occhiogrosso B, Schlagenhaufer J, Wilkes D. Interaction
of Feedback Frequency and Task Difficulty in Children’s Motor Skill Learning. Phys Ther.
DOI: 10.2522/ptj.20110378 Published July 2012

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