title: Field testing of the movement assessment of infants.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare the test results of normal 4-month-old infants on the Movement Assessment of Infants with the published Movement Assessment of Infants a priori profile. We tested 50 healthy 4-month-old infants (24 white, 20 black, 6 other races) on 65 Movement Assessment of Infants items, encompassing the categories of muscle tone, primitive reflexes, automatic reactions, and volitional movements. The total-risk score was a sum of categorical risk scores. A between-group analysis of variance showed that the total-risk scores did not differ significantly by sex or race. Thirty percent of the infants we tested had total-risk scores greater than 7, which differed significantly from the 15% in the original Movement Assessment of Infants data. On 18 of the 65 Movement Assessment of Infants items, more than 15% of our study sample had risk scores that differed from Movement Assessment of Infants profile normative scores. The results of our study suggest that the current Movement Assessment of Infants profile may not accurately reflect the normal motor behavior of a 4-month-old infant. Suggestions for revising the Movement Assessment of Infants are made that could improve the reliability and validity of the test.
authors.affiliation: Program in Physical Therapy, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, IL 60611.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: I J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Chasnoff
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002657:Child Development; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009048:Motor Skills; D009129:Muscle Tonus; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D044469:Racial Groups; D012015:Reference Standards; D012018:Reflex / Q000502:physiology; D012306:Risk