title: Scores of typically developing children on the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales: infancy to preschool.
abstract: Norms for the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) and the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, second edition (PDMS-2) are based on cross-sectional data that do not provide information on how the scores of individual children vary over time. This study examined intra-individual variability of PDMS fine and gross motor scores of 77 typically developing children at 9, 11, 13, 16, and 21 months of age and PDMS and PDMS-2 fine and gross motor scores at 4 years. Correlations between scores over time ranged from .13 to .45. PDMS and PDMS-2 scores were correlated at .71 and .75 with significantly different means, indicating that the two versions are not equivalent for 4-year-old children. Most children scored above the 16th percentile, the suggested cut-off on the PDMS, at both 21-month and 4-year assessments, but their percentile ranks fluctuated considerably. Use of confidence intervals contributes to accurate interpretation of scores by differentiating true change in a child's score from change due to measurement error.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, johanna.darrah@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Darrah
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magill-Evans
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Volden
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hodge
authors.forename: Gayatri
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kembhavi
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008403:Mass Screening; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity