DEVELOPMENT OF A CLINICAL-ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF MOVEMENT FOR UNILATERAL UPPER-LIMB FUNCTION

Eleven subjects with cerebral palsy were assessed both with the Melbou rne Assessment and by four clinical experts. Comparison of their asses sment ratings revealed that the Melbourne Assessment was strongly rela ted to the clinical judgement of the experts. A further 20 subjects we re administered the Melbourne Assessment and two occupational therapis ts scored each subject's performance from videotaped assessments with substantial inter-rater reliability (0.68); intra-rater agreement afte r two weeks was 0.80. The Melbourne Assessment may provide a satisfact ory objective measure of the quality of upper-limb function.