J. Darrah et al., ASSESSMENT OF GROSS MOTOR-SKILLS OF AT-RISK INFANTS - PREDICTIVE-VALIDITY OF THE ALBERTA INFANT MOTOR SCALE, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 40(7), 1998, pp. 485-491
The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) is a norm-referenced measure of
infant gross motor development. The objectives of this study were: (1)
to establish the best cut-off scores on the AIMS for predictive purpo
ses, and (2) to compare the predictive abilities of the AIMS with thos
e of the Movement Assessment of Infants (MAI) and the Peabody Developm
ental Gross Motor Scale (PDGMS). One hundred and sixty-four infants we
re assessed at 4 and 8 months adjusted ages on the three measures. A p
ediatrician assessed each infant's gross motor development at 18 month
s as normal, suspicious, or abnormal. For the AIMS, two different cut-
off points were identified: the 10th centile at 4 months and the 5th c
entile at 8 months. The MAI provided the best specificity rates at 4 m
onths while the AIMS was superior in specificity at 8 months. Sensitiv
ity rates were comparable between the two tests. The PDGMS in general
demonstrated poor predictive abilities.