Cross-Sectional Study of Gross and Fine Motor Development

A total of 187 healthy children between birth and six years of age were administered a comprehensive gross and fine motor development assessment. The assessment device was a hybrid instrument consisting of 192 items derived from 15 commonly used instruments. The purpose of the study was to 1) define motor behavior relative to a performance distribution expressed in age ranges, 2) identify patterns of performance across a range from birth to 6 years of age, and 3) assess the stability of performance by comparing select tasks with norms available in the literature. Emergence and achievement levels of successful performance were defined for 37 items relative to 68 percent and 95 percent of the children across the range from birth to 6 years of age. These results were compared with eight assessment devices. Emergence comparisons were found to be fairly similar to published norms; achievement comparisons showed a higher frequency of discrepancies with published norms. Performance patterns were displayed graphically to illustrate symmetry and asymmetry in normal development milestones.