Reliability and validity of the Harris Infant Neuromotor Test

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Neurology
• Developmental Pediatrics
• Infant Assessment

Background:

• Early identification of neuromotor differences in infants is crucial for timely intervention.
• Existing screening tools may require significant time for administration and scoring.
• The Harris Infant Neuromotor Test (HINT) was developed as a rapid screening tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Harris Infant Neuromotor Test (HINT).
• To determine HINT's effectiveness in identifying neuromotor differences in infants aged 3 to 12 months.
• To assess HINT's correlation with established developmental assessments.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 54 infants (3-12 months) from high-risk follow-up programs were assessed.
• Inter-rater, test-retest, and intra-rater reliability of the HINT were examined.
• Concurrent and predictive validity were assessed against the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II) using Pearson correlation.

Main Results:

• The HINT demonstrated excellent reliability, with intraclass correlation coefficients for the Total HINT Score ranging from 0.98 to 0.99.
• Strong concurrent validity was found between HINT and BSID-II Mental (r = -0.73) and Motor Scales (r = -0.89) during the first year.
• Predictive validity showed moderate correlation with BSID-II Motor scores at 17-22 months (r = -0.49).

Conclusions:

• The HINT is a reliable screening tool for infant neuromotor performance.
• HINT exhibits strong concurrent validity with the Bayley-II Mental and Motor Scales.
• HINT scores in the first year explained 24% of the variance in later motor scores.