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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
Published on: January 11, 2016
Comparison of test of infant motor performance (TIMP) item responses among children with cerebral palsy,
Vanessa Maziero Barbosa1, Suzann K Campbell, Everett Smith
1Pathways Center for Children with Disability, 1335 S. Prairie Street, #2007, Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA. vanessambarbosa@yahoo.com
Insights
Early identification of motor impairments in infants is crucial. The Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) effectively identifies developmental delays and cerebral palsy (CP) in infants through specific item analysis.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical therapy
- Infant motor development
- Developmental pediatrics
Background:
- Motor performance impairments in children can restrict participation in daily life.
- Early identification of motor delays is vital for timely intervention and improved occupational performance.
- The Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) is a tool used to assess infant motor skills.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance of individual items on the TIMP.
- To identify specific TIMP items that correlate with later diagnoses of cerebral palsy (CP) or developmental delay.
- To understand how TIMP item performance differs among infants with CP, developmental delay, and typical development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized exploratory graphic representation and Rasch differential item analysis.
- Analyzed TIMP item performance in a cohort of infants with known developmental outcomes.
- Focused on discriminating abilities of TIMP items across different age points (term, 9 weeks, 12-13 weeks corrected age).
Main Results:
- Specific TIMP items, including hand to mouth, neck control, rolling, and pull to sit, showed strong discriminatory power.
- These discriminating items were particularly effective at term, 9 weeks, and 12-13 weeks corrected age.
- Infants diagnosed with CP exhibited advanced performance in extension-pattern items and delayed or regressed performance in antigravity and balanced flexion-extension items.
Conclusions:
- Certain TIMP items are valuable for differentiating between typical development, developmental delay, and cerebral palsy in infants.
- The findings support the use of the TIMP for early detection of motor impairments, guiding intervention strategies.
- Understanding specific item performance patterns can inform targeted therapeutic approaches for infants with CP.
Abstract:
Impairment of children's motor performance might limit participation in family and community life. Therefore, identification of motor impairments is important in support of early intervention to prevent limitations in children's occupational performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine item performance on the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) in a group of infants later diagnosed as having cerebral palsy (CP), developmental delay, or typical development. Particularly, we aimed to determine if specific TIMP items have a strong relationship at particular ages with the presence of a later diagnosis of CP. Exploratory graphic representation and Rasch differential item analysis were employed to investigate each individual TIMP item's behavior in discriminating among children with different outcomes. Items discriminating among the three outcome groups included: hand to mouth, neck control, rolling, and pull to sit items, particularly at ages term, 9 weeks, and 12-13 weeks corrected age. Children with CP presented "advanced" performance in items using extension patterns and slow development or regression in items requiring antigravity and balanced used of flexion-extension patterns of muscle activity.
