Motor performance of neonatal risk and non-risk children at early school-age

The motor skills of 382 children with neonatal risk factors and 107 children with no risk factors, in the age group 8-9 years, were studied using the Test of Motor Impairment (Stott-Moyes-Henderson). Neonatal disturbances, such as low birthweight and neurological symptoms were associated with marked clumsiness. The test performance was found, unexpectedly, to be significantly affected by age and sex in both the study and the control group. The test items were the same for an age range of one whole year, with no allowance for continuous development of skills. The need of normative data for each country is stressed.