Development and validation of the motor measures in the NIH Baby Toolbox®

Area of Science:

• Developmental Pediatrics
• Motor Development Assessment
• Child Psychology

Background:

• Motor skills are crucial for early childhood development and serve as key indicators of developmental progress.
• Assessing motor skills in infants and toddlers is essential for early identification of developmental delays.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate the NIH "Baby" Toolbox, an iPad-based application for assessing motor skills in children aged 16 days to 42 months.
• To evaluate the reliability and validity of the "Reach to Eat" and "Get Up and Go" motor skill measures.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an iPad application with direct observation of functional tasks (reaching to eat, getting up to go to a caregiver).
• Employed video capabilities for instantaneous review and comparison to standard exemplars, enabling export for further analysis.
• Conducted a large-scale norming study with 2353 participants (1921 English-speaking, 432 Spanish-speaking).

Main Results:

• The "Reach to Eat" and "Get Up and Go" measures demonstrated reliability and validity in a large, diverse sample.
• The supplementary "Sit and Stand" measure effectively assesses stationary postural control.
• Findings confirm the Baby Toolbox as a dependable and scalable instrument for infant and toddler motor skill evaluation.

Conclusions:

• The NIH "Baby" Toolbox is a reliable, valid, and scalable assessment instrument for infant and toddler fine and gross motor skills.
• The app's design facilitates use by nonexperts, promoting broader accessibility for developmental monitoring.
• The use of video technology enhances the precision and utility of motor skill assessment in young children.