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Establishing Brazilian Age Norms and Cross-Cultural Differences in Infant Motor Development Using the Test of Infant
Nadia Cristina Valentini1, Eloá Maria Chiquetti2, Glauber Carvalho Nobre3
1School of Physical Education, Physiotherapy and Dance, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics
|April 22, 2026
Summary
Brazilian infants show different motor development trajectories compared to U.S. infants. New Brazilian norms for the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) improve early detection of motor delays.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric developmental neuroscience
- Infant motor development
- Cross-cultural developmental studies
Background:
- Early motor development is crucial for long-term outcomes.
- Standardized assessments like the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) are vital for identifying developmental delays.
- Existing normative data may not accurately reflect diverse populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- Compare motor development trajectories between Brazilian (BR) and U.S. infants.
- Establish normative TIMP cutoff scores for BR infants.
- Investigate medical risk factors influencing motor performance in BR infants.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 724 BR infants across diverse regions using the TIMP.
- Classified infants into low, moderate, and high medical risk groups.
- Employed Bayesian linear regression and discriminative power analysis.
Main Results:
- U.S. infants performed better in early stages; BR infants excelled from 10 weeks post-term onward.
- U.S. cutoff scores led to overestimation of motor delays in BR infants.
- Brazilian norms effectively identified motor performance variations across risk groups.
Conclusions:
- Development of specific Brazilian TIMP norms enhances screening accuracy.
- Improved identification of motor delays and referral decisions for BR infants.
- Tailored normative data is essential for equitable developmental assessments.
