[Motor functions in developmental-neurological diagnosis. Longitudinal study of low-risk infants. I. Normalization...

In a prospective longitudinal study, we investigated 91 low-risk infants on five occasions up to the end of their first year of life. We see that also after low-risk delivery, only four infants showed optimal neurological functions but it was shown too, that borderline-symptoms of the neonatal period have a clear tendency to normalize. We have selected some reflex-mechanisms in infancy and presented their changes. In comparison with other reports, we found that important differences between the results are dependent on techniques of examination and evaluation. The changes in reflex-mechanisms provide an insufficient basis therefore for developmental diagnosis (see second part).