Longitudinal caregiver-reported motor development in infants born at term and preterm

Infant movements help us understand the health of a child's nervous system and later cognitive development. Lags in early motor development, often noted after preterm birth, predict outcomes and specific disorders. Relying on repeated time-consuming assessments in the clinic to monitor development is not possible in many places. Caregiver-completed developmental screening tests can be used to monitor early development but the available tests for infants have limitations, including the inability to measure rate of motor growth over time, rather than just screen for delays.

This longitudinal study examined the ability of the PediaTrac motor scale, based on 571 caregivers' online ratings, to detect differences in the development of infants born at term (58%) or preterm (42%). PediaTrac Motor scores measure motor ability as a trait, in a manner that is different from methods used in other developmental tests and is not simply screening for achievement of milestones.

Findings from this study showed that caregivers could provide highly reliable ratings of their infants' motor abilities. When the infants born preterm reached term-equivalent age, their motor ability was rated as higher than newborn infants born at term. However, by 6 months of age the preterm infants' motor abilities were lower than those of the infants born at term. Thus, while being born preterm may give infants a ‘head start’ on motor development perhaps due to additional stimulation and movement following birth, this advantage is only temporary. Online tracking of infant motor developmental trajectories based on caregiver-report has promise as a method to enhance early identification of developmental deviations and needs.