An evaluation of the Movement ABC-2 Test for use in Italy: A comparison of data from Italy and the UK.

Background: The standardized test within the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd edition (MABC-2) is used worldwide to assess motor problems in children. Ideally, any country using a test developed in another country should produce national norms to ensure that it functions effectively in the new context.

Aim: The first objective of this study was to explore the differences in motor performance between Italian and British children.

Modes of Alphabet Letter Production during Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Interrelationships with Each Other and Other Writing Skills.

Although handwriting is typically taught during early childhood and keyboarding may not be taught explicitly, both may be relevant to writing development in the later grades. Thus, Study 1 investigated automatic production of the ordered alphabet from memory for manuscript (unjoined), cursive (joined), and keyboard letter modes (alphabet 15 sec) and their relationships with each other and spelling and composing in typically developing writers in grades 4 to 7 ( = 113). Study 2 compared students with dysgraphia (impaired handwriting, =27), dyslexia (impaired word spelling, =40), or oral and written language learning disability (OWL LD) (impaired syntax composing, =11) or controls without specific writing disabilities (=10) in grades 4 to 9 (=88) on the same alphabet 15 modes, manner of copying (best or fast), spelling, and sentence composing.

Structural validity of the Movement ABC-2 test: factor structure comparisons across three age groups.

Background: The Movement ABC test is one of the most widely used assessments in the field of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Improvements to the 2nd edition of the test (M-ABC-2) include an extension of the age range and reduction in the number of age bands as well as revision of tasks. The total test score provides a measure of motor performance, which can be used to help make a diagnosis of DCD.

The movement assessment battery for children: similarities and differences between 4- and 5-year-old children from Flanders and the United States.

Purpose: To explore the possibility that 4- and 5-year-old Flemish children would perform differently from children of the same age in the US standardization sample of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC).

Participants: Two hundred sixty-seven 4-year-old and 239 5-year-old Flemish children without known impairments, from regular schools, took part in the study (260 boys, 246 girls).

Methods: All children were individually assessed using the M-ABC.

Interrater reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children.

Background And Purpose: The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) is a widely used, standardized assessment of motor performance in children. The total score obtained on this test often is used to identify children who are either definitely impaired or at risk for motor impairment. The purpose of this study was to determine the interrater reliability of data for the M-ABC when scored by pediatric physical therapists working in routine clinical settings.

Toward an understanding of developmental coordination disorder: terminological and diagnostic issues.

Awareness of children who experience unexpected difficulty in the acquisition of motor skills has increased dramatically over the last twenty years. Although the positing of a distinct syndrome has proven seminal in provoking further questions, several basic terminological problems remain unresolved. In this paper, we conduct a component analysis of the three, principal competing labels for this disorder, two of them being elements derived from systematic diagnostic frameworks.

Interrater and test-retest reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Chinese preschool children.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to check on the reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC) in preparation for its standardization in Hong Kong. Interrater and test-retest reliability are reported for Age Band One, designed for use with children ages four to six.

Method: Interrater reliability of the Movement ABC was estimated using two trained observers with 79 children.

Multiple birth versus neonatal brain lesions in children born prematurely as predictors of perceptuo-motor impairment at age 6.

Our primary objective in this study was to test the multiple birth hypothesis, which asserts that multiple gestation and delivery, per se, entail a greater likelihood of adverse outcome than for singletons. Our second objective was to assess the power of various neonatal risk indicators to predict developmental status at school age. In particular, we sought to weigh multiple birth as an indicator of outcome against brain lesions visualized by ultrasonography.

The severity and nature of motor impairment in Asperger's syndrome: a comparison with specific developmental disorder of motor function.

Background: The aims of this study were to measure objectively the extent and severity of motor impairment in children with Asperger's syndrome and to determine whether the motor difficulties experienced by such children differed in any way from those classified as having a Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function (SDD-MF). Criteria derived from ICD 10-R were used to identify 11 children with Asperger's syndrome and a matched group of 9 children with a Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function. Children in both groups were required to have a verbal IQ of 80 or greater on the WISC IIIR.

Toward an Understanding of Developmental Coordination Disorder.

We consider three issues concerning unexpected difficulty in the acquisition of motor skills: terminology, diagnosis, and intervention. Our preference for the label Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) receives justification. Problems in diagnosis are discussed, especially in relation to the aetiology-dominated medical model.