In this project, a taxonomy of motor dysfunction will be developed for children ages 1 to 42 months who have movement disorders. Included are several research steps: * Cluster analysis of performance of Motorically Challenged children (n = 250) to determine if specific subgroups can be uncovered, * concurrent and discriminative validity studies(n = 125 Normals and 250 Challenged) on a new procedure for analyzing Quality of Movement and on the Bayley Motor Scale to determine if groups can be differentiated, * development of a system to ascertain if children fit into one of the empirically derived groupings of motor dysfunction, and * expanding the knowledge base in Motor Dysfunction developing a theoretical model which accounts for variance within the group of Motorically Challenged young children. Previous approaches to the diagnostic assessment of motor functioning typically have focused on tabulating units of motor skill or motor milestones and not on assessment of qualitative aspects of movement, such as transitions between positions and maintenance of stable functional positions. The techniques which emerge from this research will assist m designing treatment programs for children with motor delays and dysfunction. They will also be beneficial in diagnostic assessments of children with motor challenges and in treatment efficacy research.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: It is estimated that of the 12 million U. S. children under 36 months of age at least 360,000 children will be identified as experiencing delays. It is apparent from the numbers of pediatric occupational and physical therapists (15,000 PT; 20,000 OT) that the number of children receiving motor therapy are sizable. The development of a scale which assesses quality of movement in infants & toddlers will have excellent potential.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
