Low Motor Assessment: A Comparative Pilot Study with Young Children With and Without Motor Impairment

Most of the developmental instruments that measure cognitive development in children rely heavily on fine motor skills, especially for young children whose language skills are not yet well developed. This is problematic when evaluating the cognitive development of young children with motor impairment. The purpose of this study is to assess the need for a Low Motor adapation of a standardized instrument when testing children with motor impairment. To accomplish this, we have adapted the procedures, item instructions and play material of a widely used and standardized instrument, the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Second Edition (BSID-II, Bayley 1993). The Original and the Low Motor versions were administered to 20 children experiencing typical development and 19 children with motor impairment within a period of two weeks. Results showed that children with motor impairments scored significantly higher on the Low Motor version of the Bayley Mental Scale than on the Original version: a difference of between 5 and 10 points when the score is expressed in terms of a developmental index score. Results from children with typical development support the assumption that item content and difficulty remain unchanged in the Low Motor version

Accommodating the Bayley-III for motor and/or visual impairment:A comparative pilot study

PURPOSE: This study assessed the validity and usefulness of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III) Low Motor/Vision accommodated version. Accommodations are adaptations to minimize impairment bias, without altering what the test measures. Of the items, 66% have Low Motor accommodations like enlarged materials; 62% have Low Vision accommodations. METHODS: Using a within-subject design, we tested 19 children with the accommodated and standard Bayley-III, in a randomly counterbalanced order. The children had motor and/or visual impairment and a chronological age between 22 and 90 months. The test administrators completed an evaluation form. RESULTS: A subgroup of children benefited from the accommodations; 2 children obtained a large raw score difference. Test administrators considered the accommodations as practical, and advantageous for most children. CONCLUSION: The Low Motor/Vision accommodated version seems to validly assess the development of this population. Future, larger-scale research should study whether the accommodations improve the construct validity of the Bayley-III

Factor analyses of Bayley's Infant Behavior Record: A Dutch replication and extension

Adaptation of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development for the Dutch population has led to an examination of the ‘global dimension’ in the Infant Behavior Record (IBR). Complete protocols of the IBR were obtained for 1211 Dutch infants aged 2–30 months. Principal components analyses with rotated factors of IBR ratings for 14 ages over the entire range indicated that five factors recurred: task orientation, test affect—extraversion, activity, auditory—visual awareness and motor coordination. In addition, a sixth factor, exploration, was also prominent during the first months of life. A factor analysis of the IBR ratings pooled for all 14 ages produced the same uniformity. It is suggested that cluster scores from the IBR have clinical utility, particularly for assessing infant temperament

Effect research in the behavioural scinces. An introduction

Voor het bestaan van effecten van hulpverlenings-, ondersteunings- en onderwijsprogramma's gericht op volwassenen, kinderen, ouders en gezinnen, is empirische ondersteuning noodzakelijk. Dit boek levert een bijdrage aan de wetenschappelijke discussie over goed effectonderzoek in de gedragswetenschappen.Het bevat een algemene beschouwing over de empirische methodologie, definities van centrale begrippen en een beschrijving van ideaaltypische kenmerken van effectstudies. Omdat het ideale (experimentele) design slechts zelden realiseerbaar is, krijgen vervolgens de praktische belemmeringen en valkuilen ruime aandacht. Voorts wordt gezocht naar oplossingen die een compromis vormen tussen de methodologische eisen en praktische beperkingen. Afsluitend is er een discussie.Tot de doelgroep behoren universitaire studenten in de eerste fase van hun studie en docenten in de gedragswetenschappen, hbo-studenten in de laatste fase van hun studie en eenieder die in de onderzoeks- en hulpverleningspraktijk te maken krijgt met effectonderzoek. Het boek scherpt het oordeel aan en biedt, met behulp van samenvattingen, definities, voorbeelden en checklists, tal van handvatten voor onderzoeksopzet, -uitvoering en -discussie