A Monitoring Tool of Infant and Toddler Movement Skills

Physical activity in infancy is essential for early brain development. Development in the early years is the most rapid at any time during life. Monitoring functional movement skills of infants and toddlers frequently (3-week intervals) and quickly (minutes) produces information on whether development is on track or in need of intervention. To meet this need, we present the development of the Early Movement Monitoring Assessment (EMMA). Using coded observations with standardized toys in a 2-min session, 42 children (5 to 36 months at start) were assessed at 3-week intervals. A linear mixed-effects model was employed to investigate the sensitivity of the tool to developmental change in frequency of total movements across seven assessment sessions. The results indicate that across developmental time, each cohort “grew in movement skill.” Within each cohort, the movement skills increased as the children aged and the sessions progressed.