Validity study of Alberta infant motor scale

Abstract

Alberta Infant Motor Scale is an assessment tool to evaluate the gross motor development of the infant between birth until independent walking. It is a clinical practical assessment tool to be used and has been used broadly. The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent validity of Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) in Chinese with gross motor scale of Peabody Developmental Motor Scale II (PDMS-II) when used in high-risk infants. One hundred and eighteen high-risk infants with the average age of 7.76 ± 3.93 months (from 2 to 17 months) were recruited to this study. Three investigators experienced in AIMS and PDMS-II participated in this study. Each investigator administered the AIMS and PDMS-II to the infants within one week and recorded the assessment results. The raw scores of AIMS and PDMS-II-GM for each infant were analyzed for the concurrent validity. The Pearson correlation coefficient of AIMS with PDMS-II was 0.97. For the 0∼4 month group, the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.94. For the 4∼8 month group, Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.95. For the 8∼12 month group, Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.94. For the >12 month group, Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.91. The AIMS in Chinese had high concurrent validity with PDMS-II when used in high-risk infants at very early age.