The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) is a norm-referenced measure of infant gross motor development. The objectives of this study were: (1) to establish the best cut-off scores on the A I M S for predictive purposes, and (2) to compare the predictive abilities of the AMIS with those of the Movement Assessment of Infants (MAI) and the Peabody Developmental'Gross Motor Scale (PDGMS). One hundred and sisty-four infants were assessed at 4 and 8 months adjusted ages on the three measures. A pediatrician assessed each infant's gross motor development at 18 months as normal, suspicious, or abnormal. For the AIMS, two different cut-off points were identified: the 10th centile at 4 months and the 5th centile at 8 months. The MAI provided the best specificity rates at 4 months while the Aws was superior in specificity at 8 months. Sensitivity rates were comparable between the two tests. The PDGMS in general demonstrated poor predictive abilities.

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Thirty-two infants with Down's syndrome, who were enrolled in an early intervention programme were followed during the first 2 years of life. Progress in five developmental domains was monitored prospectively by evaluating the children at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. The largest degree of retardation was consistently exhibited in the hearing and speech subscale. The locomotor subscale experienced the most severe decline over the 24 months and was the second most retarded domain at 2 years of age. The remaining three subscales, personal-social, hand-eye and performance, demonstrated less severe declines over time as well as actual increases in developmental quotients at specified points in time. The overall performance of female infants at 18 months was significantly better than that of male infants (P = 0.05). The degree of retardation of Down's syndrome infants receiving early intervention services differs according to chronological age, developmental domain and sex.

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