Assessment of motor development using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale in full-term infants

Abstract

The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) is a well-known, norm-referenced scale that evaluates the gross motor development of children from birth to 18 months. The aim of the study was to compare the Canadian norms with the AIMS scores of a Turkish sample of infants, and to investigate whether the current reference values of the AIMS are representative for Turkish full-term infants. The study was conducted with 411 Turkish infants of both sexes (195 girls and 216 boys), born with gestational age 38 weeks and older, weighing ≥2500 g at birth. Motor performance of all the cases at different ages were assessed with the AIMS which was used by a physiotherapist. The mean AIMS scores of Turkish infants were compared with the norm values of the original AIMS established in a Canadian sample of infants. The results showed no statistically significant differences between the AIMS scores of Turkish and Canadian infants during the first 18 months of life except at 0-<1 and 2-<3 months of age. The AIMS scores were significantly lower in Turkish infants than in Canadian infants at 0-<1 (p=0.025) and 2-<3 (p=0.042) months of age. In conclusion, the AIMS can be used in Turkish children to assess gross motor development, especially after 4 months of age. However, this paper was presented as a preliminary study to compare AIMS results between Turkish and Canadian infants, and further studies are needed to realize the Turkish validation of AIMS.

Reliability Study of the Items of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) Using Kappa Analysis

“…The AIMS has also been translated into many languages and studied for its reliability in many countries, including Taiwan [25], China [24], Thailand [33], Serbia [28], Brazil [22], and Japan [34]. It also underwent cross-country validation with Brazilian infants [35], and norm comparison between Canadian and Turkish infants [13] and Dutch and Canadian infants [36]. As language and cultural context may affect the AIMS's validity, reliability tests should be conducted after translation [37], because they may elucidate significant differences between the cultural context and normative sample [38].…”

“…One of the infant motor development evaluation tools used most widely and recently is the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) [13]. The AIMS evaluates 58 gross motor skills in supine, sitting, and standing positions.…”

The Use of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) as a Diagnostic Scale for Infants with Autism

“…This is due to lower scores than Canadian babies (where AIMS was first established). In contrast, the norms of babies from Greece [ 42 ] and Turkey [ 43 ] were found to be the same as the norms from Canada.…”

Three decades of infant motor development: Cohort effects in motor skill onsets.

“…Presently, the most common motor skill assessment is the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) which established norms for motor skill acquisition using a sample from Canada in 1992 (Piper et al, 1992). Internationally, researchers who used the AIMS consistently found that infants from their populations did not achieve milestones at the same ages as the infants from Alberta, motivating them to adjust or create their own norms (Kepenek-Varol et al, 2020; Manuel et al, 2012; Saccani & Valentini, 2013; Saccani et al, 2016; Størvold et al, 2013; Tupsila et al, 2020; van Iersel et al, 2020). Just as it was suggested in the early 1990s, we suggest again in 2023 that the established norms from 1992 may not necessarily be currently applicable, even for the same population.…”