From the reaching behavior at 5 months of age to hand preference at preschool age.

The aim of the study was to examine the reaching behavior at the age of 5 months, and to determine whether and to what extent there is a relationship between hand use at this age and manual laterality at preschool age. 20 participants (13 girls and 7 boys) were investigated on two occasions: At the age of 5 months we assessed the hand use for reaching for four different objects placed at the infant's body midline or in their right or left hemispaces, respectively. At the age of 5 years and 7 months, we assessed the hand use for 22 motor tasks. The handedness status was calculated in order to reflect the sinistrality-dextrality continuum. All but one infant were unimanual reachers at 5 months of age. Preferential reaching was space dependent rather than object dependent at this stage. Children reaching for objects in the right hemispace predominantly with their right hand showed a significantly greater right hand laterality at late preschool age than children who at the age of 5 months had shown inconsistent hand use (p < .05). Children who at the age of 5 months had reached for objects in the left hemispace with their left hand proved to be less lateralized in their right hand use approximately 5 years later (p < .05).

A longitudinal study on hand use while building a tower.

The aim of the study was to describe a developmental trend of hand use for picking up and stacking blocks from the age of 18 months to 7 years. A second aim was to determine whether there is a relationship between right-hand use while building a tower and manual laterality at school age. A total of 28 children were asked to build a tower at five longitudinal assessments. The use of the right hand fluctuated considerably with age (p<.05), but no age-related increase was observed. Right-hand use was rather prominent at 18 months, decreased significantly at 26 months, increased at age 4;7, decreased again at 5;7, and finally increased again at age 7. From age 4;7 onwards, the percentage of right-hand use for stacking the blocks was significantly (p<.05) related to the laterality quotient at school age.

Events at early development: are they associated with early word production and neurodevelopmental abilities at the preschool age?

BACKGROUND: Obstetrical and neonatal complications and/or an adverse parenting environment are risk factors for language impairment, but little is known about their effects on early word production (late talking). AIMS: To determine obstetrical and neonatal risk factors in children with delayed word production; to assess the influence of the parenting environment on word production; to determine whether the toddler's vocabulary competence is related to his/her social competence; to document the neurodevelopmental outcome at the late preschool age. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective follow-up study. Based on word production at 18 months, children were retrospectively classified into consistent or transient late talkers and controls. SUBJECTS: Full-term infants, N=30 (mean GA 40.3+/-1.1 weeks, mean birth weight 3577+/-267 g) were assessed at 18 and 24 months; and 5 years and 7 months. METHODS: Austrian Communicative Development Inventories; Bayley Scales of Infant Development; Griffiths Developmental Scales. OUTCOME MEASURES: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children; Touwen's neurological examination. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Lower Apgar scores and the need for neonatal intensive care were associated with delayed word production. The parents' educational and vocational levels were lower in late talkers. Early vocabulary competence correlated with social competence. With regard to the prediction of lexical and cognitive outcomes, late talkers did not differ from controls. Minor neurological dysfunctions (MND) were seen in nearly half of the late talkers and indicate the necessity to follow these children into school age, when MND might become more obvious and literacy can be assessed.

Development of manipulative hand movements during the second year of life.

BACKGROUND: Developmental testing in children is concerned mainly with a pass or fail on tasks such as grasping, manipulating and inserting. Knowledge about the qualitative development of hand movements in young children is scarce. AIM: We studied the qualitative development of manipulative hand movements in 14-, 18- and 25-month-olds. STUDY DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: Twenty-six children were videoed during grasping, manipulating and inserting cubes into a cup or box and pegs into a peg-board. RESULTS: We found clear-cut, object-related results. The right hand was used mainly to grasp, manipulate and insert the pegs, while no hand preference was found for the cube. Generally, the quality of grasping and inserting did not change with age. At 18 months, the performance was more optimal if the children used pegs rather than cubes. The adjustment of hand opening became more adapted with increasing age when grasping the cubes; this was not observed for the pegs. Associated movements occurred less during pegging than while playing with the cubes. A variety of patterns were used for pegging. Besides a difference in hand preference between girls and boys, some patterns became more prominent with increasing age. The success rate increased with age but was independent of the pattern used. CONCLUSION: This study stresses the need of a clear understanding of the entire spectrum of normal motor development. This knowledge forms the basis on which abnormalities, even of such common movement patterns as grasping, manipulating and inserting, can be reliably diagnosed in neurologically impaired infants and children.