Skip to main content
PMC home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition
. 1997 Jan;76(1):F9–F14. doi: 10.1136/fn.76.1.f9

Minor neurological signs and perceptual-motor difficulties in prematurely born children

M Jongmans, E Mercuri, L de Vries, L Dubowitz, S Henderson
PMCID: PMC1720611  PMID: 9059179

Abstract

AIM—To examine the spectrum of neurological dysfunction and perceptual-motor difficulties at school age in a cohort of prematurely born children, and the relation of these measures to neonatal brain lesions, intelligence quotient, and behavioural adjustment.
METHOD—One hundred and eighty three children were tested at the age of 6 years using Touwen's Examination of the Child with Minor Neurological Dysfunction, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC), the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), British Ability Scales, and Rutter Scales.
RESULTS—Twenty six children had definite cerebral palsy and one was blind. Of the remaining 156, the proportions falling below the 15th centile point were 31% on Touwen's Examination, 44% on the Movement ABC, and 17% on the VMI. Forty two passed all three tests. No child with a normal ultrasound scan developed cerebral palsy, whereas nearly all those with major lesions did. Minor lesions, however, were not generally predictive of later outcome. Correlations between the tests were generally low.
CONCLUSIONS—These findings stress the need to assess neurological and perceptual motor functioning separately at school age and to monitor relationships with other aspects of development.

 Keywords: neurological signs; perceptual-motor difficulties; prematurity; follow up.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (104.3 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Black B., Brown C., Thomas D. A follow-up study of 58 preschool children less than 1,500 grams birthweight. Aust Paediatr J. 1977 Dec;13(4):265–270. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1977.tb01160.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Calame A., Fawer C. L., Claeys V., Arrazola L., Ducret S., Jaunin L. Neurodevelopmental outcome and school performance of very-low-birth-weight infants at 8 years of age. Eur J Pediatr. 1986 Dec;145(6):461–466. doi: 10.1007/BF02429043. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cooke R. W. Early and late cranial ultrasonographic appearances and outcome in very low birthweight infants. Arch Dis Child. 1987 Sep;62(9):931–937. doi: 10.1136/adc.62.9.931. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fawer C. L., Calame A. Significance of ultrasound appearances in the neurological development and cognitive abilities of preterm infants at 5 years. Eur J Pediatr. 1991 May;150(7):515–520. doi: 10.1007/BF01958437. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ford L. M., Steichen J., Steichen Asch P. A., Babcock D., Fogelson M. H. Neurologic status and intracranial hemorrhage in very-low-birth-weight preterm infants. Outcome at 1 year and 5 years. Am J Dis Child. 1989 Oct;143(10):1186–1190. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150220084024. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hall A., McLeod A., Counsell C., Thomson L., Mutch L. School attainment, cognitive ability and motor function in a total Scottish very-low-birthweight population at eight years: a controlled study. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1995 Dec;37(12):1037–1050. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1995.tb11965.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Jongmans M., Henderson S., de Vries L., Dubowitz L. Duration of periventricular densities in preterm infants and neurological outcome at 6 years of age. Arch Dis Child. 1993 Jul;69(1 Spec No):9–13. doi: 10.1136/adc.69.1_spec_no.9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jongmans M., Mercuri E., Henderson S., de Vries L., Sonksen P., Dubowitz L. Visual function of prematurely born children with and without perceptual-motor difficulties. Early Hum Dev. 1996 Jul 5;45(1-2):73–82. doi: 10.1016/0378-3782(95)01722-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Klein N. K., Hack M., Breslau N. Children who were very low birth weight: development and academic achievement at nine years of age. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 1989 Feb;10(1):32–37. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Largo R. H., Molinari L., Kundu S., Hunziker U., Duc G. Neurological outcome in high risk weight appropriate for gestational age preterm children at early school age. Eur J Pediatr. 1990 Sep;149(12):835–844. doi: 10.1007/BF02072070. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Levene M., Dowling S., Graham M., Fogelman K., Galton M., Phillips M. Impaired motor function (clumsiness) in 5 year old children: correlation with neonatal ultrasound scans. Arch Dis Child. 1992 Jun;67(6):687–690. doi: 10.1136/adc.67.6.687. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Losse A., Henderson S. E., Elliman D., Hall D., Knight E., Jongmans M. Clumsiness in children--do they grow out of it? A 10-year follow-up study. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1991 Jan;33(1):55–68. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1991.tb14785.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Marlow N., Roberts B. L., Cooke R. W. Motor skills in extremely low birthweight children at the age of 6 years. Arch Dis Child. 1989 Jun;64(6):839–847. doi: 10.1136/adc.64.6.839. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Marlow N., Roberts L., Cooke R. Outcome at 8 years for children with birth weights of 1250 g or less. Arch Dis Child. 1993 Mar;68(3 Spec No):286–290. doi: 10.1136/adc.68.3_spec_no.286. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Roth S. C., Baudin J., McCormick D. C., Edwards A. D., Townsend J., Stewart A. L., Reynolds E. O. Relation between ultrasound appearance of the brain of very preterm infants and neurodevelopmental impairment at eight years. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1993 Sep;35(9):755–768. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1993.tb11727.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Rutter M. A children's behaviour questionnaire for completion by teachers: preliminary findings. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1967 May;8(1):1–11. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1967.tb02175.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Rutter M. Classification and categorization in child psychiatry. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1965 Nov;6(2):71–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1965.tb02229.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Saigal S., Szatmari P., Rosenbaum P., Campbell D., King S. Intellectual and functional status at school entry of children who weighed 1000 grams or less at birth: a regional perspective of births in the 1980s. J Pediatr. 1990 Mar;116(3):409–416. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(05)82835-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. de Vries L. S., Dubowitz L. M., Dubowitz V., Kaiser A., Lary S., Silverman M., Whitelaw A., Wigglesworth J. S. Predictive value of cranial ultrasound in the newborn baby: a reappraisal. Lancet. 1985 Jul 20;2(8447):137–140. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(85)90237-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. de Vries L. S., Eken P., Dubowitz L. M. The spectrum of leukomalacia using cranial ultrasound. Behav Brain Res. 1992 Jul 31;49(1):1–6. doi: 10.1016/s0166-4328(05)80189-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. van de Bor M., Ens-Dokkum M., Schreuder A. M., Veen S., Brand R., Verloove-Vanhorick S. P. Outcome of periventricular-intraventricular haemorrhage at five years of age. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1993 Jan;35(1):33–41. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood Fetal and Neonatal Edition are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES