Relationship between perinatal risk factors and motor development at the ages of 5 and 9 years

Abstract

Poor motor performance, usually called clumsiness, has been found in about 5% of children when measured with a set of gross and fine motor tasks (Gubbay, 1975; Henderson & Hall, 1982). Mild neurological dysfunction, implying not only poor performance in motor tasks but also deviations in a thorough neurological examination, has been found in mild form at the age of 9 years in 15% of neonatally normal children (Hadders-Algra, Huisjes & Touwen, 1988a, b). Marked neurological dysfunction was found in 5% of these children.