Neuromotor Assessments and Developmental Movement Disorders

Park, Eun Sook

Abstract

Development in motor skills and abnormal movement patterns in developing child are clearly observed and easily identified by the parents. Motor delay and movement disorder are common presentations for children with developmental disorders. Therefore, assessment for motor development and movement disorder become the major developmental focus of early in life. Physical examination has been considered as a key element for identifying developmental motor disorder. Traditionally, development of tone, primitive reflexes, postural reaction and motor milestone are commonly used as the evaluation tools for early identification of children at high risk for developmental disorder. Recently the assessment of the quality of general movements was introduced as a new form of neuromotor assessment of young infant. Therefore, clinical usefulness of the assessments for detecting neurological dysfunction was briefly reviewed in this paper. As well, there are a lot of movement disorders shown in child. The movement disorders can be separated into transient, paroxysmal and chronic ones according to their evolution. Since the knowledge of the movement disorders in each category enables us to understand the evolution of movement disorders, avoid unnecessary tests and treatments, and also give the proper information to the parents, the movement disorders were briefly reviewed in this paper.