The goal of the Guidelines
for Best Practices in Determining Eligibility Based on Children’s Physical Development
is to offer support to the evaluation team support in their decision-making
regarding a child’s need for early intervention services based on physical development.
In Wisconsin, physical development is defined as follows:
Physical development, including hearing and vision, as evidenced by gross
motor and fine motor coordination, tactility, health and growth. [HFS 90.08
(7)(c)2.]
In the first three years of life a typical infant learns to move purposefully, to sit, crawl, stand, walk, run and jump. Movement of a typically developing child is smooth, easy, coordinated, purposeful and graded. Typical motor control is characterized by variability and adaptability.
Multiple factors influence the progression of the ability to move. A child’s health situation can greatly impact motor development. This is particularly true in the first few months of life when the infant needs energy to move. Poor health, low birth weight, ineffective feeding, and birth complications all have a tremendous impact on early movement patterns.
Motor skills support other domains, such as an infant’s cognitive need to explore and to manipulate objects and a toddler’s social-emotional need to safely keep up with peers and to gain independence with self-help tasks. Children develop concepts about objects through manipulation and learn about their world by moving through the space around them.
COMPONENTS TO EVALUATE:
Vision Components
Sensory Responsiveness
Fine Motor Control Components
Acceptable Evaluation Approaches
Selecting Appropriate Evaluation Tools
Based on your data from record review and caregiver concerns, select an evaluation tool to tailor your evaluation:
| Fine Motor or Quality of Movement Concerns | Vision Concerns | Self Help Concerns | Behavioral, motor planning Adaptive, social, emotional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infant Toddler Development Assessment | Vision Skills Development Guidelines | Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory | DeGangi Infant Toddler Symptom Checklist | Peabody Developmental Motor Scales | _ | _ | Dunn Infant Toddler Sensory Profile |
| Toddler Infant Motor Evaluation | _ | _ | Sensory Motor History |
| Alberta Infant Motor Scales | _ | _ | Hanschu Sensory Profile |
| Bayley Scales of Development | _ | _ | Wisconsin Behavior Rating Scale |
| Clinical Observations | _ | _ | Test of Sensory Function in Infants |
If there is global concern for overall developmental delay, a combination of above tests may be appropriate or a combination of a sensory integration test with a more generalized test from the following list:
Interpreting Results
Acceptable Standardized
or Norm Referenced Evaluation and Assessment Tools
(This list is not exhaustive.)
| Tool | Authors | Population/Type | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta Infant Motor Scales (AIMS) | Piper & Darrah (1994) | Birth to 18 months; observation | W.B. Saunders Company |
| Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III – | Bayley (2005) | 1 to 42 months; norm referenced | Harcourt Assessment, Inc. |
| Early Intervention Developmental Profile (EIDP) | D’Eugenio &.Moersch (1994) | Birth to 36 months; criterion referenced | University of Michigan Press, |
| Hawaii Early Learning Profile (HELP) | Furuno et al (1994) | Birth to 36 months; curriculum based | VORT Corporation |
| Infant Toddler Development Assessment (IDA) | Provence, Erikson, Vater, & Palmeri (1995) | 1 to 36 months; Standardized; criterion referenced; yields a performance age range; percentage delay can be computed | Riverside Publishing |
| Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile | Dunn (2002) | Birth to 36 months; norm referenced | Harcourt Assessment, Inc. |
| Infant Toddler Symptom Checklist | DeGangi, Poisson, Sickel, & Santman Wiener (1995) | 7-30 months; parent report or interview; criterion referenced | Therapy Skill Builders, Psychological Corporation |
| Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 | Folio & Fewell (2000) | Birth to 60 months; norm referenced | PRO-ED, Inc. |
| Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) | Haley et al (1992). | 6 months - seven year; Functional skills; standardized; normed; parent interview; Boston University, Health and Disability Research Institute | |
| Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) | Campbell et al (1993) | From 34 weeks gestational age to 4 months post-term; developmental age standards for performance | Infant Motor
Performance Scales, LLC 1301 W. Madison St. #526 Chicago, IL 60607-1953 |
| Test of Sensory Function in Infants (TSFI) | DeGangi, and Greenspan | 4 to 18 months | Western Psychological Services |
| Toddler Infant Motor Evaluation (TIME) | Miller and Roid (1994) | Birth to 3 1/2 years. Standard scaled scores | Harcourt Assessment, Inc. |
| Wisconsin Behavior Rating Scale | Song, et al | Adaptive behavior scale for persons functioning below the developmental level of 3 years | Central Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled, Madison |
Vision Development
| AGE | SKILL |
|---|---|
| Newborn | Focuses 8-15
inches away. Has 20/400 acuity Eye movements are not coordinated |
| 1-3 Months | Eyes begin to
track together Follows moving object by 5 weeks Sustains eye contact by 3 months |
| 4-6 Months | Binocular vision
established Looks at hands and feet Has 20/100 acuity at 5 months |
| 8-12 Months | Looks at object to grasp it with accuracy |
| 12-24 Months | Visually interested in simple pictures |
| 25-36 Months | Visually explores
entire environment Identifies pictures in book Visually watches and imitates others |
Fine Motor Development
| 0-1 Month | Fisting |
| 2-3 Months | Holds rattle briefly |
| 4-5 Months | Brings hands together for play above chest |
| 6-7 Months | Uses palmer
hand grasp Transfers objects from one hand to the other |
| 8-9 Months | Uses an inferior
Pincer grasp Claps hands together |
| 10-11 Months | Uses superior pincer grasp |
| 12-14 Months | Turns pages in a cardboard book |
| 15-17 Months | Begins to place
pegs in a pegboard Builds a tower of 3 1-inch cubes |
| 18-23 Months | Separates pop
beads Imitates a circular scribble stroke |
| 24-29 Months | Completes a
simple 3 piece form board Imitates a vertical and horizontal stroke Builds a tower of 4-5 1-inch cubes |
| 30-36 Months | Copies a circular
stroke Builds a tower of 6 1-inch cubes |
REFERENCES FOR NORMAL DEVELOPMENT