Introduction: Motor development is a continuous process of motor behavior changes throughout life, allowing for movement control. Premature birth can affect this process, with a greater risk of delays in acquiring these skills. Objective: Compare motor development during the fundamental movement phase of preterm infants submitted to early stimulation and full-term babies. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study with convenience sampling, performed with twenty 3-year-old children of both sexes, distributed into two groups: the preterm group (n = 10), which received physical therapy in the first months of life, and the term group (n = 10). Motor development stages were assessed between January and April 2013, using the Motor Development Scale (Escala de Desenvolvimento Motor - EDM) developed by Francisco Rosa Neto, with an average execution time of thirty minutes. Statistical analysis was performed using BioEstat 5.0 software, and the Shapiro-Wilk test was applied to verify data normality. A significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was adopted, analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. Results: The term group exhibited significant differences in relation to the preterm group for the variables Fine and Gross Motor Skills, and Spatial and Temporal Awareness, with no differences in Balance and Body Scheme. Conclusion: Only the premature infants submitted to early intervention achieved normal levels of Balance and Body Scheme on the EDM Scale.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
334 Leonard St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.