The objectives of this project were to systematically review the impact of mother–infant interaction on the development of infants 12 months or younger and determine factors that mediate this relationship and early development. We systematically reviewed the literature and identified 21 papers which fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria. The majority of the studies found significant association between mother–infant interaction and language, cognition, motor, and social development during the first year of life. Only seven studies assessed motor development and four studies found significant relationship between motor development and mother–infant interaction. Prematurity, infant age, multiples births, maternal anxiety, maternal opioid exposure, history of foster care, and criminal record were the only factors found to mediate the relationship between mother–infant interaction and social, cognitive, and language development. The quality of the interactions between a mother and infant can both positively and negatively influence cognitive, language, and social outcomes during the first year of life. Additional research is needed to determine the influence of mother–infant interaction on motor development. Future research is needed on the efficacy of interventions designed to alter mother–infant interaction with the ultimate goal of achieving positive developmental outcomes during the first year of life.

Children with DS show difficulties in early postural control and activities requiring speed, postural control, and balance. The finding that early performance relates to later outcome reinforces the relevance of early and task-specific intervention.

BackgroundGiven that environmental factors, such as the school environment, can influence child development, more attention should be paid to the development of children attending day care centers. ObjectiveTodetermine whether there are differences in the gross motor, fine motor, or cognitive performances of children between 1 and3 years-old of similar socioeconomic status attending public and private day care centers full time. MethodParticipants were divided into 2 groups, 1 of children attending public day care centers (69 children) and another of children attending private day care centers (47 children). All children were healthy and regularly attended day care full time for over 4 months. To assess cognitive, gross and fine motor performance, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III was used. The Mann-Whitney test was used for comparative analyses between groups of children between 13 and 24 months, 25 and 41 months, and 13 and 41 months. ResultsChildren in public day care centers exhibited lower scores on the cognitive development scale beginning at 13 months old. The fine and gross motor performance scores were lower in children over the age of 25 months attending public centers. Maternal education was not related to the performance of children in either group. ConclusionThe scores of cognitive performance as well as fine and gross motor performance of children of similar socioeconomic status who attend public day care centers are lower than children attending private daycare centers.

The TIS is able to differentiate levels of trunk control across various levels of motor impairments in CP. It is a valid tool to assess trunk control, showing very high concurrent validity with the GMFM sitting dimension. Implications for Rehabilitation Trunk Impairment Scale (TIS) can be used by rehabilitation professionals to differentiate levels of trunk control across levels of motor impairment. TIS showed concurrent validity with Gross Motor Function Measure and should be used to assess trunk control in children with cerebral palsy (CP) in clinical settings. The use of TIS allows a reliable assessment of postural control in children with CP in clinical settings.

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Objective:To assess the impact of extrinsic factors on fine motor performance of children aged 2-years old.Methods:73 children attending public and 21 private day care centers were assessed. Day care environment was evaluated using the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ITERS-R), fine motor performance was assessed through the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSITD-III), socioeconomic data, maternal education and time of start at the day care were collected through interviews. Spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the association between the studied variables.Results:The time at the day care was positively correlated with the children's performance in some fine motor tasks of the BSITD-III, showing that the activities developed in day care centers were important for the refinement of specific motor skills, while the overall fine motor performance by the scale was associated with maternal education and the ITERS-R scale sub-item “language and understanding”.Conclusions:Extrinsic factors such as higher maternal education and quality of day care centers are associated with fine motor performance in children attending day care.

Extrinsic factors such as higher maternal education and quality of day care centers are associated with fine motor performance in children attending day care.

Introduction Remote assessment creates opportunities for monitoring child development at home. Determining the possible barriers to and facilitators of the quality of telemonitoring motor skills allows for safe and effective practices. We aimed to: (1) determine the quality, barriers and facilitators of Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) home videos made by mothers; (2) verify interrater reliability; (3) determine the association between contextual factors and the quality of assessments. Methods Thirty infants at biological risk aged between three and ten months, of both sexes, and their mothers were included. Assessments were based on asynchronous home videos, where motor skills were evaluated by mothers at home according to AIMS guidelines. The following were analyzed: video quality; stimulus quality; camera position; and physical environment. The video characteristics were analyzed descriptively. The intraclass correlation coefficient was used to calculate interrater reliability and the regression model to determine the influence of contextual factors on the outcome variables. Significance was set at 5%. Results Remote assessment of AIMS exhibited high image and stimulus quality, and a suitable physical environment. Interrater reliability was high for all domains: prone ( r = 0.976); supine ( r = 0.965); sitting ( r = 0.987); standing ( r = 0.945) and total score ( r = 0.980). The contextual factors had no relation with assessment quality. Discussion Assessments conducted remotely by the mothers showed high video quality and interrater reliability, and represent a promising assessment tool for telemedicine in at-risk infants in the first year of life.