The new affordances in the home environment for motor development - infant scale (AHEMD-IS): Versions in English and Portuguese languages

Abstract

The home environment has been established as a crucial factor for motor development, especially in infants. Exploring the home environment can have significant implications for intervention, as it is common practice in physical therapy to have professionals advise patients on home activities. Since 2010, our group has been working on the development of the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development - Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS), a parental self-reporting instrument designed to assess the quality and quantity of factors (affordances) in the home environment. In Brazil, the instrument has been translated as "Affordances no Ambiente Domiciliar para o Desenvolvimento Motor - Escala Bebê", and it has been extensively used in several studies that address infant development. These studies in Brazil and other parts of the world highly recommended the need for a normative sample and standardized scoring system. A description of the study that addressed that need, along with the English version of the questionnaire and score sheets, was recently published in the well-known and respected journal Physical Therapy. Our intent with the present short communication is to notify Brazilian investigators and clinicians of this latest update so they can download the new instrument, as well as present the Brazilian (Portuguese) version of the AHEMD-IS along with its scoring system.

Development of infants with a risk indicator for hearing loss associated to living environment

“…The questionnaire consists of an initial part con-cerning the child's information (name, gender, birth weight and the time in which the child attends day care) and family characteristics, such as the mother's and father's degree of education, and residence information: type of residence (apartment or house), the number of adults and children who live there, how long the family has lived in the place of residence and the number of existing rooms. 7 There are 35 other questions divided into three dimensions: Physical Space of the residence; Variety of Stimulation; Toys for Fine Motricity and Toys for Gross Motricity. The session called 'Physical Space', aims to evaluate the presence of adequate space for the child to play and move freely, the type of surface or soil, the presence of furniture, inclined surfaces and steps.…”

“…Reviews of child development, involving cognitive domains, language and motor skills, are often performed with the use of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III), considered a benchmark test for this purpose 6 . Regarding environmental factors influencing the infant's development, it is possible to assess these through the Affordances questionnaire in the Home Environment for Motor Development -Baby Scale (AHEMD-IS) 7 . According to Gibson 8 , the affordances (opportunities and events) are the possibilities offered by the environment to a particular agent and can be conducive to stimulating motor development.…”

Motor and Cognitive Development Predictors of Infants of Adolescents and Adults Mothers

“…Para a análise do ambiente domiciliar foi utilizado a versão adaptada para o português do questionário Affordances in the Home Enviroment for Motor Development -Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS), especificamente a escala de 3 a 18 meses 21,22 . O AHEMD-IS é um instrumento faz uma avaliação quantitativa e qualitativa do ambiente doméstico, abordando questões relacionadas à caracterização da criança e da família; o espaço físico da habitação (interno e externo); as atividades diárias da criança (tempo da criança em casa, tempo da criança acordada em casa); brinquedos e materiais existentes na habitação (quantidade e variedade) 23 .…”

Cognição e ambiente são preditores do desenvolvimento motor de bebês ao longo do tempo

“…Gross scores are linked to corrected ages and converted into the Mental Development Index (MDI) -a variable used in the study and presented as Bayley MDI -it describes cognitive performance in four categories: expedited (above 119), within normal limits (below 85 and 114), slightly delayed (between 70 and 84), and significantly delayed (below 69) 18 . The Brazilian version 19 of Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development -Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) was used to investigate opportunities for learning at home 4 . AHEMD is organized in dimensions of characteristics regarding socioeconomic status, family, home physical space, toys, and daily activities 4,19 .…”

“…The Brazilian version 19 of Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development -Infant Scale (AHEMD-IS) was used to investigate opportunities for learning at home 4 . AHEMD is organized in dimensions of characteristics regarding socioeconomic status, family, home physical space, toys, and daily activities 4,19 . Maternal practices were investigated using and adapted version of Daily Activities of Infant Scale (DAIS), which evaluates opportunities for posture control and exploration of movements made available by the caregiver during different tasks in an infant's routine.…”