A substantial proportion of the "apparently normal" preterm infants exhibit minor and moderate dysfunctions in neuromotor outcome as they grow older. Birth characteristics, minor abnormalities on the neonatal ultrasound scan of the brain, and motor milestones have only limited value in the early detection of these children. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether nonoptimal reaching and relatively immobile postural behavior at an early age are associated with dysfunctional neuromotor and behavioural development at school age. The preterm children and full-term children of the present follow-up study participated in a previous study on the characteristics of reaching kinematics and the kinetics of posture at 4 and 6 mo corrected age. At the age of 6 y, the children were re-assessed by means of the Touwen neurologic assessment, the Movement ABC, and the Child Behavior Check List. The results demonstrated that in preterm children without cerebral palsy, a lack of successful reaching at 4 mo and a nonoptimal quality of reaching at 6 mo are related to the development of a complex form of minor neurologic dysfunction (MND) and fine manipulative disability at 6 y. Thus, these early signs indicate the presence of clinically significant brain dysfunction. A relatively immobile postural behavior at 4 mo was associated with simple MND, coordination problems, and at 6 mo with a worse score on the Movement ABC and internalizing behavior. This suggests that a relatively immobile postural behavior points to a mild form of brain dysfunction. A substantial proportion of "apparently neurologically normal" preterm infants do exhibit minor and moderate dysfunctions in neuromotor outcome as they grow older (1). Yet, these dysfunctions, which may seriously interfere with daily living activities, are not generally detected before school age. We therefore need to increase our knowledge of risk factors and patterns of early neuromotor development that relate to impaired motor outcome at school age. So far, the prospective value of birth characteristics and minor abnormalities on the neonatal ultrasound scan of the brain have been inconsistent for later motor impairments in this preterm group (1,2).Prediction of motor impairments at school age on the basis of the assessment of motor milestones at an early age is hampered by the presence of many false negatives (3,4). Prediction based on the quality of early motor behavior may be better. Recent work by 6) indicated that an abnormal quality of GM, which had been present until about 4 mo corrected age, was related to MND at early and later school age. A nonoptimal quality of specific motor functions, such as reaching and grasping at 9 mo, has also been associated with reduced quality of hand motor performance at 2.6 y (7).Preterm infants often show an abnormal quality of postural behavior (8), which has been addressed in terms of transient