The Early Motor Questionnaire (EMQ): A parental report measure of early motor development

Abstract

Children's early motor skills are critical for development across language, social, and cognitive domains, and warrant close examination. However, examiner-administered motor assessments are time consuming and expensive. Parent-report questionnaires offer an efficient alternative, but validity of parent report is unclear and only few motor questionnaires exist. In this report, we use cross-sectional and longitudinal data to investigate the validity of parent report in comparison to two examiner-administered measures (Mullen Scales of Early Learning, MSEL; Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, PDMS-2), and introduce a new parent-report measure called the Early Motor Questionnaire (EMQ). Results indicate strong correlations between parent report on the EMQ and a child's age, robust concurrent and predictive validity of parent report with both the MSEL and PDMS-2, and good test-re-test reliability of parent report on the EMQ. Together, our findings support the conclusion that parents provide dependable accounts of early motor and cognitive development.

Concurrent Validity Between Live and Home Video Observations Using the Alberta Infant Motor Scale

“…The video recording method depends partially on an adequate understanding of what and how to film. In recent research articles, there is evidence of parents being able to provide valid reports on early motor development of their children 12,19. This supports that parents have valid ideas about the gross motor development of their children.…”

“…The total raw score can be converted into a percentile rank and/or z score. The reliability and content validity of the test are good 11,12…”

Program Monitoring Practices for Teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Early Intervention

“…Targeted behaviors can also be measured through direct testing, a process in which children are asked to demonstrate targeted behaviors and are assigned a score or percentage of success (Libertus & Landa, 2013) and can provide useful information about the generalization of targeted behaviors while children are at home engaging in everyday routines and activities with family members.…”

Mechanisms responsible for the development of causal perception in infancy.

“…The EMQ has been shown to be highly correlated with age across all three sub-scales (Libertus & Landa, 2013) and also shows high concurrent and predictive validity with the corresponding sections of the Mullen…”

“…Motor development was measured using the Early Motor Questionnaire (EMQ; Libertus & Landa, 2013 Motor, and Perception-Action domains. The EMQ has been shown to be highly correlated with age across all three sub-scales (Libertus & Landa, 2013) and also shows high concurrent and predictive validity with the corresponding sections of the Mullen…”