TY - JOUR T1 - Minor neurological signs and perceptual-motor difficulties in prematurely born children JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition JO - Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed SP - F9 LP - F14 DO - 10.1136/fn.76.1.F9 VL - 76 IS - 1 AU - Marian Jongmans AU - Eugenio Mercuri AU - Linda de Vries AU - Lilly Dubowitz AU - Sheila E Henderson Y1 - 1997/01/01 UR - http://fn.bmj.com/content/76/1/F9.abstract N2 - AIM To examine the spectrum of neurological dysfunction and perceptual-motor difficulties at school age in a cohort of prematurely born children, and the relation of these measures to neonatal brain lesions, intelligence quotient, and behavioural adjustment. METHOD One hundred and eighty three children were tested at the age of 6 years using Touwen’s Examination of the Child with Minor Neurological Dysfunction, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC), the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI), British Ability Scales, and Rutter Scales. RESULTS Twenty six children had definite cerebral palsy and one was blind. Of the remaining 156, the proportions falling below the 15th centile point were 31% on Touwen’s Examination, 44% on the Movement ABC, and 17% on the VMI. Forty two passed all three tests. No child with a normal ultrasound scan developed cerebral palsy, whereas nearly all those with major lesions did. Minor lesions, however, were not generally predictive of later outcome. Correlations between the tests were generally low. CONCLUSIONS These findings stress the need to assess neurological and perceptual motor functioning separately at school age and to monitor relationships with other aspects of development. ER -