Concurrent Validity of Motor Tests Used to Identify Children with Motor Impairment

Abstract

We investigated the concurrent validity and discrimination accuracy of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form (BOTMP-SF) and the McCarron Assessment of Neuromuscular Development (MAND) for identifying children with and without motor impairment (MI). From a total of 69 Australian children aged from 5 to 11 years, 26 children were classified with MI according to three criteria, including the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC), and were age- and gender-matched with 26 non-MI controls. Performance rankings for the MI/non-MI children on BOTMP-SF and MAND tests were highly correlated (r_s = .86); however, only 35% of MI cases were classified alike and 71% of cases were agreed on, overall. Comparing each test with MABC, discrimination statistics revealed MAND was the more accurate discriminator of MI, with higher sensitivity and negative predictive values than the BOTMP-SF. The MAND is a more valid test for the identification of MI in Australian children.