A TIMP-based assessment for early motor performance in cerebral palsy toddlers

Objective To explore the characteristics of early motor performance in toddlers with cerebral palsy by analyzing the results of Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) when they were at an age of 2 to 4 months. Methods A cross-sectional trial was conducted on 17 children who were followed up in the Preterm High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Clinic of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Medical University as high-risk premature infants and diagnosed with cerebral palsy after 1 year of age from December 2018 to December 2022. The results of their TIMP assessments at an age of 2~4 months. With the data of TIMP Chinese norm samples at the same age as controls, the Z-values were calculated and the total score of TIMP, scores of the 7 postural subgroups (including totally 42 items), and scores of these 42 items were calculated and compared between the 2 groups. Results The Z-value of the total TIMP score for the cerebral palsy infants aged 2~4 months was only -0.95±1.11, which was significantly lower than that the expec