Sensory and motor development of pre-term infants.

The neurological, sensory, motor and general developmental progress of 135 infants born more than 5 weeks before term was studied. Over a period of 12 months, 122 infants had post-term evaluations at one, four, eight and twelve months. These were carried out using both a standardized infant ability scale and a graded neurosensory and motor assessment. The abilities of the age adjusted pre-term infants compared favourably with the standardized scale of expected age normal abilities. Developmental aspects of tactile, proprioceptive, vestibular and eye movement responses showed some interesting trends. There was some persistence of primitive motor reflexes and an apparent delay in the development of postural reactions. The achievement of the motor milestones such as sitting, crawling, standing and walking did fall within the wide limits of the normal range. Six per cent of the total group had definite neurological handicaps, 16 per cent responded inconsistently during one of the assessments and at 12 months, a further 11 per cent showed evidence of developmental delay.