Psychometric properties of the movement assessment battery for children-checklist as a screening instrument for children with a developmental co-ordination disorder.

BACKGROUND: The Checklist of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) was developed to screen children for movement difficulties in the school situation. However, the psychometric properties of the Checklist have not been investigated in detail.

AIM: The psychometric properties of the M-ABC Checklist were investigated including its usefulness as a screening instrument.

SAMPLES: A group of 120 children, 6 to 11 years old, randomly selected from mainstream schools and a group of 64 children, 6 to 9 years old, referred for assessment of their motor functioning.

METHODS: A reliability analysis was performed to investigate whether the 48 items of the Checklist measure the same construct. Construct validity was investigated by means of a factor analysis. And lastly, the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of the Checklist were investigated by comparing the performance of children on both the Test and Checklist of the M-ABC.

RESULTS: The items of the Checklist measure the same construct. Seven factors were obtained after factor analysis, revealing that the Checklist measures a broad range of motor skills. The Checklist met the standards for sensitivity in all age groups, except in the 8-year-old group, where too many children with motor problems were not detected. With the exception of the 6-year-old children, specificity was poor. The positive predictive value was acceptable, except for the 7-year-old children.

CONCLUSION: The Checklist proved to meet standards for reliability and most aspects of validity. Its use by teachers for screening children with movement difficulties can be recommended.