Improving access to assessments of early motor development in local languages: Polish adaptation of the Early Motor Questionnaire

Abstract

Abstract A child’s motor development progresses very dynamically. It is crucial to develop freely available parent-report measures of motor development that can be easily used globally to measure motor skills and identify children in need of interventions. Here, we present the adaptation and validation of the Early Motor Questionnaire, which consists of gross motor (GM), fine motor (FM), and perception-action integration (PA) subscales, to the Polish language (EMQ-PL). In Study 1 (online, N = 640), we observed its excellent psychometric properties and significant differences in GM and Total age-independent scores between children that were and were not referred for physiotherapy. In Study 2 (in-person assessment, longitudinal, N = 100), we show high correlations of GM and total scores with Alberta Infant Motor Scale. Overall, we show that the EMQ can be easily adapted to local languages and has h a potential for use as a screening tool.