Prechtl's Method on the Qualitative Assessment of General Movements in Preterm, Term and Young Infants

A quick, non-invasive, non-intrusive and cost-effective method with high reliability and high validity is much in demand for the early detection of neurological anomalies which point to cerebral palsy and developmental deficits later on in life. Over his years as a distinguished developmental neurologist, Heinz Prechtl has devised such a method; a qualitative assessment of general movements (GMs) as a specific predictor for neurological impairments. His method is described in this book. GMs form part of a distinct pattern of movements in preterm babies, term newborns and young infants. They are complex, frequent, and usually of sufficient length. Changes in the normal quality of GMs are a reliable indicator of brain dysfunction.

About the Author

Christa Einspieler has been working in behavioural analysis for over 20 years. She is currently Associate Professor in Physiology at the Medical University of Graz. Her main research topics are the ontogeny of behaviour, fetal movements, motor development in preterm, term and young infants, age-specific neurological assessments, neurolinguistics, and development of laterality. She is author or co-author of more than 70 scientific papers in indexed journals, and has contributed to more than 20 books from international publishers. Heinz Prechtl was a pioneer in the evaluation of the quality of spontaneous movements during early human development. He discovered that the quality of spontaneous general movements in the fetus and young infant could provide information on the integrity of the young nervous system. His approach to the qualitative assessment of general movements in newborn infants is a widely used, highly sensitive and specific tool in the prediction of neurological impairments. Arend Bos is Professor in Pediatrics at University of Groningen. He is also chairman of the Neonatology Section, Dutch Pediatric Association and Secretary of the board of Dutch chairmen of Neonatology Units (NEONED).