Motor function profile in children with early onset hydrocephalus

A test of motor development (McCarron, 1976) was administered to 42 children between the ages of 5 and 15 who had been diagnosed with hydrocephalus in the 1 st year of life and treated with the placement of a shunt. Four domains of motor function were assessed: (a) persistent motor control; (b) strength; (c) balance, gait, and posture; and (d) fine motor skills. As a group, these children were impaired on measures of balance, gait, and posture, and upper and lower extremity strength. Performance on measures of fine motor skills and persistent motor control were significantly below average. The motor function profile of the group of children with hydrocephalus resulting from myelomeningocele and aqueduct stenosis, etiologies with a congenital onset (n = 23), differed from that of the group of children with hydrocephalus resulting from intraventricular hemorrhage and infections or adhesions, etiologies with an infantile onset (n = 19). Although their individual contribution is yet to be established, handedness and sex were each related to motor function. Results are discussed in relation to known differences in neuropathology associated with the various etiologies of congenital and infantile hydrocephalus.