Scale for evaluation of movement disorders in the first three years of life.

Most rating scales to assess movement disorders in children were mainly designed for adult patients, and are limited to a single type of disorder. A new scale for developmental age, the Movement Disorder-Childhood Rating Scale, was recently designed and validated for children and adolescents aged 4-18 years. We introduce a new version of this scale, the Movement Disorder-Childhood Rating Scale 0-3, suitable for application in children aged <4 years. The scale was tested for reliability and consistency in 40 children (aged 0.3-3.6 years) with different types of movement disorders. The results indicate high interrater agreement on each item, and a high degree of internal consistency on several proposed items. The scale can be used to assess and monitor young children with movement disorders during specific treatments.