Pediatric Normative Data for the Complete Minnesota Dexterity Test (CMDT)

Research Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to develop normative data for the Complete Minnesota Dexterity Test (CMDT) for children and adolescents. We also assessed the criterion validity and test-retest reliability of the CMDT as well as concurrent validity with the Box and Blocks Test (BBT).

Design: This was a cross-sectional, observational quantitative study conducted between 2014 and 2023.

Setting: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Participants: A volunteer sample of 182 healthy children, ages 7 to 18 years, with no known physical, cognitive, or emotional condition which could impact performance.

Interventions: not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: The 5 subtests of the CMDT were completed for 2 trials with each hand, and scores were summarized for each age group. One trial of the Box and Blocks Test (BBT) was completed with each hand for concurrent validity analysis. The CMDT subtests were measured in seconds for each trial. BBT scores were based on the number of blocks transferred in 60 seconds.

Results: A total of 99 females and 83 males participated, with 19-26 participants per age group (7, 8, 9, 10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18 years of age). Normative data (means and standard deviations) were obtained for the placing, turning, displacing, and both one-hand and two-hand turning subtests. Reliability measures for all subtests were high, with test-retest correlations ranging from 0.89 to 0.93. There was a high degree of correlation between the CMDT and BBT (r = -0.63 to -0.79).

Conclusions: The CMDT’s strong construct validity supports its use for the assessment of manual dexterity in children. There were not clinically meaningful improvements on retesting, therefore one trial of each subtest is sufficient.

Author(s) Disclosures: All Authors have nothing to disclose.