Efficient developmental screening instrument for 6- and 18-month-old children in the Taiwan Birth Cohort Pilot Study.

AIM

To develop an efficient developmental screening instrument for interview purposes.

METHODS

Using random sampling, two groups of babies were selected: The pilot group of 1747 babies was selected for testing of reliability and validity. Another group of 100 babies was selected for testing of the concurrent validity with the second edition of the Bayley Scale of Infant Development. The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study scales include four developmental dimensions: gross motor, fine motor, language/communication (language) and social/self-care ability (social).

RESULTS

In testing the concurrent validity, the structural equation model showed that Taiwan Birth Cohort Study dimensions correlated with the Bayley Scale of Infant Development dimensions. In testing the predictive validity of the Taiwan Birth Cohort Study, the correlation between the 6- and 18-month results of the motor index was 0.29, and the language social index was 0.31.

CONCLUSION

The Taiwan Birth Cohort Study 6- and 18-month scales fulfill the criteria of developmental norm, predictive validity, validity and identification of relative risk for screening instruments. As a self-report checklist, it is economical and efficient, thus, it can be utilized in clinical and community settings.