Usefulness of maternal assessment of children development based on reported age of achieved milestones.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to examine the usefulness of maternal recall of selected developmental milestones by testing their correlations with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-II).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Prospective cohort study. The cohort recruited prenatally, included 387 children. The BSID-II tests were carried out in each child at the end of the 12th, 24th and 36th month of life. When children were 3 years old, mothers were questioned about their child's age at attainment of 8 significant developmental milestones.

RESULTS

The infants who attained developmental milestones earlier in their first years of life were more likely to achieved a better scores on the motor scale of the BSID-II. Correlation coefficients ranged from -0.117 for bladder control to -0.424 for standing without assistance and -0.586 for walking unassisted. Correlation arose when the difference between the time of achieving a particular milestone and time of managing the BSID-II was smaller.

CONCLUSION

Our study demonstrated that maternal reports of developmental milestones of children under 3 years old are sufficiently reliable to be used in clinical judgment.