Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ages and stages questionnaire as a screening tool for developmental delay in Indian children

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Indian Pediatrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the ability of ‘Ages and Stages Questionnaire’, a parent completed developmental screening questionnaire to detect developmental delay in Indian children.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Child Development Clinic of a tertiary care center located in Northern India

Participants and Methods

200 children, 50 each in the age groups of 4±1, 10±1, 18±1 and 24±1 months were recruited (20 high risks and 30 low risks in each age group). The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) was translated into Hindi and administered to the parents, followed by standardized development assessment using Developmental Assessment Scale for Indian Infants (DASII).

Results

102 (51%) children failed on ASQ and 90 (45%) children failed on DASII. The overall sensitivity of ASQ for detecting developmental delay was 83.3% and specificity was 75.4%. The sensitivity was best for the 24-months questionnaire (94.7%) and specificity was best for the 4-month questionnaire (86.4%). The sensitivity of ASQ was much higher in the high risk group (92.3%) as compared to the low risk group (60%).

Conclusion

ASQ has strong test characteristics for detecting developmental delay in Indian children, especially in high risk cases. It may be easily converted into other Indian languages and used widely for developmental screening.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Glascoe FP, Byrne KE, Chang B Johnson KL, Chang B, Strickland B. Accuracy of Denver II in developmental screening. Pediatrics. 1992;89:1221–1225.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Knoblock H, Stevens F, Malone A, Ellison P, Risemberg H. The validity of parental reporting of infant development. Pediatrics. 1979;63:872.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sonnander K. Parental development assessment of 18 month old children: reliability and predictive value. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1987;29:351.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Bartlett D, Piper M, Magill-Evans J, Warren S. Validity of mother’s assessment of infant motor development. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1992;Suppl 66:6.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Diamond KE. The role of parents’ observations and concerns in screening for developmental delay in young children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. 1993;13:68–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Glascoe FP, Sandler H. Value of parents’ estimates of children’s developmental ages. J Pediatr. 1995;127:831–835.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Glascoe FP. Parent’s concerns about children’s development: prescreening technique or screening test. Pediatrics. 1997;99:522–528.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Squires J, Brickers D, Potter L. Revision of a parent — completed developmental screening tool; Ages and Stages Questionnaire. J Pediatr Psychol. 1997;22:313–328.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Elbers J, Macnab A, McLeod E, Gagnon F. The Ages and Stages Questionnaire: feasibility of use as a screening tool for children in Canada. Can J Rural Med. 2008;13:9–14.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Rydz D, Srour M, Oskoui M, Marget N, Shiller M, Birnbaum R, et al. Screening for developmental delay in the setting of a community pediatric clinic: a prospective assessment of parent-report questionnaires. Pediatrics. 2006;118:e1178–e1186.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Gollenberg AL, Lynch CD, Jackson LW, McGuinness BM, Msall ME. Concurrent validity of the parent completed Ages and Stages Questionnaires, 2nd Ed with the Bayley Scale of Infant Development in a low-risk sample. Child Care Health Dev. 2010;36:485–490.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Skelleren CY, Rogers Y, O’Callaghan MJ. A parent — completed developmental questionnaire: follow up of expremature infants. J Paediatr Child Health. 2001;37:125–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lindsay NM, Healy GN, Colditz PB, Lingwood BE. Use of the Ages and Stages Questionnaire to predict outcome after hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in the neonate. J Pediatr Child Health. 2008;44:590–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bricker D, Squires J Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) — Second Edition. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Phatak P. Developmental Assessment Scales for Indian Infants (DASII) — Revised Baroda Norms Manual, 1997.

  16. Mukhopadhyay K, Malhi P, Mahajan R, Narang A. Neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcome of very low birth weight babies at corrected age of 2 years. Indian J Pediatr. 2010;77:963–967.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Taneja V, Sriram S, Beri RS, Sreenivas V, Aggarwal R, Kaur R. Not by bread alone’: impact of a structured 90- minute play session on development of children in an orphanage. Child Care Health Dev. 2002;28:95–100.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Kumar N, Shekhar C, Kumar P, Kundu AS. Kuppuswamy’s socioeconomic status scale-updating for 2007. Indian J Pediatr. 2007;74:1131–1132.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Maulana Azad Medical College and associated Lok Nayak Hospital, 2, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, India

    Monica Juneja, Mugdha Mohanty, Rahul Jain & Siddarth Ramji

  2. C-77 South Extension-II, New Delhi, 110 049, India

    Monica Juneja

Authors
  1. Monica Juneja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mugdha Mohanty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rahul Jain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Siddarth Ramji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Monica Juneja.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Juneja, M., Mohanty, M., Jain, R. et al. Ages and stages questionnaire as a screening tool for developmental delay in Indian children. Indian Pediatr 49, 457–461 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-012-0074-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-012-0074-9

Key words

Search

Navigation