Maternal estimates of developmental age in preschool children,☆☆,

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate the accuracy of maternal estimates of developmental age in preschool children with suspected developmental delay. Methods: In a sample of 139 preschool children, aged 5 to 60 months, mothers were asked before evaluation to estimate the developmental age of their child. Maternal estimates were converted to a developmental quotient (DQ) and compared with results from standardized tests of cognitive functioning, adaptive abilities, expressive and receptive language, and visual-motor skills. Results: A high correlation was found (r = 0.82; p <0.0001) between maternal- estimate DQ and actual DQ (mean of test scores). Most mothers estimated within 15% of their child's actual functioning, and 84% of mothers estimated within ±5 months of actual functioning. Multiple regression found no factors that would identify mothers who were more or less accurate in estimating developmental age. Maternal-estimate DQ was sensitive (83%) and specific (83%) for mental retardation. Conclusion: Maternal estimates provide an accurate measure of developmental functioning and could be successfully incorporated into routine developmental surveillance of preschool children. (J PEDIATR 1994;125:S18-24)

Section snippets

Subjects

All subjects were consecutive patients referred to an outpatient preschool pediatric clinic in 1991 and 1992 who met three selection criteria: (1) the child had a chronologic age ≤60 months, (2) the mother was a primary caretaker, and (3) the child had no significant sensory or motor impairments or diagnosed syndrome. Only younger children were included because they constituted the main group of referrals to the clinic, and because they would be most appropriate for a possible developmental

RESULTS

The children's ages ranged from 5 to 60 months, with an average age of 32 months. Of the 139 children, 23 (17%) had a gestational age less than 36 weeks, including 11 (8%) whose age at evaluation was less than 24 months. Maternal educational levels were varied (Table I).

Whenever possible, paternal estimates were obtained along with maternal estimates, although these were not used in the data analysis. For the 139 children in the sample, there were 21 paternal estimates, which generally

DISCUSSION

Overall, mothers were relatively accurate in estimating their child's developmental age. Most mothers estimated within 15% of their child's actual level of functioning. The correlation of 0.82 between maternal-estimate DQ and actual DQ is high, and within the range previously reported for young children by Saxon9 (r = 0.71) and Coplan8 (r = 0.85). The mean absolute error of 10.0 in the maternal-estimate DQ, consistent with earlier reports,4, 6, 7 is less than 1 SD on standardized tests. The

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From the Department of Developmental Pediatrics, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Pediatrics, and Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

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Reprint requests: Margaret B. Pulsifer, PhD, Department of Developmental Pediatrics, Kennedy Krieger Institute, 707 North Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205.

0022-3476/94/$3.00 + 0 9/73/55969

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