PEDS: Developmental Milestones
Measurements For Children 0-8 Years
Co-Author Frances Page
Glascoe, Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Editor,
Newsletter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
A new measure called PEDS:Developmental Milestones (PEDS:DM) for
children 0 - 8 years is now available for parents and professionals. The
Screening Level version is in wide use by pediatricians but the PEDS:DM
also has an Assessment Level version helpful for child-find, early
intervention programs, and NICU follow-up.
The PEDS:DM assesses each developmental domain: gross motor, fine motor,
expressive language, receptive language, self-help, social-emotional,
and for older children reading and math skills. It offers cutoffs and
age-equivalent scores, percentage of delay (or percentage of skills
mastered) in each domain. Its assessment booklets are designed for
re-use on a single child to facilitate longitudinal monitoring and
progress tracking. The booklets can also be used in mail-out initiatives
and have a reporting grid useful for explaining results to parents and
recording developmental strengths and weaknesses.
The Assessment Level version takes about 20 minutes to complete. The
Screening Level version takes about 5 minutes. The PEDS:DM also includes
a range of other helpful measures such as the Modified Checklist of
Autism in Toddlers, the Brigance Parent-Child Interactions Scale,
measures of psychosocial risk, etc.
The PEDS:DM was standardized on more than 1600 children in North
America, has proven accuracy and validity, and its readability is at the
high first grade level-so most parents can readily understand and
respond. That said, the PEDS:DM can also be directly administered to
children.
Additional information including case examples and training slide shows
can be found online at
www.pedstest.com/dm.
