Parent's Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS) detects developmental problems compared to Denver II

The early detection of developmental and behavioral problems in children is crucial for early intervention. The effectiveness of early detection depends on skills and interest of clinicians. Parents are the precious sources of information. The suspicions of parents about their children's development should be considered. The success of early identification is influenced by pediatricians who elicit, recognize, select clinical information and judge how to manage. The purpose of the present pilot study was to assess whether parents can be the sources of clinical information in detecting developmental problems of their children. Parent's Evaluation of developmental status (PEDS) is used to elicit parents which is the useful and widely used tool for developmental screening by measuring the sensitivity and sensitivity of PEDS. The additional goal is to find the prevalence of developmental problems in this population.

A total of 216 parent-child dyads, children 0-72 months of age, were recruited from the Pediatrics Outpatient Clinic and Child Health Supervision Clinic at Phramongkutklao Hospital from 1 July 2001 to 31 July 2002. Children who were chronically ill or had known developmental delay were excluded. Data regarding prenatal, perinatal and postnatal risk factors, health status, childrearing practice, parental education and family income were gathered. The Parents Evaluations of Developmental Status (PEDS) was completed by interview. The developmental screening test was administered by using Denver II. The authors compared the items of language, fine motor adaptive and gross motor skills.

Descriptive statistic for demographic data was used and diagnostic test was performed in order to detect sensitivity and specificity. The Kappa was administered for analyzing the relationship between PEDS and Denver II.

Certain concern in developmental delay was 4.1 % and suspected Denver II was 3.24 %. Forty-two point five percent of the children who were suspected in Denver II were not concerned. Forty-seven percent of children who was concerned also failed in Denver II. Ninety-four percent of children had no concern and also had normal screening test. The sensitivity of PEDS was 57.14 percent, the specificity was 97.6 percent. The agreement of PEDS and Denver II was 0.43 (Kappa = 0.43).

PEDS could play a role in detection of developmental problems but was not a good tool in screening. Therefore, significant concerns of parents about their children's development are the critical information for referral to have further management. In other words, parents concerns could have far more advantage than the screening test.