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Parental concerns based general developmental screening tool and autism risk: the Taiwan National Birth cohort study
For-Wey Lung1, Bih-Ching Shu, Tung-Liang Chiang
1Department of Medicine, Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital, Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan. forweylung@gmail.com
Insights
Early detection of developmental delay in children is crucial. This study identified effective screening cutoff points for the Parent Concern Checklist (PCC) in Chinese, aiding early intervention for developmental disorders.
Area of Science:
- Child development research
- Developmental pediatrics
- Public health screening
Background:
- Early detection of developmental delay and childhood disorders is vital for timely intervention.
- The Parent Concern Checklist (PCC) is a screening tool for developmental issues.
- Cultural adaptation of screening tools is necessary for diverse populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe response distribution for the PCC in a large population-based survey.
- To establish culturally appropriate cutoff points for the PCC in Chinese.
- To identify children with differing developmental issues at 18 months compared to 6 months.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a national, randomly selected sample of 21,248 children from the Taiwan Birth Cohort study.
- Employed the Parent Concern Checklist (PCC) and Taiwan Birth Cohort study instrument for developmental assessment.
- Applied Newton-Raphson iteration and structural equation modeling for data analysis.
Main Results:
- Identified three distinct groups based on developmental trajectories using the PCC.
- Established two cutoff points for the PCC: 2/3 and 6/7, suitable for a two-stage screening.
- Demonstrated that 6-month development predicts 18-month development, with good concurrent validity for the PCC at 18 months.
Conclusions:
- The PCC is validated as a first-stage screening instrument in a two-stage procedure for developmental delay in Chinese-speaking populations.
- The identified cutoff points facilitate early identification of children needing further developmental assessment.
- Further research is warranted to explore factors influencing developmental trajectories and ensure follow-up for typical and atypical development.
Abstract:
Early detection of developmental delay and childhood disorders are important for early intervention. This study aimed to describe the distribution of responses in a large population-based survey, identify cutoff points for the parent concern checklist (PCC) suitable for the Chinese language and culture, and explore how many children were identified as having evidence of problems at age 18 mo different from those at age 6 mo. Using a national randomly selected sample, the overall development of 21,248 children was investigated using the Taiwan Birth Cohort study instrument, and the PCC, a problem-oriented screening instrument. The Newton-Raphson iteration showed that the PCC should be separated into three groups, those scoring 1-2 in the first group, 3- 6 in the second group, and 7- 8 in the third group.Structural equation models showed that 6-mo development was predictive of 18-mo development; additionally, 18-mo development and the PCC showed good concurrent validity. This study identified three groups with distinct developmental trajectories and two cutoff points of 2/3 and 6/7. Thus, the PCC can be used as a first-stage screening instrument in a two-stage window screening procedure. Further studies are needed to investigate the factors, which contribute to the differences among these groups;follow-up on the typical and atypical development of these children is necessary.
