Development and normative validation of Developmental Assessment Tool for Anganwadis for 3- to 4-year-old children...

To develop, standardize, and validate a developmental scale for children, 3-4 years old, attending Anganwadis (Integrated Child Development Scheme) in India, as a follow-up assessment, using a normative approach.

After the development of the 12-item Developmental Assessment Tool for Anganwadis (DATA-II), its internal consistency as well as face, content, and construct validities were studied in 100 children in Anganwadis and were found to be appropriate. A total of 385 children with a mean (standard deviation) age of 43.05 (5.02) months from randomly selected 36 Anganwadis were recruited for its standardization. Raw scores were converted to standardized T scores. Scoring pattern for domains and aggregate developmental scores were formulated.

Except for four items in the original scale, all the items were endorsed by parents suggesting a good content validity, and Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 coefficient of 0.80 suggested a high internal consistency. Factor analysis replicated the six-factor structure explaining 76.5% of variance. An aggregated developmental score based on the standardized T scores demonstrated that a DATA-II score between 29 and 33 suggested "at risk" for developing developmental delays. A score of 28 or less suggested already delayed milestones. A score of 19-28 suggested a "mild delay," 8-18 suggested a "moderate delay," and 7 or less suggested a "severe delay" in development.

The DATA-II is a measure for use in Anganwadis for identifying children at risk or with developmental delays during the first follow-up assessment, in India, for appropriate referrals and interventions.