Surveillance--shifting priorities

Development surveillance and particularly the identification of children with impaired speech and language development is an area which has recently attracted considerable attention. Given that language delay is the single most common pre-school problem this is not surprising. This short paper looks at two offerings on the subject and asks whose interest the proposed changes serve. The first of these is Walter Barker's paper 'The value of developments tests' and the second is the findings of the national working party on child health surveillance.