Standardization of a Developmental Milestone Scale Using Data From Children in Israel

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Routine developmental screening is crucial for early detection of delays, but current norms lack robust data and exhibit inconsistencies across tools.
• Existing developmental screening tools show variability, highlighting the need for updated and reliable normative data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish updated developmental milestone norms for children.
• To develop a contemporary developmental scale, the Tipat Halav Israel Screening (THIS) Developmental Scale.

Main Methods:

• A population-based, cross-sectional study conducted in Israel from 2014-2020, involving developmental assessments of children from birth to 6 years.
• Utilized data from 643,958 children and 3,774,517 assessments, with trained public health nurses documenting milestones in national maternal child health clinics.
• Established the THIS Developmental Scale by calculating 75%, 90%, and 95% milestone achievement rates and compared it with existing tools like Denver II, AIMS, and CDC Developmental Assessment.

Main Results:

• The study established new developmental norms for 59 milestones across 4 domains, based on a large cohort of 643,958 children.
• The THIS Developmental Scale demonstrated high concordance with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) (100%) and moderate agreement with the Denver Developmental Screening Test II (Denver II) (67%) and CDC Developmental Assessment (53%).
• Unmatched milestones in the THIS scale were generally achieved earlier than in other screening tools, indicating updated normative data.

Conclusions:

• The THIS Developmental Scale, derived from the largest population cohort to date, provides contemporary developmental norms for a diverse population.
• The scale's robust normative data and comparison with existing tools suggest its utility for early detection of developmental delays.
• The THIS scale is recommended for further international evaluation due to its comprehensive dataset and representation of a multicultural population.