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Updated: Jun 10, 2025
Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools
Published on: June 20, 2020
The development of checklists and reference charts for activities of daily living of normal developing children
Agnese Suppiej1, Laura Tessari2, Adriano Fasolo3
1Pediatric Unit, University Hospital Sant'Anna, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy; Robert Hollman Foundation, Padova, Italy.
Insights
This study establishes age-specific performance benchmarks for activities of daily living in Italian children. These findings provide essential reference charts for normal childhood development.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Developmental Psychology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
Background:
- Assessing functional abilities in children is crucial for identifying developmental trajectories.
- Standardized tools are needed to evaluate activities of daily living (ADL) performance across different age groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the performance in activities of daily living (ADL) in typically developing children.
- To generate age-specific reference charts for ADL performance in a pediatric population.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional survey utilizing a self-administered questionnaire.
- Item reduction through correlation analysis and clinical judgment.
- Factor analysis to identify latent variables and group items into skill-related domains.
Main Results:
- Data collected from 3079 children (1478 female, 1601 male), median age 10.7 years.
- Initial 268-item set reduced to 154 items across 14 domains.
- Items organized into 30 latent variables representing distinct skill areas.
Conclusions:
- The study provides age-related performance data for activities of daily living.
- Reference values were established for a normal Italian pediatric population under 18 years.
- These charts can aid in assessing developmental progress and identifying potential delays.
Aim:
To measure the performance in activities of daily living and obtain reference charts in normal developing children.
Method:
This is a cross-sectional survey study. We identified relevant items suitable to describe a wide range of daily life activities and set up a self-administered questionnaire. An initial set of items underwent a correlation analysis integrated with clinical judgment, to remove those items providing limited additional information. Factor analysis was used to identify latent variables, enabling the grouping of selected items into specific skill-related areas. For each latent variable, a model was developed to represent the progression of performance in activities of daily living as the child advanced in age.
Results:
We collected data related to 3079 children, 1478 females and 1601 males, of median (IQR) 10.7 (7.2) years of age. The initial 268-item set was reduced to 154-item related to 14 domains and gathered into 30 latent variables.
Interpretation:
The results describe the age-related performance in activities of daily living and produce reference values associated to an Italian population of normal children less than 18 years of age.
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