Evaluation of the Denver Developmental Screening Test as applied to African children

The Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) is a tool widely used by nurses in advanced countries for screening developmental delays in children. In a pilot study involving African children from age one month to six years in urban and suburban areas of Ibadan, Nigeria, results of screening with this tool identified many apparent delays in children from two to four years old in the area of language acquisition. It is probable that family background, in addition to sociocultural environment, may be responsible for most of the delays. A large-scale study to standardize this useful screening instrument to the norms of children in developing countries is suggested.