Parents' and caregivers' perceptions of their children's development

Parents' or caregivers' perceptions of their infants' overall development may serve as a reliable screen for clinical decisions regarding the need for further assessment. To determine whether caregivers were accurate in estimating infant development, 27 caregivers were asked to answer four questions about their infants before standardized assessment by a paediatric physical therapist. Their responses were compared with the professional's ratings on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Specificity of the parents' estimate with the Bayley Mental Scale was 85.9 per cent and sensitivity 60 per cent; using the Bayley Motor Scale as the outcome criterion, specificity reached 90.9 per cent and sensitivity 80 per cent. Results of this pilot study support the accuracy of caregiver estimates of their infants' overall development, thus suggesting that professionals should pay close attention to caregivers' concerns about their children's development.