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Reliability of parental recall of developmental milestones
1School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital, Quebec, Canada.
Insights
Parental recall of child development milestones, like first steps and words, shows significant inaccuracies over time. This impacts the reliability of developmental history in pediatric evaluations.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Accurate developmental history is crucial for pediatric evaluations.
- Parental recall of developmental milestones forms the basis of this history.
- Prospective studies are needed to assess the reliability of this recall.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the consistency of parental recall for two key developmental milestones: first steps and first meaningful word.
- To assess recall accuracy at 3 and 5 years of age compared to initial assessments at 1 year.
Main Methods:
- Prospective study of healthy and high-risk newborns assessed by a neurologist at 1, 3, and 5 years.
- Parents' recall of first steps and first word was compared to the initial assessment at 1 year (mean age 12.67 months).
- Correlation coefficients and mean differences in reported ages were calculated for 63 children reexamined at 3 and/or 5 years.
Main Results:
- Recall for first steps showed good correlation at 3 years (r=0.74) but decreased by 5 years (r=0.41).
- Recall for first word showed poor correlation at 3 years (r=0.27) and negative correlation at 5 years (r=-0.11).
- Significant discrepancies in recall, particularly for first word (mean difference >2.4 months), were observed, with 20% of parents reporting errors of 6+ months.
Conclusions:
- Parental recall of first steps is moderately reliable up to 5 years.
- Parental recall of first word is unreliable, especially beyond 3 years.
- Inaccuracies in recalling developmental milestones, particularly speech, may impact pediatric assessments and require careful consideration.
Abstract:
The developmental history is a key element of the pediatric evaluation. Precise determination of a child's milestones depends on the parent's recollection of developmental events. As part of a prospective study examining neonatal predictors of outcome, healthy and high-risk newborns were assessed by a neurologist at 1, 3, and 5 years of age. The consistency of a parent's recall of two milestones (i.e., first steps and first meaningful word) was examined at 3 and 5 years. The answers provided by the parent(s) at the first visit (mean/S.D.: 12.67/1.19 months) provided the comparison standard. Twenty-five healthy and 50 high-risk infants had acquired 1 or both developmental skills by the first visit. Of 75, 63 were reexamined at 3 and/or 5 years by the same neurologist. For first steps, excellent correlations were obtained at 3 years (r = 0.74) and modest correlations were determined at 5 years (r = 0.41). The mean difference in age reported between 1 and 3 years was 0.36 +/- 1.81 months, and 0.33 +/- 2.46 months between 1 and 5 years. For first word, correlations were poor at 3 and 5 years (r = 0.27 and r = -0.11, respectively), with mean discrepancies in recall of 2.43 +/- 4.37 months (3-year visit) and 2.74 +/- 5.56 months (5-year visit). Twenty percent (n = 13) of parents reported discrepancies of 6 or more months (mean: 9.4; range: 6-25 months). Furthermore, this error in reporting of first word was later than the correct age in all patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)