Routine pediatric visits cover the basics: physical examinations such as height, weight, and vital signs. Likely your pediatrician will ask questions, depending on the child’s age, about his or her movement, fine motor skills, language use, and social and emotional development. These questions are used to screen for developmental delays, as are other, more formal, screening tools. Screening tools, designed to help identify possible developmental delays, are neither complicated nor time-consuming, and can be performed in the pediatrician’s office.
Your pediatrician may use more formal measures of developmental screening, such as asking you to fill out an Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) prior to your visit. This is a standard set of questions that, depending on the child’s age, will include questions such as whether the child is walking up and down stairs, or able to grasp objects with his thumb and forefinger, or can draw a figure with distinct body parts. The questions vary with the child’s age, but the goal is the same: to determine whether a child is meeting guidelines for normal development.
Other screening tools include the ASQ : Social and Emotional, for children from birth to 60 months, which operates very similarly to the general ASQ. The Brief-Infant-Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) is available for children ages 12 to 36 months, and the Child Development Inventory may be used for children ages birth through 6. Additional information about screening tools is located on the FirstSigns.org website.
In addition to formal screening tools, your pediatrician may use simple in-office tests to determine a child’s development. Asking a 3 year-old to copy a straight line, or seeing if a year-old child will play peek-a-boo with his mother, for instance, are simple developmental screening measures. Since behaviors may not be accurately replicated in the doctor’s office setting, the pediatrician may again ask questions about your child’s development or ask you to observe these behaviors at home. Parents may also receive printed information regarding delays and “red flags” that indicate a potential delay.
Screening tools are used not only by pediatricians, but also in communities and schools. If your child is in daycare, for instance, providers there may use some of these simple screening measures to help identify delays. Programs that receive state or federal funding may have someone on staff who is qualified to administer, for instance, the ASQ.
Screening is designed to determine the need for additional evaluation, assessment, or testing. Parents are generally the first to determine if a child has a developmental delay, so being proactive in asking for a screening if you have any concerns about your child’s development is crucial. The screening procedures are quick, non-invasive, and very valuable in obtaining further testing if the screening so warrants.