title: Trial of a screening technique of the developmental assessment of infants and young children (6 weeks-2 years).
abstract: Six hundred and nineteen infants and young children from the slums of Jabalpur City were screened by twenty trained paramedical workers using the Woodside Screening Technique. A second screen was given by the author within three days of the first screen on 350 (56.5%) children. The tester/author agreement was 97%. The results of the Woodside Screening Technique were validated against the standard Gesell's Schedules. The specificity and sensitivity rates of 88 and 83%, respectively were better than the original Denver Developmental Screening Test (77% each). Over referral rates which vary between 10-28% were comparable to the original Denver Developmental Screening Test. The under referral rate was 24%. All children tested belonged to the deprived sections of society, having weights below 50th centile of Harvard Standards. Inspite of this 74% of children scored above and at par on the Gesell's Developmental Schedule, only 11% children showing any developmental abnormality. The need to eliminate the cultural bias from the test and draw a new threshold line to separate questionable cases from abnormal ones is highlighted. Recommendations and specific modifications of the Woodside Screening Technique are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Smt. Jyotsnadevi Patel Pediatric Centre, Medical College, Jabalpur.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: N V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Patel
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D014505:Urban Population