The Denver Developmental Screening Test Case Study

Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions that cause physical, learning, language and or behavior disabilities (Thomas, Cotton, Pan, & Ratliff-Schaub, 2012). In the United States, studies have shown that about 16–18% of children in various populations have developmental disorders, yet only 20–30% of them are identified before entering school (Thomas et al, 2012). As a result of this prevalence, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended that pediatricians use the Denver developmental screening tools at well- child visit to address this issue (Thomas et al, 2012). The Denver Developmental Screening test (DDST) also known as the Denver Scale. It was developed by a professor named William Frankenberg at University …show more content…
To determine the task to be tested the clinician use the age scale on the top of the DDST sheet by locating the child age and draw a line intersecting each functional task pertaining to the child’s age. The clinician starts by testing items that fall completely to the left of the child’s age line and continue to items immediately to the right of the age line. To score, each line has a box representing the age at which 25%, 50%, 75%, and 90% of children in the same age group performed these tasks (Shahshahani et al, 2011). Each task or item has four scoring options passed, failed, refusal, and no opportunity (Shahshahani et al, 2011). If the task is completed it is marked with “P” for a pass, “F” for tasks not completed successfully, “R” for refusal to do the task, and “N” for no opportunity given (Shahshahani et al, 2011). To interpret the DDST results, the failed and refused items are assessed to determine caution and delay items (Shahshahani et al, 2011). A failed or refused items that was passed by 75% to 90% of children in the standard group is consider caution items (Shahshahani et al, 2011). A delay is suspected if a child failed an item, which falls completely to the left of the child’s age line because that task was passed by 95% of the children in the same age group in the standard sample (Shahshahani et al, 2011). Normal findings means no delay; maximum of one caution (Shahshahani et al, 2011). Suspect if two or more cautions and or one or more delays (Shahshahani et al, 2011). The number of items upon which the child scores below the expected age range determine whether the child is classified as within the normal range, suspect, or delayed (Shahshahani et al, 2011). Those with suspect scores are monitored by more frequent screening, while those with delayed scores are referred for further assessment (Shahshahani et al,