Prioritized Surveillance of Young At-risk South African Children: An Evaluation of the PEDS Tools Referral and Response Characteristics.

Background: Prioritization of referrals following developmental screening is essential to ensure early intervention in resource-constrained settings.

Objectives: To evaluate the referral criteria and response characteristics of the PEDS tools to determine its applicability in at-risk South African children.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the PEDS tools data for 406 participants at risk of developmental delays between the age of five and 36 months in a primary health care setting.

When Do Clinicians Decide to Screen Children for Mental Health-Behavioral-Developmental Delays/Disorders: Is it Time to Reconsider Policy Recommendations?

Objectives: To determine at which ages providers choose to screen for mental, behavioral, and developmental disorder/delay (MBDD), and what they find; and which, if any, public and professional guidelines are most effective at identification.

Study Design: Naturalistic retrospective cohort study of 215 general pediatric and family practice clinics within 24 US states involving 160 634 encounters during which MBDD screening tests were administered.

Results: Almost all clinicians (96%) administered screens at ages targeted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), that is, 9, 18, 24, and/or 30 months of age, but also at younger and older ages: 57% opted to screen at ≥5 years of age.

Early Childhood Development and Iranian Parents' Knowledge: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Early childhood is the most important step throughout the lifespan and it is a critical period continuing to the end of 8-year-old. Mothers' knowledge is one of the important aspects of child development. The goals of this study were to determine the situation of knowledge in Iranian parents about the concept and the importance of early childhood development (ECD) and determining the sources of parental knowledge about ECD from the perspective of parents and grandparents.

Developmental Screening-Evaluation of an m-Health Version of the Parents Evaluation Developmental Status Tools.

Background: Developmental delays are more prevalent in low-income countries and access to developmental screening is severely limited.

Introduction: This study evaluated an m-Health version of a standard developmental screening tool, Parents Evaluation Developmental Status (PEDS) and PEDS:Developmental Milestones (PEDS:DM) for use by community health workers (CHWs) in terms of (1) correspondence with conventional paper-based testing by a speech language pathologist (SLP) and (2) inter-rater reliability compared to an SLP.

Method: CHWs were trained in a primary healthcare (PHC) setting to administer the newly developed smartphone application version of the PEDS tools.

Early detection of communication delays with the PEDS tools in at-risk South African infants.

Background: Prevalence of communication delays or disorders is increasing, possibly because of various environmental risk factors. Selection and implementation of effective screening tools are important to detect at-risk infants as early as possible. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS), PEDS-Developmental Milestones and PEDS tools to detect communication delays in infants (6-12 months) in a South African primary healthcare context.

Risks associated with communication delays in infants from underserved South African communities.

Background: For optimal development young children need warm, responsive, enriched and communicative environments for learning social, language, and other skills. Infants and toddlers exposed to psychosocial risk lack enriched environments and may present with communication delays.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between psychosocial risks and communication delays in infants from underserved communities in South Africa.

Developmental screening in South Africa: comparing the national developmental checklist to a standardized tool.

Background: Worldwide, more than 200 million children in low- and middle-income countries have developmental delays and/or disabilities. In South Africa the only nationally implemented developmental 'screening' tool is integrated as part of 'The Road to Health Booklet (RTHB).

Method: The study employed a comparative cross-sectional within-subject design to evaluate the accuracy of the RTHB developmental checklist against a standardized international tool i.

Evidence-based early detection of developmental-behavioral problems in primary care: what to expect and how to do it.

The goals of this study are to (a) inform clinicians embarking on evidence-based screening initiatives about what to expect when using quality tools, including provision of information on identification rates by age, patient mix, and well-visit uptake, and (b) describe the various implementation methods used by other clinics. Participants were professionals in 79 clinics across 20 U.S.

Brief approaches to developmental-behavioral promotion in primary care: updates on methods and technology.

Well-child visits are a critical opportunity to promote learning and development, encourage positive parenting practices, help children acquire behavioral self-control, enhance the development and well-being of children and their families, identify problems not amenable to brief in-office counseling, and refer for services when needed. This article outlines the communication skills, instructional methods, and resource options that enable clinicians to best assist families. Also covered is how to monitor progress and outcomes.

Developmental and autism screening through 2-1-1: reaching underserved families.

Background: Developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), are increasing in prevalence. Early identification is necessary for early intervention, which is critical for reducing challenges and lifetime costs, especially for ASDs. Because not all children have equal access to developmental and autism screening through primary care settings, nontraditional methods are needed to reach underserved populations.

Parenting behaviors, perceptions, and psychosocial risk: impacts on young children's development.

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess which parenting behaviors, perceptions, and risk factors were associated with optimal versus delayed development.

Methods: A total of 382 families from the national Brigance Infant and Toddler Screens standardization and validation study participated. Data sources included parent questionnaires, child testing, and examiner observations of parent-child interactions.

Parental depressive symptoms: relationship to child development, parenting, health, and results on parent-reported screening tools.

Objective: To determine whether parents with depressive symptoms can accurately complete parent-reported developmental screens, and to explore effects of parental depressive symptoms on perceptions of children's health and parenting behaviors.

Study Design: A total of 382 parent-child (ages 0 to 2 years) dyads from pediatric sites across 17 U.S.

PEDS: developmental milestones--an accurate brief tool for surveillance and screening.

About 16% of children have developmental-behavioral disabilities but less than one-third of the children are detected by their health care providers, probably because of the use of informal milestones checklists. The goal of this study is to determine the reliability, validity, accuracy, and utility of a new tool, PEDS: Developmental Milestones (PEDS:DM). Data from a nationally representative sample of 1619 children administered developmental diagnostic measures were mined for items that best predicted performance in each developmental domain.

Can a broadband developmental-behavioral screening test identify children likely to have autism spectrum disorder?

Because services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are scarce, when children fail a broadband screening measure, providers need to carefully discern which children need ASD evaluations and which do not. This research considers how well a broadband screening test sorts those with and without probable ASD. The subjects were 427 children between 18 and 59 months of age with elevated risk scores on broadband screening, ie, Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status (PEDS), a 10-item measure eliciting parents' concerns.

Evaluation of children with reading difficulties.

Reading difficulties are common and are associated with poor long-term academic achievement. Evaluation of a child's developmental, educational, and family histories in conjunction with standardized screening tests (e.g.

Pediatrician practices regarding referral to early intervention services: is an established diagnosis important?

Objective: Early intervention (EI) programs provide services to children with developmental conditions, regardless of whether such children have an underlying medical diagnosis. We aim to (1) Determine the proportion of general pediatricians who believe an established diagnosis is important when considering EI referral; and (2) Determine whether this perception is associated with lower reported likelihood of referral.

Methods: Mailed survey to random sample of pediatricians.