Functional assessment of Chinese children with the ABILITIES index.

The diagnosis and classification of children with disabilities are persistent concerns in paediatric and habilitative services. These concerns are magnified in international contexts and restrict comparative research and policy development. Even within classifications such as mental retardation, hearing impairment and physical impairment, children can vary widely in the nature and severity of manifested conditions. In the fields of disability and rehabilitation there is a growing interest in functional measurement. Accompanying this awareness is a corresponding recognition of the value of classification approaches which are compatible with the WHO framework of the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. This paper examines issues pertaining to the classification of children with disabilities and describes the development of the ABILITIES Index, a functional assessment measure yielding a profile of individual characteristics. The cross-cultural applicability of the measure is documented on the basis of data for children in the People's Republic of China.