Has Denver Developmental Screening Test-II appropriate validity and reliability for screening of developmental disorders in 0-6 years old children in Tehran city?

To identify the validity and reliability of Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DDST II) in Iranian children, in order to provide an appropriate developmental screening tool for evaluation of Iranian children development.

A precise translation of the original test to Persian was done and it was revised by three developmental pediatricians. Then, DDST II was performed on 221 children aged 0 to 6 years, in four child health care centers of Tehran city. Available sampling was used. In order to determine agreement coefficient, these children were also evaluated by ASQ test in 4-60 months old children, and by developmental pediatricians in children who were out of this range. Obtained data was analyzed by SPSS software.

There were developmental disorders in 34% and 12% of children who were examined by DDST II, and ASQ test respectively. The estimated consistency coefficient between DDST II and ASQ was weak (0.21), and between DDST II and physician’s examination was 0.44. All of the questions in DDST II had content validity, and there was no need to change them. Test-retest and interrater methods were used in order to determine reliability of test, and Cronbach’s α and Kauder-Richardson coefficients. Kauder- Richardson coefficient for different developmental domains was 61- 74%. Kappa measure of agreement for test-retest and interrater were 87% and 76% respectively.

DDST II has a good validity and reliability, and can be used as a screening tool for developmental screening of Iranian children, but it is necessary to prepare and standardize of diagnostic developmental tests in Iran due to the low and medium consistency coefficient between DDST II and ASQ and physician’s examination respectively.