A Child’s Perception of Their Developmental Difficulties in Relation to Their Adult Assessment. Analysis of the INPP Questionnaire

Abstract

This study involved a comparison of the perception of developmental difficulties in a child by the parents, the teacher, and through the child’s self-assessment. Based on the Institute for Neuro-Psychological Psychology (INPP) questionnaire according to S. Goddard Blythe, three groups were examined: schoolchildren, parents, and teachers. Each of them answered a set of 21 questions and assessed the degree of occurrence of a given difficulty for the child on a scale from 0 to 4. The questions concerned psychomotor problems related to balance, motor coordination and concentration, as well as school skills. In total, 49 questionnaires from children and parents and 46 from teachers were used for the study. The mean answer to each question was calculated within the following groups: child–parent, child–teacher, and parent–teacher. The sum of the children’s answer points was significantly higher than the sum of the parents’ answer points (p = 0.037). Children assessed their developmental difficulties more strongly than teachers, but this difference was not statistically significant. The individual difficulties of the children were assessed significantly more seriously or more gently than by the National Scientific Conference “Human health problems—causes, present state, ways for the future” speeches by 44 teacher participants on 5 June 2020. Parents and teachers also assessed the children’s difficulties significantly differently (p = 0.044). The biggest difference in answers concerned the question of maintaining attention. The obtained results indicate a significant difference in the perception of difficulties occurring in the same child by the teacher and the parent. The child’s behavior in school and home environments may be different and, depending on the requirements, assessed differently. Children perceive their difficulties much more seriously than adults. Talking and the support of adults can make it easier for a child to overcome developmental difficulties.