Parent’s Reports Predict their Child’s Developmental Problems

Abstract

To document parental reports about their child’s delayed development, 180 consecutive parents/guardians of children, ages ranging from 16 to 70 months, were surveyed. Parents reported a mean of 8.28 (SD 4.55) problems. Symptoms most reported were not talking well (79.5%), poor speech (59.8%), immaturity (58.0%), understands poorly (55.4%), bowel/bladder problems (50.9%), seldom plays with others (47.3%), attention (46.4%), eating (43.8%), clumsy-gross motor (40.2%), and clumsy-fine motor (40.2%). There was an association between delayed development and symptoms about eating, bowel-bladder, clumsy fine-motor, not talking well, understands poorly, immature, and seldom plays with others (p<0.05). The presence of language symptoms increased the odds of delayed development by 2.25. Relevant symptoms differed by developmental domains and different groups of items predicted specific delays. Parent reports indicated quantifiable difficulties requiring detailed assessments.