COMPARABILITY OF THREE METHODS OF ASSESSING THE DEVELOPMENTAL LEVEL OF YOUNG INFANTS
Bettye M. Caldwell Ph.D.1 and
Robert H. Drachman M.D.1
1 Department of Pediatrics, State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md.
This study reports on the comparability of results obtained via three different techniques for evaluating the developmental level of young infants. The three procedures—the Cattell Infant Intelligence Scale, the Griffiths Mental Devolpmental Scale, and a Composite Scale assembled by the [See Table IV in Source Pdf] authors—were found to yield similar means for a total of 56 infants ranging in age from 6 weeks to 22 months. For 28 age-matched infants representing Negro male and female and Caucasian male and female groups, no significant differences in test scores were associated with subgroup classification. For this smaller group, mean differences among the three test procedures were statistically significant though numerically small. Correlations among the three types of examination were high and positive. The data warrant confidence in the use of brief screening procedures requiring a minimum of time and apparatus for obtaining information about the current developmental status of infants.
Submitted on October 21, 1963
Accepted on December 31, 1963
