1 Dover, Delaware 19901
To the Editor.
In judging the validity of developmental screening tests, there is frequent difficulty in obtaining the ideal "gold standard" by which to judge the screening instrument. For example, while it is useful to know how the Denver Developmental Screening Test compares with the Stanford-Binet when attempting to identify children with mental retardation at 3 years of age, perhaps it is even more useful to know how the screening test compares with the Stanford-Binet in predicting which 3 year olds will go on to become labeled as mentally retarded at 6 years of age, a time when IQ scores are more stable and school systems are more likely to make special services available.