Comparison of parent report and direct assessment of child skills in toddlers

Abstract

Background There are unique challenges associated with measuring development in early childhood. Two primary sources of information are used: parent report and direct assessment. Each approach has strengths and weaknesses, particularly when used to identify and diagnose developmental delays. The present study aimed to evaluate consistency between parent report and direct assessment of child skills in toddlers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) across receptive language, expressive language, and fine motor domains. Method 109 children were evaluated at an average age of two years; data on child skills were collected via parent report and direct assessment. Children were classified into three groups (i.e., ASD, Other Developmental Disorder, or Typical Development) based on DSM-IV-TR diagnosis. Mixed design ANOVAs, with data source as a within subjects factor and diagnostic group as a between subjects factor, were used to assess agreement. Chi square tests of agreement were then used to examine correspondence at the item level. Results Results suggested that parent report of language and fine motor skills did not significantly differ from direct assessment, and this finding held across diagnostic groups. Item level analyses revealed that, in most cases of significant disagreement, parents reported a skill as present, but it was not seen on direct testing. Conclusions Results indicate that parents are generally reliable reporters of child language and fine motor abilities in toddlerhood, even when their children have developmental disorders such as ASD. However, the fullest picture may be obtained by using both parent report and direct assessment.

The Scientific Study of Parents and Caregivers of Children with ASD: A Flourishing Field but Still Work to be Done

“…The present issue also includes two separate studies that compare parental scores to other sources of information on early ASD behaviours and symptoms (Larsen et al 2017;Macari et al 2017). The results from these studies are in line with other recent investigations of parent-reports that demonstrate the importance of parents and caregivers as invaluable sources of information on their child's development (Miller et al 2017;Sacrey et al 2018).…”

Recognising autism: a latent transition analysis of parental reports of child autistic spectrum disorder ‘red flag’ traits before and after age 3

“…While developmental variation in the population is to be expected, a cluster of behaviours or missed milestones ('red flags') can signal the presence of a potential underlying problem and may be indicative of disordered behaviour [20]. Parental 'prediction' of ASD diagnosis via problematic behaviours has been shown to be reliable, both in prospective and longitudinal studies [21,22] and in studies utilising retrospective population data [23,24].…”

Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Infants with Lower Urinary Tract Obstruction Based on Different Degrees of Severity

“…ND assessment in our study was completed with a standardized measure based on parent interview; however, direct clinical confirmation was not performed. Despite this limitation, it has been previously shown that parental reporting of both language and motor abilities in children with and without ND disabilities is comparable to and not significantly different from direct assessment [42,43]. Although our study accounted for many pre-and postnatal variables, we did not account for additional factors, including comorbid medical conditions, sociodemographic differences, and psychosocial risk factors that can influence neurodevelopment in the first few years of life [44].…”