Standardisation of the Parent Report of Children's Abilities–Revised (PARCA-R): a norm-referenced assessment of cognitive and language development at age 2 years

Abstract

Background: To develop age-and sex-standardised scores for the Parent Report of Children's Abilities-Revised (PARCA-R) in order to assess children's cognitive and language development at 24 to 27 months of age. Methods:Anonymised data from PARCA-R questionnaires completed by parents of 2 yearold children in three previous studies were obtained to form a standardisation sample (n=6402) representative of the UK general population. Anonymised data were obtained from three further studies to assess the external validity (n=709) and clinical validity (n=1456) of the standardised scores. The L(lamda)M(mu)S(sigma) method was used to develop age-and sex-specific standardised scores for three scales (non-verbal cognitive development; language development; total Parent Report Composite (PRC)) for children in four 1-month age bands spanning 23·5 to 27·5 months of age.Findings: For all PARCA-R scales, mean (SD) standardised scores approximated 100 (15) in both sexes and all age groups. These were independent of socio-economic status.Standardised scores were close to 100 (15) in the external validation sample, demonstrating the validity of the scores. Children born very preterm or with neonatal sepsis had, respectively, standardised scores for the total PRC scale 0.47 SD and 0.73 SD lower on average than the normative mean. These were equivalent to a standardised score of 93 (95% Confidence interval (CI): 91 to 94) and 89 (95% CI: 88 to 91) respectively, thus demonstrating clinical validity. Interpretation:The PARCA-R provides a norm-referenced, standardised assessment of cognitive and language development at 24-27 months of age. The questionnaire is available non-commercially with translations currently available in 14 languages, thus providing clinicians and researchers with a cost-effective tool for assessing development and identifying children with delay.

Performance of the German version of the PARCA-R questionnaire as a developmental screening tool in two-year-old very preterm infants

“…These instruments could also be used to systematically monitor developmental outcomes of the growing population of moderately and late premature babies. The PARCA-R is now standardized and produces norm-referenced standard scores (mean 100; SD 15) for cognitive and language development but these are only available for use in the UK population [ 16 , 19 ]. Future studies could consider obtaining normative data to standardize the German version of the PARCA-R.…”

“…The sum of the scores of two last subscales produces the “language skills” composite score (range 0–124) which, added to the “non-verbal cognition” score, results in the Parent Report Composite Score (PRC), with values from 0 to 158. In this study, the investigators, who were unaware of the findings of the neurodevelopmental examination, computed all scores according to the instructions from the original survey [ 16 ] (all PARCA-R resources are freely available at www.parca-r.info ).…”

“…However, most of these scales are validated only in English language versions. The Parent Report of Children’s Abilities, a parental questionnaire originally developed in the UK [ 15 ], was revised and standardized in the UK (PARCA-R) [ 16 ] to assess cognitive and language development in preterm born infants aged 24 months [ 17 , 18 ]. Furthermore, sex- and age-normative data from the test have been recently published making this the only standardized parent completed tool for assessing child development at this age [ 19 ].…”

“…The Parent Report of Children’s Abilities, a parental questionnaire originally developed in the UK [ 15 ], was revised and standardized in the UK (PARCA-R) [ 16 ] to assess cognitive and language development in preterm born infants aged 24 months [ 17 , 18 ]. Furthermore, sex- and age-normative data from the test have been recently published making this the only standardized parent completed tool for assessing child development at this age [ 19 ]. The questionnaire provides a high test-retest reliability and correlates well with the Mental Development Index (MDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development 2 nd (BSID-II) [ 17 , 18 ] and with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development 3 rd edition [ 20 , 21 ], as validated with the Dutch version [ 22 ].…”

Incorporating parent, former patient and clinician perspectives in the design of a national UK double-cluster, randomised controlled trial addressing uncertainties in preterm nutrition

“…COLLABO-RATE will use data from the National Neonatal Research Database to minimise clinical burden, [4][5][6] and evaluate 2 year language and cognitive outcomes with a parentcompleted questionnaire, the Parent Report of Children's Abilities-Revised. 7 These clinical uncertainties, which affect the care provided to babies as well as the information provided to families, present an opportunity to understand how parents of very preterm babies can improve the recruitment materials for the COLLABORATE trial and clarify the acceptability of consent methods, as well as compare their views and reactions with those of clinicians. PPI consultations are enriching mechanisms to improve design, making studies more successful and relevant to their stakeholders.…”