Developmental assessment and effect of intervention in children with global developmental delay
Background: The prevalence of childhood disabilities is up to 10% of the total pediatric population and in a developing country like Pakistan this figure is even higher. Health professionals use a range of different tools to evaluate child development. An ideal screening tool should be cost effective, easily administered and culturally relevant. Early intervention programs when properly planned and introduced in time are helpful for delayed children.
Objectives: To study the effect of intervention in developmental delay children. To compare mental age and Developmental Quotient (DQ) based on developmental profile.
Material & Methods: 42 children were selected to be enrolled in the study of these 26 completed the study. Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) was used to assess the mental age and Portage Early Education Program (PEEP) was used to assess the DQ. Early intervention therapy was given to these children who were then reassessed after one year to see the effect of intervention. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 14 by applying descriptive analysis, paired t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. P value of 0.05 or lower were taken as significant
Results: There was significant increase in mental age of these children (p=0.000 t= 23.74). An improvement was seen in all developmental skill areas p=0.000. The change in mental age correlated with the improvement in cognition (p=0.000, r=0.780), language (p=0.000, r=0.642) and self-help (p=0.026, r= 0.435). DQ was significantly correlated with mental age (p=0.002, r=0.589)
Conclusion: Portage based assessment and therapeutic plans are useful to detect developmental delay. DQ based on portage developmental profile is a useful index of developmental assessment and it is comparable to mental age. IQ may not be considered as a useful indicator of improvement in young children.