Author: McClain C, Provost B, Crowe T
Source: Pediatric Physical Therapy Volume 12, Number 3, Fall 2000
The study specifically investigates the performance of 39 typically developing two-year-old children from a pueblo in New Mexico. The children were all reported by their parents to be developing normally and demonstrated no delays on the Denver Developmental Screening Test II. There were 20 boys and 19 girls. Twenty-one children were 24-29 months old and 18 children were 30-35 months old. Only the motor scale of the BSID II was adminstered. The test was completed at an early childhood facility with a parent or family member present. Significantly lower scores were achieved by these Native American children than reported for the normative sample for the test. The differences were greater and more variable for the younger children in the sample compared to the older group. This research raises questions about the cultural relevancy of standardized testing. More than half of the typically developing children in this study may have been inaccurately classified as delayed based on the results of this standardized test alone.
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