Denver II Developmental Screening Test and Development of Seoul Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: 2 The Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST) is one of the most popular developmental screening tests. Since its publication in 1967, it has been standardized in many countries and has been used internationally. The Korean version of DDST was made in 1987. After a number of concerns regarding DDST have been raised, the test was revised, restandardized and published as Denver II in 1992. The purpose of this study was to test the Denver II on Seoul children to compare the development of Denver and Seoul children and to see whether Denver II can be used on Korean children without modification. METHOD: The Denver II was translated and, after a pilot study, was administered to 1018 Seoul children, aged between 16 days to 6 1/2 years, by 4 trained research assistants whose intertester reliabilities were 95.6 to 100%. RESULTS: 1) Due to cultural differences, several items of the Denver II were excluded and a total of 116 test items were included in the study. 2) Development of Seoul children, compared to Denver counterparts, was advanced in 7 items of personal-social, 3 items in fine motor-adapation, 5 in gross motor and 6 in language domains. Seoul children were delayed in 7 items in personal-social, 3 items in fine motor-adaptation, 4 in gross motor and 2 in language domains. CONCLUSIONS: These difference of development between Seoul and Denver children can be attributed to the different environment and probably to the more educational atmosphere of Seoul society. Because of this diferrence, Denver II, to be used on Korean children. should be standardized on a large number of Korean youngsters.