The Study of Child Development Norms of Thai Children Age from Birth to 5 Years using Child Development Assessment Tools Developed by the Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

Abstract

This study aims to determine the development norms of Thai children age from birth to 5 years and to compare the assessment items of a child development assessment tool for children age from birth to 5 years, developed by the Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, and Denver development screening test (DDST) assessment form. Participants were 2,079 Thai children age from birth to 5 years sampling by
multi-staged stratified random sampling method. The tool used was the child development
assessment form for children age from birth to 5 years developed by the Mental Health
Department, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. There were 654 question items in the assessment form which were classified into 5 skills area include 1) gross motor skills 2) fine motor skills 3) Receptive language skills 4) Expressive language skills and 5) Personal and social care skills. The analysis was based on multiple logistic regressions to determine the development norms of Thai children and a single group mean test was used to compare child development norms by the assessment form for children age from birth
to 5 years developed by the Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand,
and Denver development screening test (DDST) assessment form. The results showed that 651 of 654 items (99.54%) of child development assessment form for children age from birth to 5 years developed by the Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, were able to identify development norms of Thai children. The items for which the development norms could not be assessed were 1) the child physical reaction when hearing sound 2) the child stop crying when held by parents and 3) the child can look at other face for 1-2 seconds. However, it was found that all Thai children who were assessed could pass the behavioral assessment. To compare between child development assessment form for children age from birth to 5 years developed by the Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, and Denver development screening test (DDST) assessment form, it was found that there was no different in gross motor movement skills and expressive language skills. In fine motor movement skills, there was no different found at 75 percentile. In receptive language, there was no different found at 25 and 50 percentile. And in personal and social skill there was no different found at 90 percentile.