A Study of Child Developmental Norms for Children from birth to 5 years of age in Chiang Mai

Abstract

This study aims to determine the developmental norms for children from birth to 5 years of age who live in Chiang Mai and to identify an order of assessment items of a child
development tool for children from birth to 5 years of age, of the Department of Mental
Health, Ministry of Public Health. The sample consisted of children from birth to 5 years of age living in Chiang Mai; a total of 420 subjects from a multi-staged stratified random sampling method. The tool used was the child development assessment form for children aged from birth to 5 years of Mental Health Department, Ministry of Public Health. The analysis was based on Multiple Logistic Regressions at 25^th, 50^th, 75t^th and 90^th percentiles and order of development of children from birth to 5 years of age, divided into 60 months based on the 75^th percentile. The results showed that the developmental norms for Thai children could be assessed, based on those who were able to pass each question, classified according to the percentile. For Gross Motor skills, the children were able to pass 154 out of 155 items. The item for which the developmental norm could not be assessed, was the ability to place their feet on bike pedals while the bike was being pushed forward. For Fine Motor Skills, the children passed 161 out of 162 items. The item which could not be assessed for, was the ability to hand an object to the evaluator when asked to. For Receptive Language Skills, the children passed 104 out of 105 items. The item that could not be assessed for, was physical reaction when hearing a sound. For Expressive Language, the children were able to complete all 104 items. For Personal and Social Skills, the children completed 126 out of 128 items. The two items that could not be assessed, were item numbers 75 and 76; issues of assessment being: the child stops crying when held by the parents, and the child can look at faces for 1-2 seconds, respectively. It was found that all Thai children who were evaluated, could pass the behavioral assessments. The results showed that 649 of 654 assessment items (99.24%) were able to identify developmental norms in children aged from birth to 5 years in Chiang Mai and were able to identify an order of assessment items of the child development tool of The Department of Mental Health, Ministry of Public Health. This can be used for children from each age range (60 months) and the assessment items are put in order according to the number of items used to assess the children from 1 month to 60 months of age, classified into 5 skills areas of Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Receptive Language, Expressive Language and Personal and Social care.