Understanding how to measure your child against the development milestones is critical to them working properly! You might be a parent who didn’t realize the original checklists were based on 50% data (meaning only half of children at that age should meet the development goal). You might be a parent who did know this but felt it wasn’t very helpful in guiding your intervention plans (if needed). Either way I think a quick discussion is useful so parents can manage early development feeling informed.
Under the old guidelines, when your child didn’t meet a criteria it meant they fell within the bottom half (50%) of children in their age group (for that milestone).
The new guidelines are based on 75th percentile normative data – meaning that any item on the checklist for a certain age group is expected to be met by 75% of kids at that age group.
The idea is that parents and pediatricians will be able to draw clearer lines about children who may be delayed. It is assumed under these changes that parents will be more likley to take action if their child doesn’t meet a criteria since this indicates that they are in the bottom 25% for this milestone. 50% criteria feels less concerning or urgent and may lead to parents postponing action (wait-and-see approach).
Parents please let me know what you think of this shift in the comments! Have you experienced the wait-and-see approach? Do you think having checklists that are for a higher percentile will help assess your child’s development more clearly?