Bayley III Accuracy for Detecting Development Delay

For any of you who use the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III), recent research indicated that the scale "seriously underestimates developmental delay in 2 year old Australian children". The subjects were 221 children who were born extremely pre term (<28 weeks gestation) or low birth weight (<1000 grams) and a control group of 220 children who were full term and normal birth weight. All the subjects were evaluated using the Bayley III at 2 years of age, corrected for prematurity. The pre-term children scored significantly below the control group on the Bayley III. Although, the mean values of the pre-term children were close to the normative mean of the Bayley III. Therefore, the researchers concluded that developmental delay is underestimated when using the Bayley III.

References: Peter J. Anderson; Cinzia R. De Luca; Esther Hutchinson; Gehan Roberts; Lex W. Doyle; and the Victorian Infant Collaborative Group Underestimation of Developmental Delay by the New Bayley-III Scale Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2010;164(4):352-356.